A damp morning of faint drizzle and a cold wind met Thursday and a long walking tour of the city that led to me to Christiana.  Christiana is a “free kingdom” with drugs sold openly and no cameras allowed, which makes it seem strange, unreal, and yet you have to marvel at the hippies who have occupied this “Green Light District” that was an abandoned military barracks, but has been Christiana Freetown for 40 years.  There is though a distinctive uneasy aura as you wander, it’s not a place I felt comfortable, nor taking this photo …

The classic symbol of Copenhagen is the Little Mermaid, and to be honest I had trouble finding her. Mainly due to how small she is, and how tucked out of the way the Little Mermaid is ~ there is no song and dance, bright lights or amazing back drop, just a Mermaid on a stone and only 1.25 metres high, so it is no Statue of Liberty, but it is a very Danish I guess.

My walking tour, as with all walks around capital cities took me to some impressive buildings, and how imposing these are depend on where or what you have seen before, maybe, but I took them for what they were and Amalienborg Palace and Rosenborg Castle light up even on a slightly damp day in Denmark… the pictures below shows Rosenborg Castle in the Kings Gardens.

More rain arrived as I visited the Rundetaarn (The Round Tower).  The 17th century tower has a spiraling walk to the top that takes you almost 120 feet above the streets of Copenhagen and provides excellent views of the city.  Of course if you get to the top to find 30 screaming teenage school kids (as I did) you might want to throw a few of them off !!

I can’t help but compare Copenhagen to Amsterdam because of a number of sites that strike me as similar, but I didn’t like Amsterdam, and I very much like Copenhagen.  So to that end I name them not similar at all, though this picture might disagree.

The day ended with a trip to Christianborg Palace, and in particular to head up to the top of the tower at almost 350 feet to get a night time view of Copenhagen.  It was biting cold and my fingers were like icicles as I feverishly clicked on my camera.  Some amazing views … the trip up the tower is free and in a lift rather than a staircase, and it all just added a little Danish kudos to the experience.

Tomorrow I leave Denmark behind after a short and enjoyable visit.  I really enjoy coming to places for 2-3 days to get a flavour of a place and learn a little bit too.  I find a few days is just enough with a little splattering of local knowledge, and of course Trip Advisor.

Tomorrow… Oslo, Norway.