Day 10-22: Copenhagen, Denmark — Seeing (the world) 2̶0̶2̶0̶ 2022!

Holy cow, how am I supposed to do one blog post about 12 days in an amazing city? This is gonna be tough. Expect lots of pictures as well as a bunch of side posts with random thoughts I forget to include here.

First, I'll tell you we stayed in a beautiful home exchange, just a little bit outside of the city center. It was a townhouse setup, in a well-organized block of homes. I'm not sure whether to compare it to a neighborhood or an apartment complex, because it felt a little like both. Each parallel strip of townhouses shared a courtyard area, where there were sandboxes, mailboxes, storage areas, and lots of bikes and toys. Around the corner was a trash and recycling area. Everything was simple and sensible, but it still felt very much like a cozy community. There were multiple similar-but-not-identical setups along the main road we were on. Each was its own thing, but you could copy the layouts pretty easily using mostly the same Lego blocks (Denmark loves Lego!).

Their mail carrier rides a bike. So Danish!

Story clearly misses Willie. She had full-on conversations with the Roomba at our home exchange, directing and correcting it as it cleaned.

The neighborhood cat. Why are orange cats so much nicer than other cats? Has science studied this?

Since I’m writing this from the future (August Me talking about July Us), I can say that Copenhagen moved high up the list of favorite cities for the family. We all loved it and for all different reasons. Story was a big fan of the many, many playgrounds scattered all throughout the city. It seemed like we never walked more than a few blocks without having to stop to let her climb around or swing. It was really nice still having a kiddo who can’t resist a play structure. Mike would find a way to workout while she played, too. My personal favorite was the one we came across that was a mini-Copenhagen. Story climbed the toy version of the same tower we climbed for real in Christianshavn.

Sagan found great skate spots all over town. Some were designated skate parks, but other times it was some historic site that just screamed to be skated. Below are pictures from just a sampling of the spots he skated. I’m not sure which he’d say was his favorite, but I was personally a fan of the indoor bowl in Christiania. It doesn’t appear to be owned by anyone and is definitely a beloved community skate spot. Christiania is also called Freetown, and they embrace anarchy. Okay, maybe not anarchy, but certainly freedom to be who you are and faith that you will be a good person while you’re there. Skaters can come and go as they please, and every one of them seems to treat the space with reverence and respect.

Speaking of Christiania, that was another favorite for all of us. It’s most well-known for being an area where marijuana and hash have been sold for years. It’s technically illegal, but within Christiania, it’s mostly ignored by the police. As I’ve always told our kids, “Stay under the radar, and you can get away with a lot.” (Excellent parenting advice, right?)
But the drug thing is really just one small part of what this area is about. It’s also a cool art collective/community. There’s graffiti art everywhere, artisans selling their wares, a huge hardware store/resale shop, and even an area with free books, clothes, and random items that anyone can take. One vendor gave Story a tiny little painting he’d made for free. He said “I’m having a good day, and I want to share that with you.” She also snagged a great flannel shirt (hello, 90s!) from the free store. Oh, and Sagan bought a beer for the first time. That wasn’t a Freetown thing but rather a Denmark thing. The beer was so-so, but it was still cool that he could just order one without using a McLovin ID.

This visit was not Mike’s first time in Freetown. 1996 Mike was very impressed.

Just outside of Freetown, Mike, Story, and I climbed up to the very tippy-top of the Church of Our Savior. Story wanted to count the number of steps. We counted 397, which we think is more accurate than the stated “400” on their website. Those last three steps are tiny and could only be taken by a mouse. Surprisingly, my fear of (some) heights didn’t kick in on this hike up. It was super cool along the way too, with lots to stop and look at. My favorites were all the broken angels and cherubs and whatnot that they have in storage on various floors. It feels perfectly creepy and beautiful all at once.

Tivoli, an amusement park right in the city, was so cool. My phone was close to dead that whole day, so I don’t have a ton of pictures. Just trust me, if you’re ever in Copenhagen, go.
Story rode her first big rides there with Sagan, including the roller coaster that loops you upside down. The grownups were lame and just hung out together, because our friends Tammy and Nick were still in town at that point. Tammy “told me she’s old without telling me she’s old” when she whipped out a plant-identifying app to see what some flowers were. I’m slightly younger than her, so I can’t remember what they were called. I’ll have that app in the next few years, though. My time is coming. (Love you, Tammo!)

Not a great picture, but it perfectly captures Story waiting in line for her first big roller coaster. Sagan is a good big brother, even when he doesn’t always want to be.

I don’t speak Danish, but I think I can guess what this coaster is called.

This Copenhagen post just keeps going, doesn’t it? Sorry about that. I’m using my photos from there to remind me of all we did and…we did a lot. It was all cool too, so I want to include everything!
We explored a big market area with our friends. The kids chose fruits and veggies to bring home. They all watched this big bumblebee crawling around a flower. Story even tried to buy two tiny pickling cucumbers on her own, but the nice market lady told her she could just have them for free.

We rented a GoBoat and rode it through the canals. We swam in the bathing areas and Story gathered seaweed. We saw the Little Mermaid statue, which was actually bigger than we’d expected since everyone always tells you it’s “tiny and disappointing.” We saw palaces and parks and babies sleeping outside all alone in their strollers, just like we’d heard they do. We watched local officials helping (we assume?) anyone who looked out of sorts. We saw beautiful murals on buildings everywhere.

And I haven’t even talked about Nyhavn (pronounced like new-hown), which is the area with the iconic Copenhagen views. We walked along there many times, had drinks, ate dinner, and got Belgian waffles with all the toppings. It’s touristy for sure, but it’s beautiful and vibrant as well. Touristy for a reason.

The crazy part is that, with all we did and saw, we barely dipped our toes into Copenhagen and didn’t even come close to any other cities in Denmark. I don’t think it would take much convincing to get our family back there again in the future. I’ll end this post with a bunch more random pictures because by now you’re surely done reading.