Our Scandinavia Adventure: Day Three (2 August)

New day; new money . . . you have to like a country that puts painters, actors, physicists, and composers on its notes

and hearts all over its coins!
Maybe that's part of the reason that Denmark is considered the "happiest place on earth." For us, part of this happiness was transiting through Copenhagen's fantastic Kastrup Airport--a model of efficiency and ease (unlike London's Stansted--okay, I'll stop griping about Stansted). From the time we landed, it only took about 75 minutes to get our bag, find the self-serve ticket machine we needed to print out our train tickets to Stockholm, line up to buy express train tickets into Copenhagen, find the train platform, take the train into central station (a 12-minute trip--now that's what an airport transfer should be), walk to our hotel, and find ourselves at Bob's relaxing photo from yesterday. If only every airplane to hotel experience could be like that! Changing modes of transportation, various North American cities call themselves bike-friendly, but until they start installing these bike ramps on all the staircases, like we saw everywhere on our trip, I don't think they can really claim that title.
Not getting breakfast at our hotel was a great reason to seek pastries for breakfast--and we wandered over to a wonderful bakery on the island of Christianshavn to do just that. Lagkagehuset smelled like heaven, and we joined the huge crowds buying pastries, although I'm still not sure how to pronounce mine (we both had a really difficult time communicating which of the seemingly endless variety we wanted--Klobenbolle! Klobenbolle! Klobenbolle?--pointing eventually did the trick),
but it was delicious.
I have no idea what this shop sign meant, but I liked the reindeer perched on the lavender pot.
After enjoying our breakfast and our walk, we arrived at our destination--the "free city" of Christiania, established in 1971. Spread over some 85 acres, Christiania is self-run under democratic principles, with decisions made by consensus, in an attempt at creating a Utopian community. New residents can only move in when current residents leave or die. Originating from a collective squat which began as a response to the lack of affordable housing in Copenhagen, Christiania does not consider itself part of Copenhagen, and Copenhagen's response to Christiania changes with each government--so even though Christiania has survived for 36 years, its future is never considered guaranteed. There are several entrances to Christiania, of which this is the main entrance: I did not expect to see Korean in Christiania; these characters are pronounced "Kuh-ree-suh-tee-ah-nee-ah."
Photography is prohibited along Christiania's main "street" (more like a ramshackle road with stands selling food and goods), but I did take a few other photos elsewhere in Christiania, including this sign marking one of its boundaries:
Many of the buildings are decorated with murals that signal their uses, such as this woodworking shop:
The flag of Christiania has a red background with three yellow circles (said to be the three dots over the Is in Christiania), and we saw this emblem everywhere in Christiania,
including on this clothesline which showcases a very uniform wardrobe!
Since Christiania is a separate entity, it has its own post office, again with the flag motif.We left Christiania and headed for nearby Vor Frelsers Church and its 400 steps to the top:
It's not a European trip unless you pay to climb something tall, but today's climb was definitely different, with the last 150 steps winding around the exterior of the spire. Many of the interior passages were extremely narrow, steep, and low-ceilinged (I don't know how Bob made it through some of those entranceways), and the exterior steps were very narrow, and flexed with each step!
Here's Bob about 3/4 of the way up to the top, before he decided he'd had enough and turned around. "I'll meet you back on the first level," I said, meaning that we would meet on the viewing platform that was at the top of the interior stairs, but after I went to the top and came back down to the platform, Bob wasn't there. It turned out he had gone all the way back down and exited the church. "I meant the viewing platform," I said. "I know what you meant," Bob said, with a smirk that said he just wanted to get back on the ground as soon as possible! Without Bob, I was left to record my ascent to the top by myself:
The views were certainly worth the climb:

We had a quick look in the Danish Architecture Centre, situated right on the water:
Their self-serve cloakroom was empty, resembling a sculpture more than a cloakroom!
We wandered down side streets, feeling sorry that we weren't hungry or thirsty enough to stop at all the quaint little sidewalk tables for snacks.
This next building, dating from the 17th century, is quite remarkable, with its four dragon tails creating one of the most distinct spires I've ever seen--kind of like an inverted soft-serve ice-cream cone! The most amazing aspect of this building, at least to me, is its original function, which seems at odds with its playful exterior. Can you guess what it once was?
It was the stock exchange! As we walked around Copenhagen, I enjoyed seeing the ways that different animals are incorporated into the stonework. Rather than the usual lions, all manner of creatures are represented, including dogs
and chickens (I think).
As in Oslo, we didn't know what this building was when we first saw it, and it turned out to be Copenhagen's city hall.
The inner courtyard featured a wonderful fountain:
When the wind picked up, the bear couldn't get any water! More creatures graced city hall


and the balconies that overlooked the courtyard were especially nice.
The public is welcome to wander throughout the building, and we did just that--and we had the beautiful corridors to ourselves during our visit.
This was one of my favourite spots, with a great textured combination of light fixtures and beautiful wall reliefs. The main hall is lovely, but not quite as overwhelming as Oslo's.
The rest of the building is quite spectacular, with more great light fixtures, numerous open levels, and carpets featuring the pleasing Copenhagen city logo:


We stopped in at the National Museum for a bit, where we took in runes like this one from around 1000, which was apparently erected by a man and his sons in honour of a relative:
Once a royal palace, some of the rooms have been preserved, and I took this next photo because this particular bedchamber featured a rare light fixture that I didn't like!
Tree motifs came up a lot on our trip, and I found them to be consistently beautiful. This one is in the National Museum's inner courtyard and I never did learn its significance, but I really liked it.
More creatures graced the National Gallery--this time elephants!
We wanted some time outside, so we decided to go on a canal boat tour to rest our feet a bit.

The tour was quite nice, taking us past fancy condominiums and quaint houses,
and through narrow and open water.
One nice thing about the tour was that it allowed us to technically see the Little Mermaid statue
without having to go to the effort to get there by land. Distinctly underwhelming, I'd put it in the same "not really must-see" category as Manneken Pis in Brussels. I found it far more amusing to learn that the queen waits for the royal yacht in the octagonal structures below:
Even when there weren't any particular landmarks for our tour guide to point out, it was lovely to be on the water.
We went past the "Black Diamond" extension of the Royal Library, and would wander through both buildings tomorrow:
A tiny Christiania boat sailed past us
and we soon returned to our starting point

and were back on land again, a bit munchy! Trianon hit the spot:
After all, if their pastries are good enough for the queen, well then, I think they'll do for those of us who have to wait for our yachts out in the elements.
The shop was just about to close when we left, and there were still quite a few pastries left. Bob asked whether the employees got to take them home, and although they said that they could take them if they wished, they also pointed out that working in a bakery doesn't exactly make you crave more pastries during your off-hours. So, what happens to these leftovers from the queen's baker? Pigs get them. Yes, in democratic Denmark, the queen's bakery has a deal with a local pig farmer, and some lucky pigs get to eat all the leftover sweets from the day. I've never seen Bob look sad that he wasn't a bit more porcine! One more (mythical) animal sighting for the day,
and it was time for some non-pastry sustenance. We made some great purchases at a supermarket, which very helpfully included a scale to weigh and label your own produce on the honour system!

I know that eating supermarket food in your hotel room sounds a bit unromantic, but it was actually perfect and delicious: The open-faced sandwiches are my attempt to eat local--and the smoked salmon we got from the humble supermarket was fantastic, with the freshest border of dill that brought out its slightly salty flavour. I couldn't tell the difference between the three types on offer, and the cheapest ended up being delicious--could the most expensive have been that much better? In any case, with a bit of avocado, some cream cheese, and some fantastic bread, it made for one yummy dinner!