Copenhagen is Beautiful. (8)

Today was my first official day without work! I handed in my last paper for DIS this morning, which means I am done writing papers until...the one I have to write for Bucknell in Nicaragua. Womp. And, granted, I do have an exam next Tuesday, but I don't plan on starting to study for that until Monday night- some habits die hard :) So, in the next week or so without classes, I plan on making the most of each day, and checking things off my long list of things to do and see before I leave. I haven't felt (or I have tried not to feel) like a tourist during my stay in Denmark, which I think is a good thing, but it also means that I have yet to do and see many of the touristy things you are supposed to while in Denmark, so before I leave, I will attempt to do all of them. 

Starting today- it was a perfect Copenhagen day. It was about 22º C (a little over 70º F for you Americans), and the sun was shining, with barely a cloud in the sky- it doesn't get much better than that. So, after completing my paper (the morning of, of course), I headed into the city to meet up with the wonderful Emma. We stopped at DIS to hand my paper in, and then wandered through the Botanical Gardens briefly before meeting up with some people from my train line. The 6 of us then headed to the King's Gardens at Rosenburg Slot (castle) for a picnic in the sun. 

The gardens were FILLED with people. Let me tell you, the Danes are EXPERTS at enjoying nice 

does not even begin to show how
 many people were in the King's Gardens

second bench from the left:
nearly naked man

weather. Whenever the sun is shining, they FLOCK to be outside, and they shed their layers to soak up the sun (probably because they don't see it that much in the long, dark winters). Whether in the King's Gardens, on a random bench (like the man we saw lying scantily clad on a bench as we left), on the ground outside of the Round Tower (yup, saw that one too), just strolling on Strøget (this is a play on words for Americans trying to sound Danish, but you wouldn't know it- Americans can't pronounce it right, but they try to, so they pretty much pronounce Strøget like "stroll"), or anywhere in between, Danes take advantage when there is beautiful weather. You definitely learn to appreciate the sunshine here.

our picnic, in a nutshell

Anyways, so we found ourselves a spot to sit and enjoy our lunches, shared a bottle of red wine, and talked about life, our semester, and going home, and then just laid in the grass to soak up the sun for a while. Jackson and Kevin tossed a frisbee/football around (I joined in for a few throws, of course...until the second time I almost hit the Danish girl reading her book with a frisbee throw gone awry), while Ariella, Megan, Emma, and I chatted and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

pretty girls in the
Botanical Gardens :)

Then we all headed back to the Botanical Gardens, wanting to stay outside as long as we could. The Botanical Gardens are truly a haven from the hustle and bustle of city life; when you are walking around, you almost forget that Copenhagen exists a few hundred meters away. Copenhagen does a really great job at utilizing its space; within the city, there are many squares and streets that have been reclaimed for pedestrian traffic only (Strøget is the longest pedestrian-only street in Europe!), the streets have separate lanes for cars, bikes, and people, and there are parks and gardens tucked away into various places in the city. These green spaces provide a wonderful escape and breath of fresh air from the busy city life, and Danes love going there to run, walk, bike, or just hang out. I can definitely see why Copenhagen is always voted one of the most "livable cities".

Anyways, the Botanical Gardens, like the rest of Copenhagen, are beautiful (the next group of pictures

Emma and I :)

 are all from there); there are flowers and plants from all over the world, and everything is beautifully landscaped, with winding walking paths around the pond and through all of the different gardens. We also went inside to the greenhouse, which has different sections for various climates, so many plants that you would never expect to see in Denmark are able to grow there. It was definitely cool, especially to see plants that normally live in the tropics, but that room was hooooot and humid, so I was relieved to get out of there.

Botanical Garden Pictures

:)

beautiful gardens

flowers everywhere!

hello, turtle friend

pretty greenhouse waterfall

poking through the palm fronds

tropical plant in Denmark :)

hello, mr. bee

After the Gardens, most people headed home, but Emma and I decided to do a little more exploring, and begin browsing for souvenirs. We searched, unsuccessfully, for a store Megan and Ariella had found with cute little metal bikes, and then strolled on Strøget (get it this time?!) for a while, going into nearly every tacky souvenir store we saw. As with everything else in Copenhagen, these stores are ridiculously expensive- in one store, there was a t-shirt (a T-SHIRT) for what is equivalent to almost $45!! Hopefully that gives you somewhat of an idea of what Copenhagen is like, price-wise- that is one thing I will NOT miss about Denmark! 

With H.C. Anderson   

We then walked toward Central Station, since we were both way more tired than we should have been at 4:30 in the afternoon, stopping at Rådhusplads (city hall square) to get a picture with the H.C. Anderson statue. A nice old man from Canada offered to take one of both of us, joking about running off with my camera to add to his collection (if he had, and I hadn't been able to catch him, I would have let him keep it out of shame, even if he offered to give it back). We saw a really cool machine that counts the bikers in the bike lane who ride by each day (I'll miss the bike culture so much, even if I wasn't really a part of it)- it was up to 5,264 already, and it was only 4:30!

We went our separate ways at København H, or Central Station. I headed to soccer, which was okay, but aggravating on the Achilles, and it ended up taking 2 hours to get home, so that was a bummer. But overall, it was a wonderful day in Copenhagen. Only 8 more to go, and that's if you count the day I leave...