Copenhagen is a lot like Amsterdam, but (dare I say) not as awesome.
But still very cool.
The two cities are similar insomuch as both have canals. And lots of reclaimed land from the sea. And a cultural obsession with high design and ingenuity. And with open-faced sandwiches. And above all, the Dutch and the Danish share a love of bicycles.
Pictured below is the recognizable heritage district: Nyhaven (New Harbor). Swedish prisoners of war dug the canal in the 1660's, and today, while a bit touristy, it's still striking to see the colorful, iconic, seventeenth-century houses lining the harbor. It was bustling.
Ah, yes, this was the home of Hans Christian Anderson, the king of fairy tales. You can't escape that fact on a visit to Copenhagen. He wrote "Princess and the Pea," "The Ugly Duckling," and "The Little Mermaid" while residing at Nyhaven No. 20 (red house below).
Can't forget the national beverage!
Of course it's to be expected that there are a number of bio-dome experiments going on in the city--this
is a city focused on design after all. And the Danish happen to be the premier leaders in renewable energy solutions.
Just one week before we arrived,
Denmark succeeded in running the entire country on wind energy for a whole day, with enough left over to help out other European countries. Pretty awesome.
Little did we know about the amazing Tivoli Gardens, because we found ourselves in yet another amusement park. Probably could have skipped Legoland!
Tivoli Gardens sits right in the middle of city and still has the feel of a grand, nineteenth-century strolling park.
It was a fine way to spend a Saturday night in the summertime.
There was a ballet:
An orchestral performance:
Oodles of restaurants:
And lots of rides! I loved this element of the park. There are so many layers of trees and flowers--the landscaping is so well done. All the rides are tucked away in these landscaped niches and layered on top of each other, almost as if to mimic the gardens and green areas.
We also toured the underground ruins located underneath this castle, which were unearthed at the turn of the 20th century. The ruins are the remains of the very first royal castle to be built on this site, dating back to the 1100's. It really is a fascinating and worthwhile walk through the history of Denmark amid the underground rubble of medieval buildings.
They weren't bored AT ALL:
Skipping all the way up modern times, water sports are huge in Copenhagen. The city has created beaches, pools, diving boards, "cliff" jumps, and even wake boarding courses on the canals. Kayaking seemed to be as popular as biking, and kayaks are everywhere.
That's my kind of town.
The water must be that much cleaner than in Amsterdam because it's rare to witness anyone
voluntarily jump into a canal here.
Even their boardwalks are high design--no 1950's Jersey Shore vibe going on here.
They are playing some sort of kayak handball down there:
I cannot get over this kayak slide. Seriously. It's a
kayak slide.
There's my crew!
And even though I'm still partial to Amsterdam, check out this video and you'll see why Copenhagen is pretty darn cool.
36 Hours in Copenhagen
