Copenhagen

This vacation I visited Paul in Eastern France (Dijon, Besaçon) but I don't have the pictures from that trip yet so I'm going to write about the trip I took to Copenhagen after France. My friend Dave from college has an internship there and I thought it would be fun to visit him! The first two days he was working and so I just walked around and saw all the touristy stuff:

I'm pretty sure this is the Parliament....


Royal Ballet:


Striking Danish health care workers. They were circling the square I was having a picnic in and singing protest songs in Danish to the tunes of "When the Saints Come Marching In" and "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain."


They got closer and closer to me. They handed me a piece of candy (normally I wouldn't accept candy from strangers but they were nurses...) and a helpful leaflet explaining their plight (in Danish). I've never been more flattered than when actual Danish people thought I was Danish. They are the most attractive people I've ever seen.


Nuhavn, Famous Canal


I just wanted to take a picture of the boat and I got caught by a sailor.


Cute café:


Queen's House:


Cool building near Queen's house:


Famous Little Mermaid statue with random people who wouldn't give other people a chance to take pictures in front of it:

Fun fact: This statue is an homage to Hans Christian Andersen's character. Hans Christian Andersen is one of the Danes' favorite native sons and they affectionately call him Ho C.

Underwater statue of the Merman and his 7 Sons. I don't know why its underwater.


The next day I went to a really cool art museum that had an interesting mix of art including Danish art which I'd never really seen much of before. I even saw several paintings by a guy named Dahl! Here is the museum:




I also took some pictures of some cool buildings that day:

Dragon Spire Building (At least that's what I call it)


Black and Gold Twisty Spire:


The next day, Dave and I went to Christiania which is basically a hippie commune set up in abandoned military barracks. The people have been living their for 30 years and they consider themselves to be an independent state:

Entrance:


Exit: "you are now entering the EU"


There was a really delicious vegan restaurant where we ate in Christiania so I was pretty much in heaven. The next day I was leaving in the evening and we mostly just walked around Copenhagen. Dave told me about how in Denmark people use the graveyards as public parks (having picnics in between gravestones is totally normal) and the gravestones are really well kept up and unique.






We really liked the quotation on the top of this one:

"Give me the grace to take a joke and pass it on to other folk"

I also have to include a picture of one the lakes built around Copenhagen to keep out invaders:


OK, I guess that's it! It was a great long weekend!