Wandering Lost

It is often times very easy to get lost in Copenhagen. There is so much to see and do, and it extends throughout all of the very flat and wide city. If you’re lucky, you’ll even get to walk or drive through “Thunder Mountain”, the highest point in Denmark just outside city limits. It’s an impressive 200 meters or so above sea level, and easy to miss.

Instead, I chose to seek out a wander through the forests and cemeteries around. Assistens cemetery and the nearby King’s Garden were filled with vibrance and life, even in the middle of January. They were fairly monotonous, so I didn’t spend a whole lot of time there.

Vestre Cemetery has the famous “tree tunnel” of Copenhagen, and after wandering through this massive kilometre-long cemetery, I finally found it. The resulting photo? Priceless.

The botanical garden in Copenhagen also houses the historic Rosenborg castle, which has burned down several times but is still used for important royal and political meetings to this day when not utilized for tour groups.

Following all of this wandering, I checked out the Absalon statue and the Little Mermaid statues, amazing German spectacles from centuries gone by. This was just after spending a few hours seeing the religious and historical artwork within the walls of Thordvaldsens museum and David’s Collection.

My day would not have been complete without touring around Christianshavn in the afternoon, followed by meeting with some hostel members and going to Christiania (Freetown) inside of Denmark.

Christianshavn was built on shallow and uneven land and prone to flooding, but was built during a housing crisis to encourage young families to move to Denmark. After several landslides (which caused several houses to now look like they’re “dancing” and “leaning”), an economic landslide also ensured, and houses here are now cheaper than ever. Some of these buildings still house retired fisherman, and one of them was home to Captain Thundershield of Norway (whom saved the country of Denmark in many military conflicts).

Christiania is a kilometre-long stretch of shops, bars, and marijuana stalls that consider themselves to be “adjunct” from the rest of the European Union. A bunch of old factories were converted into homeless housing, and now, there’s lots of reggae music, trashcan fires, and life here. Simply said, you have to check it out for yourself.

Another thing I did on another day was explore the local parks of Kastrup, have a smorgasbord (Danish buffet), walk around Kastillet, and see various old buildings along the canals and in Nyhavn. Copenhagen is a must see for any like-minded adventurer!