Day 4: Hygge Living
My official introduction to Copenhagen
June 19, 2022
A Stop At City Hall
With breakfast scheduled for 8 am the next morning, I got up a bit earlier since I wanted to return to Rådhuspladsen, the square that City Hall is located in, to get some photos with relatively fewer crowds than the night before. Getting ready to head out with one of my peers, we realized it was raining a bit more than we had expected, but raincoat, umbrella, and camera in tow, we headed out - opting not to take our bikes since it was only a 10-minute walk, and would let us get a better look at some of the shops along the way.
Windowshopping along the way since most of the stores were still closed, we passed by souvenir shops spreading hygge - a Danish concept of finding comfort and warmth in simple, soothing things - as well as the entrance to Tivoli Gardens, an old amusement park that I was (luckily) later convinced to go to by some of my peers.
At Rådhuspladsen the beginning of the Tour de France decorations were starting to pop up, since the Grand Depart (start) of the Tour was happening in Copenhagen in a little under 2 weeks, with a countdown clock showing how many days were left. Between raindrops, I took some pictures of City Hall - getting more detailed pictures with my camera - and the Scandic Palace hotel, which was designed in a similar fashion to that of city hall.
An Unlikely Breakfast
Upon returning to the hotel, we all grabbed breakfast from the lobby - which featured a large spread of fruits, vegetables, cereals, pastries, cheeses, deli meats, and different types of bread (a very different experience from “continental breakfasts” in America, but in the best way!). By that point, the few remaining students who arrived in Copenhagen a day late due to flight delays had arrived and the whole group got to hang out and talk before we were scheduled to meet at the DIS building - the study abroad foundation our program was run through.
An Introduction to København
Around 10 am, one of the facilitators from DIS met with us at our hotel to do introductions and take on a short walking tour to orient us a bit more with the city and show us where our
classroom would be for the duration of our time in Copenhagen. By the time we headed out en route to the DIS classroom so we could see where we would be meeting up some mornings, the rain had eased up, but the overcast weather was threatening more later. On our walk, it seemed as if all the biking infrastructure that had previously blended into the city was popping out at us, like miniature green lights for cyclists and separated cycle tracks (maybe because now we had our own rental bicycles and had experienced biking a bit around the city).
We passed by Tivoli Gardens and Rådhuspladsen again on our way to Vestergade, a street in central Copenhagen that ran parallel to Strøget, one of the longest shopping streets in Europe that is entirely car and even bike-free. Briefly, we stopped at the DIS building, near Københavns Universitet, and saw the classroom where we would be meeting some mornings. After touring the DIS facility, we continued on along a few shopping streets, seeing the Round Tower (Rundetaarn), a Den Økologiske Pølsemand stall (an organic hotdog stand), street performers, and in the distance I was able to pick out the crown on top of the tower of Christiansborg Palace, which by then was beginning to become a familiar sight/area to me.
A little before 11:30 am, we arrived at Højbro Plads a popular public square in the old part of town. We gathered by one of the canals, where our guide dropped us off with tickets for one of the local Stromma Canal Tours and the recommendation of checking out the tower at the top of Christansborg Palace, a free viewing platform of the city if we had the time.
With the canal tickets being “open-ended” for the day, we got the option to choose if we wanted to go on the next tour that was starting relatively soon or one a bit later. While we were deciding, one of our group members noticed a hidden gem, an underwater sculpture, partially hidden in the shadows of the water, with no clear sign noting it was there or what it was. From what we could tell, it seemed to be sculpted people stuck under the water, and with the use of Google, we found out it was Agnete og Havmanden (Agnete and the Mermen Statue) and meant to depict the mermen calling to his wife, Agnete who left to live on land, along with their seven children (learn more about the piece here!).
Cruising the Canals
Since it wasn’t raining at the time, and there was a tour about to start, we opted to go on the earlier canal cruise, which departed from Ved Stranden and was scheduled to run for approximately an hour. Traveling through the canals, our guide oriented us with the city, buildings, and some of the historical context, which I always find so fascinating and interesting.
We learned that Christiansborg Palace used to be the royal palace however today serves as the seat of the Danish Parliament, as well as the fact that the building next to it (the one with the dragon spire) was called Børsen - a 17th-century stock exchange, that according to our tour guide was one of the only buildings from that time period in Copenhagen that hadn’t caught on fire due to the spiral created by the dragon tails.
Dipping under the low-laying bridges, we briefly made our way out to the main canal (Københavns Havn) passing by old warehouses, a former customs house that’s being renovated into a clubhouse, and the Copenhagen Opera House before turning into a smaller canal on the island of Amager. Since the canal we had turned into was lined with residential houses and houseboats, there were more “quiet zones”, where our tour guide wouldn’t make announcements since the sound easily carried, however, two interesting buildings we saw was Torpedohallen - a repurposed torpedo hanger now acting as upscale apartments, and the Gunboat Sheds - which was historically used for the navy, however today houses various offices for tech companies and architects. In the distance, we saw Amager Bakke, an incinerator that acted as a waste-to-energy plant that featured a ski slope on the roof - which we had a tour scheduled of the facility later on in the week- and caught a glimpse of Christiania, a micronation originally founded as a squatted military base.
Returning back to the main canal, we passed by the Royal Yacht Dannebrog in the water and saw where the ship docks when the Queen boards it, and passed quickly behind the back of the Little Mermaid sculpture. I officially learned the domed church was Frederik’s Church and ornate buildings around it were the royal palaces, Amalienborg, where you could tell if the royal family was there based on whether the royal flags were raised or not. We turned down one more “side canal”, passing by even more houseboats heavily adorned with plants and other greenery and the tower with an external spiral staircase (The Church of Our Saviour) before returning to Ved Stranden, where we had started to end our canal cruise. While it’s not per se the main mode of transportation today (although there are public boat “buses”), it was fun to see Copenhagen from the water, and how people potentially traveled to and around the city prior to airplanes or the construction of the metro.
Afterward, we grabbed lunch at Cafe Højbro Plads - which for me consisted of smørrebrød (Danish open-face sandwiches) - and we debriefed on our itinerary for the whole trip and then more in-depth for the weekly events and activities planned for Copenhagen.
Time to Explore
By 2 pm, we were done with our daily activities, so I thought it might be best to walk back to the hotel so I could pick up my bike so I’d be able to cover more ground while I explored for the rest of the day. On my way back, I found myself walking down Snaregade and Magstræde, two of the oldest streets in Copenhagen, which mixed with the old buildings and slick cobblestones felt like I was stepping back in time. Taking my time enjoying walking the quiet European streets, I passed by City Hall and strolled along Strøget, finally getting a chance to window-shop along the way admiring the colorful watercolor cards posted on wire stands in front of various shops.
Once I was back at the hotel, I picked up my bicycle and met up with my roommate, where together we decided to head back out to the old part of the city, to see some of the buildings we now had some more context about thanks to our canal cruise. Recalling a public bicycle parking spot at Højbro Plads we passed by earlier, we figured to head back there since it was located relatively centrally to most of the things we wanted to see.
Parking our bikes in a sea of other bicycles, I found myself glad that mine was a bright turquoise one, which ended up being relatively easy to find, and made me wonder what people used to identify their bicycles after a long day since so many of them were the same brand and color. Since it was Sunday, and we knew the viewing tower at Christiansborg Palace would close in a few hours, we thought it would be best to go there first, and luckily there weren’t too many people in line waiting to go through security or go on the lift.
A Bird's Eye View
The first stop near the top of the tower was the old storage room, where there were various old models of Christiansborg Palace that were used during its reconstruction as well as plaster models of sculptures and decorations that can be found inside and outside Christiansborg Palace today. After reading a bit more about the history behind the artifacts that could be found in the old storage room, we took another flight of stairs to reach the top of the tower, which offered sweeping views over Copenhagen, 144ft above the city. Using the plaques that were around the tower, pointing out notable buildings in the city, we were able to gain our bearings from above, and see where we had already been, or where we wanted to go.
Palaces Fit for a King (or Queen)
After a bit, we descended back to the city stopping briefly by the Royal Library Gardens, before walking a bit more around the grounds of Christiansborg, seeing the royal stables, parliament building, and museum. Leaving Slotsholmen, we decided to walk along the waterfront in Gammelholm (the area I had spent my first night in Copenhagen) passing by the Havnegade Harbour Promenade again (the area with the sidewalk trampolines) until we reached Nyhavn, which had been recently decorated with Danish flag banners (perhaps because of the approaching holiday - Sankthansaften).
On our way to Amalienborg and Frederiks Kirke, I passed by the waffle shop again, but this time took a picture of the sign so I could remember the name and *hopefully* return later that night or in the upcoming days. After taking a few pictures, my roommate suggested we check out Freetown Christiania, which we had briefly seen glimpses of from the canal cruise and had initially been founded as a squatted military base in 1971.
A Town of Freedoms
Taking the Inderhavnsbroen over to Amager, we ran into a brief traffic jam since there was some boat traffic requiring the drawbridge to be lifted.
Accidentally, we ended up finding a quiet back route leading to Christiania that ran along the water. Parking our bikes in the community, we walked around the area that was bustling with events and activities. Surrounded by lush greenery and artistic expression, Christiania certainly had a unique counterculture to the city of Copenhagen, however since photos are not allowed everywhere in the area, I only got a few where they were permitted. After a bit of walking (I hadn’t fully realized how big Christiania was!), we found an eating area with a stage where some musicians were setting up and we recalled some others in our program mentioning there was a music festival happening there that they were planning on attending later in the evening.
Around 6 pm, we decided to leave and ended up biking back towards our hotel. Along the way, we got sidetracked by a castle that just seemingly appeared in the middle of the city blocks. Parking our bikes and walking into the flourishing gardens that featured a large castle in the distance, we found a sign saying we were in Kongens Have (the King’s Garden) which featured tree-lined paths, pavilions, and Rosenborg Slot (Rosenborg Castle), a 17th-century palace that was the summerhouse for King Christian IV and today house the crown jewels. Tourists and locals alike crowded the gardens, taking pictures of the castle, taking leisurely strolls around the gardens, or just sitting and enjoying the park. Before leaving, I noted that the castle faced east, meaning for us most of our photos were facing the sun at 6:30 pm, so I thought to myself that I would stop by another morning before our scheduled activities so I could get some better photos.
Music Festivals & Waffles
With some of our classmates’ writing in our group chat that they would be meeting up in Christiania a little after 7:30 pm for the music festival, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to go back since it was only a 10-minute bike ride away and experience some live music in Scandinavia. We stayed for a bit, listening to one of the bands that were performing before walking around Christiania for a bit more, and ultimately decided we should find somewhere to get dinner since it was nearly 9 pm.
Biking back towards Inderhavnsbroen, we saw an outdoor foodcourt (Broens Gadekøkken) that seemed to be open later than a lot of other restaurants, so we ended up stopping at Haddock’s Seafood. Since Nyhavn was just over the bridge, I suggested we could stop at Vaffelbageren (the waffle spot) for a quick dessert before calling it a night.
Stopping at Vaffelbageren - where they specialize in Belgian waffles and ice cream - was probably one of the best decisions I made on my trip, and could not recommend it more to anyone going to Copenhagen. Having been there since 1953, Vaffelbageren uses five different types of sugar in their waffles, one of which caramelizes when it’s baked, which combined with ice cream is quite the combination. For my first trip there, I ended up getting a Belgian waffle with dulce de leche ice cream and whipped cream on top.
Around 10 pm, the sun had begun to set and the clouds above Nyhavn had turned pink, creating almost a picture-perfect image before we started biking back to our hotel, however not quite tired yet, one of my classmates and I stayed up a bit later to play a few games of chess (something that I had not done in quite awhile).
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