København, Danmark
07/04/2023
Our second day in Copenhagen started much like the first one. We made our way from the hotel to the waterfront and took in the scenery, again getting a nice coffee to warm us up in these winter temperatures. We also crossed Lille Langebro, a bike and pedestrian bridge, in order to take a shot of the Arkitektur Center with the water in front of it. You can also tell from the colours that it was very cold northern weather and the modern buildings matched that flair to perfection.
Getting cold and not having eaten yet, we made our way to one of the few open restaurants. We were quite surprised by how empty and calm the city was but soon learned that due to a public holiday (good friday), most people had left the city to visit their families in the countryside. And with CPH being populated by merely 600k people, it is easy to see how the city would become peaceful quickly on such a day. In any case, we were eager to have breakfast.
A while later we wanted to come back to the waterfront and follow it northbound, as the area around Christianshavn features a variety of modern architecture and interesting buildings.
We followed the water until Knippelsbro, the bridge that led us back to the north-western side of the city and took us past the old stock exchange (Børsen) and then to Christiansborg palace, in front of which we took a few portraits. Then we made our way through the palace’s inner yard and towards Slotholmskanalen, the waterway broadly surrounding the palace.
Shortly after, we got some snacks from 7/11 and strolled further towards Copenhagens inner city Indre By. We also came by Gammel Strand subway station, which the German speaking readers might find funny. At least I did.
Moreover, we passed Nyhavn, the world-famous harbour area with colourful houses, but it was significantly too touristic and thus not enjoyable enough for me to take pictures or stay there for a prolonged period of time. We thus moved on.
It was really cold, especially with the freezing wind around us. So despite the coffee prices of about 7-8€ per cup, we got another round of hot drinks before continuing on our journey. Specifically, we went into Marmorkirken church and sat there for a few minutes as it lay on our way, and then moved on northbound towards Designmuseum Danmark.
With the exhibition on display the design museum not warranting the high entrance cost – at least in our view – we had a look around the building and went on to explore Kastellet, the Copenhagen Castle located on a star-shaped island, shielded off by a moat. From there we were actually able to spot the renowned incineration plant CopenHill with summer ski slopes on its roof.
We were ambitious enough to venture further into the harbour area which I expected to feature exciting buildings and a unique atmosphere. Maybe I was too strongly imagining a place like Hamburg’s Speicherstadt, but I was let down a little. There were many new but unspectacular houses on the shore with nothing else to see or do there. Especially with the weather it felt a little depressing.
We then wanted to take the subway back towards the hotel to have a beer at a bar in its vicinity. However, upon realising that they wanted to charge more than 6€ for a single way ticket, we decided to walk the kilometres back, simply out of principle.
Doing so also led us by Nyboder, a historic area with townhouses built for personnel of the Royal Danish Navy in the mid and late 1700s. In this sense, it paid off walking the walk.
Moreover, we came past Rosenborg Slot, which looked quite dramatic due to the weather. However, it would not be our last visit there, so stay tuned for some sunnier impressions 🙂
With many kilometres of strolling the city behind us, we had dinner and drinks before going to bed to experience more adventures the next day.
Farvel!