10. Cycling Through København, Denmark

Thursday, April 30th, Maddie Parker and I headed to Copenhagen, Denmark. Maddie's cousin lives there, so we were able to stay with her, and have her show us around. It was nice seeing the city with a local, Maddie and I definitely could not have navigated around by ourselves. Friday, May 1st, was a Danish holiday. They celebrate the workers, so we headed to a park where there was music and lots of food and drink vendors. The next day, my Swedish friend Isabell was kind enough to take a train to Copenhagen for the day. We met in high school three years ago where she was an exchange student, and we've kept in touch ever since. It was so nice to see her again and spend the day with her.

(Isabell and I on top of the Rundetårn, an astronomical tower built into a church)

While she was here we went to Freetown Christiana, which is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood started in 1971 by a youth rebellion. Currently there are about 850 residents there today. It was very much a hippie town where cannabis was tolerated. They have a main street called Pusher Street, where a lot of marijuana is sold. They are very strict about people not taking pictures in that street. The cannabis situation has caused many conflicts, police raids, and negotiations.

 We also went on a ferry ride which started in New Harbor. We were able to see the opera house, the Royal Palace, and Our Savior Church. Sunday we headed to the Little Mermaid statue made famous by Hans Christain Anderson's fairytale. 

  (New Harbor)

        (The Little Mermaid statue)

(Hans Christian Anderson's memorial statue)

We then headed to Tivoli Garden, which is an amusement park and pleasure garden. We also went to a cemetery and the atmosphere of it was so lively. It seemed more like a park than a cemetery, many people were bicycling around there. The graves were also very different from ours, family members were able to personalize it by planting trees or flowers. It was a very pretty, peaceful place. By personalizing the grave I think it would make it easier to visit the deceased. 

  (Picture taken at the cemetery)

In Denmark it is very common for people to ride bikes everywhere. Maddie's cousin, Liv, was able to find us some, so we felt like locals for the weekend. From what I noticed, cyclers have the right-a- way to drivers. Many times parents had carts in front of their bicycle holding their children. Liv also said that it is also common for parents to leave their sleeping babies outside in the stroller while the parents are sitting in café or if they just go inside their homes. The parents leave a baby monitor attached to the crib and let their babies soak up the sun. It was very odd to hear that that was a normal thing here.

 

All I all, København was an awesome experience, it was even better to be able to see friendly faces (Liv and Isabell). It is a beautiful city and may be one of my favorites so far!!

28 more days! Next stop Poland!