5/20 -- Explore Copenhagen, Day 1

We set out on a bus trip to several  locations in Copenhagen this morning, starting with the Little Mermaid and ending at a food marketplace at lunch time. We also got a look at the creative new architecture of the city and the old too.

To get to the Little Mermaid, we passed the Gefion Fountain, which commemorates the acquisition of the land Copenhagen is on. The king of Sweden told the Norse goddess Gefjon that she could have all the land she could plow in a day and a night.She turned her four sons into oxen because she needed the land more than the sons. Behind the fountain is the only Anglican Church in Copenhagen. All the rest are Lutheran.

Anglican Church

Gefian Fountain

In the harbor was a nifty looking passenger sailing ship and in the background, you can see a relatively new power plant run on biomass from other European nations. There are also windmills visible. 100% of Denmark's energy comes from renewable sources. The interesting shape of the power plant demonstrates the creativity of its architect who thought that buildings should have a  purpose to draw people in and make them directly useful. Since Denmark is basically devoid of hills, he designed the power plant so that it could double as a ski slope. 

Swan in the harbor

Interesting passenger ship

Power plant that is a ski slope

The Little Mermaid was surrounded by her admirers. It was a great time to have patience and a long zoom. She is located at the far end of what used to be a defensive location with a star-shaped moat.

Part of the old star-shapped moat and ramparts

We headed next to Nordhavn, a growing residential community. Housing prices here are as bad as they are where we live -- $750 per square foot of house. There seems to be a lot more creativity and flexibility in architecture and an interest in finding a way to create a financially mixed community. In addition to expensive places, there are 'student housing' buildings in the same area to offer lower priced options. About 80% of the apartments in Copenhagen are owned, not rented. We stopped next to a place called the Silo which is across the street from a recycling center attached to a 7 story garage with an attractive playground on the top. The Danes are serious about recycling and make it a rather cheery community thing. Many objects no longer needed are put there for others to choose to use. The park on top was fun-looking and had great views too.

The Silo. Outer shell is metal.

Outside of the parking garage/recycling center.  The face of
the building is  lined with pierced metal and climbing plants
have been placed to grow up and cover the walls without
damaging the building.

Inside of the recycling center. The colorful walls are tubes of
different materials and there are openings for people to make
their deposits.

The upper level plarground. The front section contains
several small trampolines with seating along the sides.

I loved this climbing structure and thought
it would be great for our young grandkids.

An island in the harbor that used to be military.

In the distance, you can barely see a small island that is
used for youth excursions.

Above and below: two of the more interesting
buildings in the area.

 

The non-cobblestone part of the street is a
bike lane, elevated from the street and lower
than the sidewalk. Looks safer that what
we do here for bike lanes.

Right next door, there is a new island under construction. The base has been laid and it apparently will have an undulating surface based on the varying height of the poles showing how deep to make the fill.

This is the island they are building.

Then we were off to Rosenborg, a castle and park built by King Christian IV. The grounds are lovely and there are parks everywhere. Veera told us that there is so much winter, that people want to be outside  as much as possible when the weather is decent.

 

For a total contrast, we went to Freetown Christiania next. This was a former army area that was taken over by a group of hippies in 1971, and formed a collectively controlled village which has exempted itself from Copenhagen and Denmark laws. About 800 people live there in all sorts of homes -- sturdy, creative, wonky, and sketchy. A lot of the places we saw looked like they were storing up materials for some unknown purpose. The streets were in bad condition and mostly too small for cars. The area we stayed away from is known as Pusher Street, and it is famous for drug sales. After heroin became a problem, a rule was introduced that only 'soft drugs' were allowed, but still gangs control the sales area.

There was both art work and grafiti all over.

Imitation of a Tibetan Buddhist Temple like one we saw
in Nepal

Words on a gate of the same complex

One for the wider walkways and sturdier homes.

More artwork

This one reminded us of a Roma Caravan

A canal outside of Christinia

Our last official stop of the day was a marketplace where we got lunch.

The big fish on the right caught my interest, but real
customers (vs oglers like me) blocked a better shot.

We each got a Copenhagen card, good for entry over the next 3 days at a number of attractions and all the local transportation. We took the metro back to the hotel (to learn how it worked), planning to head out and explore, but neither of us had the energy, due to the combined impact of the overnight flight and a bad first night's sleep in a hot room with ineffective A/C, so we ended up crashing for the afternoon. We did rouse ourselves enough to join the group for dinner. Tomorrow we will have to make up for our lost time!