My second full day in Denmark was another lovely one. Milla technically had to check out of the hostel at 10am, so she handed in her key and just left her stuff near my bed. Our plan for the morning was to tick Christiania and the Little Mermaid off our collective to-see lists, and we succeeded.
The first thing we did was navigate our way across a big bridge over to the man-made island of Christianshavn. We ended up in a nice little park on what I've been calling "the coast", but was really just the other side of the island. Milla's mum came and met us there and we had a nice stroll with the crisp autumn colours as our backdrop.
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| a crisp morning in Christianshavn |
Eventually, we entered the free-state of Christiania, a community forged in the 1970s when a bunch of hippies took over some abandoned army barracks. More than a big group of long term squatters, Christiania has evolved into an entirely self-sustainable community, with their own schools, health centers, and even their own garbage an recycling programs.
I didn't feel scared of or intimidated by the community members at all. While they are clearly a group of people who hold privacy with high regard, they also seemed happy to share their community with the public. The whole area was brightly coloured and artsy, and you could tell many creative minds must live there. I found the "you are now entering the EU" signs at the exits quite funny. Being from BC, the "green light district" of "pusher street" didn't phase me much.
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| me and Milla and the entrance to Christiania |
Milla's mum went elsewhere after our wander through Christiania, and Milla and I moved on to our next goal for the day. After a quick stop for tea, we started for the coast, eventually making our way to the fortification of Kastellet. This little star-shaped island was possibly my favourite part of Copenhagen. At the entrance to the area, there was a beautiful old stone Anglican Church that I quickly fell in love with. Also an epic fountain with an incredibly dynamic use of water.
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| The Gefion Fountain |
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| Anglican Church in Kastellet |
As we walked along Langeline it seemed there was a statue every few steps, along with a lot of natural beauty. We put our tourist caps on for pictures with the "Lille Havfrue", but also went further along the coast to visit her uglier, and much lonelier sister, the "mutant mermaid".
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| The Little Mermaid |
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| The Mutant Mermaid |
Having seen those sights, we made our way back to the hostel, and before Milla had to catch her flight back to Finland, had lunch together at a place called zoo bar. I brought the salad count to 4 there, but we also split some delicious parmesan/citrus fries that were amaaaaazing.
After Milla disappeared down the metro at Kongen's Nytorv I finished the part of Strøget we hadn't done the day before, being able to afford, and therefore buying, nothing.
As the evening went on and the skies got dark and cold I found a place that sold broccoli soup to go, smuggled it into my hostel with the prowess of a secret agent, and ended up spending the rest of my evening hanging out with Jan, a political science prof from Thailand, in Denmark to present a paper. Sweet.
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| Mine and Milla's walking route. 11.5 km! |
