Søren's mother Jonna is a nurse and her shifts change every week. This week she had Friday off, and she so kindly offered to take me to lunch and show me around the city a bit. I was more than happy, as it not only gave me a chance to spend some time with her, but also to get out of the apartment and see the sights!
After a bit of a walk, we wandered over to the Botanical Gardens. Maintained by the state, this beautiful garden is free to the public, complete with a huge greenhouse and massive tropical plants and trees! I had a bit of my NYC summer after spending just a few minutes in the humid green house. Damn, I don't miss that... ;)
Jonna and I! (Note my sweet self-portrait skills...)
From the garden we headed over to the Statens Museum for Kunst, (
State Art Museum), where they had a Venus statue exhibit. Interesting interpretations, eh...
Venus in a box...?
Public performance area within the museum. So beautiful...
Jonna gazing out the window...
View to the old art museum from the additional wing. I love the juxtaposition of the old brick and the new white walls. Note the sweet gangplank...
Søren met us at the museum after he got off of work. Jonna and Søren "studying" the pig sculptures. (Not shown up close - for a reason!!)
The front of the museum.
Jonna and Søren showing Kristin where we are on a bus map.
Rosenborg Castle (or
Slot in Danish) in the distance... where the crown jewels are kept.
This area is Kultorvet, (or "Coal Plaza"), which used to be a place where merchants would buy and sell coal. Now it's an open space full of shops and restaurants just beyond Norreport station.
Søren hadn't had lunch yet, so we stopped for a bit.
Mmmm... subway sandwich.
Yeah... us again.
After lunch, we wandered back over to Rosenborg Slot.
I think this may be one of the only guns in Denmark! Soldiers patrol out front of the castle, guarding the royal jewels.
After stopping in a local shop for a couple of beers, we decided to head just past the castle to the royal garden area.
No public consumption laws here - people can drink alcohol everywhere and anywhere!
Walking past the castle to the gardens...
(Søren took this picture - the best yet!) ;)
Not another picture!
,
Us again.
... with shades.
After the beer(s), we walked around a bit.
Kristin in front of Tivoli.
Never had a Pinata burger back in the states!
This is Rådhuspladsen, or "Town Hall Square" - the center of Copenhagen.
Pointing to Tivoli just across the street.
The Danes - so modest. (
Probably the best beer in the world). ;)
Lots of advertising...
Interesting contortionists in the middle of the square.
Golden Calf!!
Awww yeah.
Lots and lots and LOTS of bikes...
Gotta see this!!
As you wander the narrow streets, at certain turns they open into wide spaces. This is another one, with a beautiful church in the background.
Crazy Danish advertising. Søren shows us his version...
I wanna live in one of these apartments!!
During the day, these narrow streets are closed to limited car traffic (mostly residents) , so they are quite pleasant to just meander down...
We got a bit hungry after all of that walking, and decided to stop for dinner.
Cows on Parade hits Denmark! (Kristin shows us how to milk a cow tourist style....)
Link to Cow's on Parade
Close up.
The next day, we decided to meet up with Christian and Christoffer, two of Søren's friends. First, we stopped for lunch where Søren proceeded to ingest the largest burger I've ever seen! This is the before...
... and after.
I can't believe I ate the WHOLE THING!!
Back in downtown Copenhagen.
Christian and Søren walk and talk.
After awhile, we decided to stop at Heidi's, an Austrian Ski Lodge-themed bar. Lots of lederhosen!
Christian kicking ass at Foozeball.
Søren and Christoffer at a friend's housewarming party after Heidi's.
After a bit of light window shopping, we stopped at the Rundetårn (Round Tower), and decided to climb to the top for a look around.
Halfway up the winding tower floor, we stopped at a small art gallery inside. This, I assume, must be the Danish Jem and the Holograms!!
Evidently there were only 2 lavatories within the tower, no longer working of course. This is one of them, where we were told astronomers and noblemen would sit and smoke a pipe while pondering the stars... and do "other things," of course. ;)
... going up!
Finally, we've reached the top for a spectacular birds-eye view of downtown Copenhagen.
Facing East. (You can see the Øresund Bridge to Sweden in the background).
A real Empire State Building-like experience ... but not quite as high up. ;)
WINDMILLS!!
Cool red roofs....
You can see Nordvest in the background, and we live somewhere between the blur of red roofs and the white smoke stack...
After we descended the tower, we headed over to Tivoli for awhile. We had bought summer passes back in June, so we figured we should probably use 'em while in the neighborhood.
Inside Tivoli.
This is Valhal, the Viking-themed restaurant Søren took me to back in June. (See our blog here)
Children's performance stage.
Exiting Tivoli...
It was still fairly early, so rather than head back home we decided to see Transformers. We had about an hour to kill before the show, so we played a couple rounds of pool at a local bar. Guess who didn't win...
