Copenhagen

I'm enjoying my visit to Copenhagen, land of Hans Christian Anderson (that's the Little Mermaid statue in the harbor above) and Niels Bohr and Tycho Brahe. Since I'm here for work, I haven't done that much sightseeing, but I did get out and explore a bit this weekend. Can't be all work and no play!

I'm not staying in a hotel but in an apartment that was rented for visitors over the summer. It's much nicer (more space!) and there's a full kitchen so I can cook for myself if I'm so inclined. And it just feels more homey. Here's the building I'm living in during my trip:

It's in a very cute area of town, right along the canals. This is the view from the front of the apartment:

I see tour boats going by every so often with tourists and a guide speaking through a megaphone. It's a bit amusing, and makes me feel more like a resident than a tourist myself.

On Saturday, I spent the morning figuring out the public transportation so I could go find a fabric store and buy my one souvenir -- some fun cotton to make a skirt to remind me of Denmark. Mission accomplished, I met up with a friend and her family at the Little Mermaid statue and we wandered around a park and headed out to the beach. It was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm. Everything is blooming here right now, and the lilacs in the park smelled wonderful.


At the beach, there were even a few crazy people out swimming in the ocean. I put my feet in and promptly jumped back onto the sand because it was so cold! It reminded me of the water temperature in Glacier National Park in Montana. Lots and lots of boats were out and about, which would have been a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Today, I wandered around my neighborhood and just took it easy. There's a church nearby that I can see from the windows of "my" apartment and I hear it chime every hour, on the hour. So I wandered over to investigate.

I saw that the tower was open, so I paid to up to the top of the spire, figuring I would get some really good views of the city. I was not disappointed. The spiral on the spire is actually stairs going all the way to the top on the outside, and here you can see the stairs a bit better:

The weather was a bit temperamental today. It stopped raining for a few hours while I was out exploring, but it was really windy!

There's a reason I'm holding onto the railing in this picture!

Here's the view back towards the apartment and canal:

And further down the canal towards the harbor:

Denmark has lots of offshore windmills. I'm sure those mills were generating lots of energy today!

And here's a zoomed-in picture of the old stock exchange building. The spiral roof is the tails of 4 dragons wrapped around the spire. You can see three of the dragons at the base of the spire, the fourth is on the back:

I actually learned about this particular building from a movie - The Prince and Me - with Julia Stiles. Kind of a silly movie, but it's a fun one. And, apparently, educational!

I'm still here for another week, so I'm sure there will be more pictures to come.