Days 135-136: Copenhagen

The cool weather in Denmark isn't quite so nice when it's never dry. It's been overcast since I got here, and it will rain hard for an hour or two, then just be cloudy for a few hours, then rain some more. My other big complaint is that it turns out the rumors of Scandanvia being expensive are very true. I hadn't figured out the exchange rate when I wrote that first post, but getting any sort of meal here is Switzerland-expensive, and I imagine that trend will continue into Sweden.

Other than those two issues, Copenhagen is a pretty nice city. I did my suggested walk yesterday, which took me to a lot of the big points of interest in the city. First was going by the town hall, which is right near my hostel.

I worked my way down Stroget St, which is apparently the longest pedestrian street in Europe, although I didn't find it seemed that much longer than many others I've been down. From there I headed along one of the canals to the river, and detoured a bit to check out a sand sculpture contest. The sculptures were quite a bit more advanced than the ones I saw in Brno, and they had historical themes. I think each team got assigned a specific period as a guide for their sculpture.

Next was a wander through the Amalienborg Castle courtyard to the Marble Church.

After a bit of a break to avoid some rain I continued on through the Copenhagen Citadel, which is an old naval fortification and barracks. Instead of going right through I walked along a path on the grassy walls. Eventually this green space leads to the Little Mermaid sculpture.

The cruise ships dock right near the statue, so it was pretty busy with tourists. It's places like this where I just don't get the appeal of cruises. They'd get off, walk maybe 200m to the mermaid to take pictures, then either go back to the ship or get on a pre-arranged bus to drive them around the city and show them some other sights. They just always seem to be observers being shown the city, and not participants experiencing it. I guess different people are just looking for different things.

I walked through the park at Rosenborg Castle (Copenhagen seems to have a lot of castles) and during another shower I ducked into a free museum I saw called The David Collection. It had a handful of paintings, but much more furniture and glassware. It's real specialty though, was a collection of Islamic art, writing and clothing. They had really good English displays giving breakdowns of all the different Islamic empires and which pieces came from which, and I actually found it all rather fascinating.

I can't really think of anything else too noteworthy along the trip. Today I was feeling a bit tired and just wandered a bit, checking out a few of the nearby islands. Tomorrow I want to check out two museums, and that's basically it for the things that have caught my attention. Here's a few more pictures from the two days, including Tivoli Gardens and a statue of Hans Christian Andersen.