# 9 Exploring Copenhagen the Talitha way!

 Hej (Hello in Danish),

Well first things first, there was no business class on this flight which I figured but a girl can hope 🙏🏽. I did have a window seat and an empty middle seat so that was nice. It was a short flight but I was so tired that I slept most of the flight. Almost no announcements, no free drinks/food so a pretty quiet flight. I woke up just before landing and saw part of the sunset. And if you look closely on the picture, you see a dome, looked like one of the dome shaped accomodations I've seen on tv but who knows.

First stop on this Eurotrip is Copenhagen. According to this article it happens to be this years most livible city in the world. And so, I'll keep that in mind when I check out the city. I landed around 930pm and took a train to the city. A couple of people on the train were watching the match haha and so I kind of watched with them until halftime. It wasn't a long ride either, about 25 minutes. I got off the train and walked towards my hotel. I saw a bunch of places with outdoor seating and it looked cozy! I love when there's outdoor seating, I didn't see that a whole lot in the US or Canada (mostly on rooftops but not so much next to the streets or on squares). I checked in, went to the room (with tv!) and finished watching the match and read for a bit before closing my eyes.

White dot in the back is the dome (left picture)!

Welcome to Copenhagen Airport!

People in the Metro watching the match.

My room for the next 4 days

Tv and little desk in the room

For those worrying :-)

I had a pretty broken night and was so tired when I woke up that I kind of felt like staying in bed all day. But it was time to get up and explore Copenhagen! And man, did I! I left a little after 11am, so I did take it easy that morning. And sunset isn't until late so I had plenty of time to be outside!

Here we go!

First things first, ATM. Why? Because I was going to Freetown Christiania first and I read you needed cash there, and also because I needed a bill for my collection. First one on Maps didn't excist or was so hidden that I couldn't find it but most likely the first because the next and the next also seemed invisible 🤷🏽‍♀️. I also checked with a guy at Tourist Information and he did point me to one in a corner shop that I found but they charged a high fee and so I cancelled the transaction. Tip: check before you get money out what the conversion rate is. That is how I knew it charged so much extra. Instead of €160, it said €189 locaaaa. And so I continued my journey. I ended up finally finding an actual bank with an ATM (also found a bank before but no ATM). The banks usually don't charge any fees and this one indeed didn't wootwoot. It was pretty close to my hotel though and so I got to start all over again haha. But it's not like it was hot or anything..oh wait, yes it was!! I passed a postcard with the famous little mermaid statue on it and woops, I forgot about 'her' haha and made a mental note to go there later. I also saw a lot of bicycles everywhere and bikepaths, pretty nice! The locals also raise their hand in kind of a stop signal whenever they stop to let people behind them be aware of that. Also pretty nice!

A familiar sight of Copenhagen

It was super hot today and so people were sunbathing and swimming everywhere in the city and outside the city! Pretty nice!

First stop was Freetown Christiania, an intentional, self-governing anarchist commune. It used to have a bad rep because of illegal drugs, mostly on Pusher Street, but they don't want to assiociate with that street anymore. It was a super artsy small town, very cool vibes, lots of cute shops and coffee shops/restaurants and also lots of (street) art. And there was also a skating area in the middle of it all. Houses looked cute as well, lots of plants all around and no cars allowed! I thought my cousin, who passed away recently, would have loved it and it would be one of the things I would have shared with her and tell her about. She always asked about my travels and loved hearing my stories as did I sharing them with her. And a little later that day, I thought about that and I felt sad. Sad I couldn't share that or anything else with her anymore. I still think about her every day but lately not so much in a sad way anymore. And I held my necklace that I made to honor her and took a few deep breaths as I listened to music and kept walking. 

Back to Freetown Christiania, it was around 2ish and I didn't eat yet, drank so much water though and so I wasn't really hungry. I saw a sign that said Affagato and decided to get one. It was so hot outside so it was nice to have a bit of icecream. After that I walked on the outside of the town for a bit and it was full of trees and cute little paths and water. I left the town after that and walked towards the Circle bridge, which was being cleaned and so I had to go back for a bit to cross another bridge to get to the little mermaid statue. It seems to be the theme today to do detours 😅🤷🏽‍♀️. I passed the corner shop again with the ATM and remembered they sold bananas so I bought a banana since I only had the affagato and a big bottle of water. I then kind of passed some castle grounds, had to go a little out of the way but since I hadn't used the restroom yet that day and figured it would have one, I went to check it out (it was free) and I was right. And after that, I finally went to the little mermaid statue. I remembered somebody went there a few years back and I checked my Whatsapp history and found the conversation. When I received a photo of the statue a few years back, I replied that it looked sad and that I expected more. And yup, that was the case haha. 

Hello little one 🤩

On my way to Christiania

Freetown Christiania main entrance and when you leave it reads You are now entering the EU.

One of the rules/guidelines used to be no pictures of anything or anyone unless you asked for their permission. It's not that bad anymore but some places now have these signs so tourists know they are allowed to take pictures there.

The right one says I used to be a pothead and has a plant in it's head making it a plantpot haha clever ;-)

The world is in our hands

Affagato to go and my new ring I bought there. I asked the guy if it was stainless steel and wouldn't rub off and he said yes. It did a little at the end of the day so might go back, sigh.

One of the nice paths that I found there and in parts of the city as well.

This cat is king of the road!

Not sure what this little swimmer was, but it caught my attention.

Circle bridge - closed for cleaning

Oranje boat, the Dutch are everywhere 😅

Hugh David statue

On my way to the castle ground. 

In front of the castle grounds. The church from the previous picture from the other side.

The little mermaid statue

After that I walked back to the hotel but not before walking through the botanical gardens and the Kings garden, since it was also on the way (sort of). I got back to to the street my hotel was on around 4pm and walked almost 17km and so I went to a supermarket to get some more food, well more for a snack or two but healthy ones! 

Birdies in the Botanical garden

Botanical garden

Snack time, I ate 1 avocado with salt and pepper and 3 mini cucumbers! Nom nom!

Stayed in the room for about an hour before heading out again. Went into a souvenir shop to look at postcards and bought a few and also asked for stamps. The lady told me it was 7-8euros each and to send them from another country haha. Good idea! I continued my walk to the foodhalls and bought one piece of local Smorrebrod (Smørrebrød, smørbrød "butter bread", or smörgås "butter goose", is a traditional open-faced sandwich in the cuisines of Denmark, Norway and Sweden that usually consists of a piece of buttered rugbrød topped with commercial or homemade cold cuts, pieces of meat or fish, cheese or spreads, and garnishes) and spanish fries, oh and a Michelada drink. Not a lot but I didn't feel like a lot of food. It was funny btw, my name was called and another girl walked up as well, her name was Tabitha and so she thought it was hers, what are the odds! After that and with what was left of my drink in hand, I continued to a tower, it was free so why not. The views of the city were nothing special to me and so I wasn't there for long. From the 5th floor or so you were able to walk down, it said 136 steps and after all the steps I already did, why not haha. After the 136, another 20 or so followed to get outside. Liars 😉.

Smørrebrød with chicken salad, veggies and bacon and the Michelada

Cocks and Cows. Cocks stands for Cocktails was printed on one of the windows. Good to know.

Up up up the tower

Down down down the stairs

I was done after that, walked back to the hotel after a quick stop at the 7 eleven around the corner to buy a cold drink and ended up with 2 ciders (it was a deal when you got two) and that was it. 3 days itinerary (that I found somewhere) in 1 day, haha that's the Talitha way. To be fair though, that included going into castles and museums and sitting down for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And also, this was a bit much for me as well haha, but it was just all kind of on the way so I just kept going and going and going. Maybe to make up for the days I was at home and didn't walk much haha. I walked over 21km today which is a new record from Toronto's 18,8km in a day!! I can tell you right now, I won't walk that again anytime soon!

Watched som tv and researched where to go next and also what to do here for the next few days. I kind of made a plan. And booked my next ticket for the 18th, pretty late at night so that pretty much gives me an extra day here as well! Night night!

Sunset from the room!

Cheers,

T.