My Royal Danish trip - Day 3

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On the last day of our trip, we decided to walk around Copenhagen. After breakfast in the hostel, we walked to Christiansborg again. When we arrived, we realised that the tower of Christiansborg was covered up for renovation work, so we were unable to take a "postcard-view" of the place. Later we walked towards the Royal Library. On the way, we walked into the Library Garden where the snow from the previous night didn't melt, as the garden was shadowed by the library building. Some of my friends had never seen snow before, so they were quite excited.

Then we walked to the waterfront, and saw the "Black Diamond" - the new extension of the Royal Library. After taking some photos of the library and the harbour, we walked to Nyhavn to meet my cousin Ben. Originally, we planned to take a canal boat tour from Nyhavn. However, when we arrived, Ben told me that there was no boat tour for the whole day because the tide was exceptionally high and the boats couldn't pass under the bridges. In the end, we decided to walk around Christianhavn.

Crossing the bridge and walking into Christianhavn, I felt like walking into Amsterdam (actually I never visited Amsterdam before... I only looked at pictures), because of the tall narrow houses that line along the canals. Later, Ben brought us to Christiania, a unique community that existed within Copenhagen but outside of its lawa and conventions. A former army barrack, it was occupied by hundreds of youths after the army moved out. Influenced by the hippie movement and alternative lifestyle publications, the new residents set their own law and declared "the Free State of Christiania" in 1971. Despite their best efforts, the police failed to clear the area. Over the years, the community formed its own system of government. Drugs were sold openly on the streets, until 2004 when residents voted to ban the sale of drugs due to threats from the city council and police.

As we walked into Christiania, we saw a "whole new world"... A world where graffiti covered every wall and surface (a 180º difference from clean and spotless Singapore), a world littered with sculptures and art installations made with scrap metal and other junks, a world where shaggy dogs roamed the streets and minded their own business. At first glance the place might appear chaotic and run-down, but as we walked around, we realised there's some order and tidiness among the chaos and place was actually quite attractive. (After all, there are people living there.)

At noon, we walked to the Rådnuspladsen (City Hall Square), where Ben brought us to a Tiger shop (something like UK's Poundland or Singapore's $1 shop) and we bought lots of Danish stuffs there. Later we went to Hard Rock Café again, as Yusen wanted to buy a T-shirt from there. While some of them stayed in Hard Rock Café, the rest and I went to a mall nearby and bought some Danish pastries from a nice little café. We returned to our hostel to collect our luggage. While my friends were packing their new purchases into their luggages, I quickly went to a nearby supermarket to buy some Danish food. (My colleagues have a tradition of buying food during overseas trips and treating other colleagues.)

We went to Nørreport Station, and after my cousin Ben bidded us farewell, we took the Metro to Copenhagen Airport. After passing through the security checks, we realised we had some extra time and some extra Danish kroner left, so we went into the duty free shops and grabbed boxes and boxes of Danish chocolates and souvenirs. Finally, at 4pm, we boarded our flight back to UK, feeling happy and satisfied...

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Photos

Morning rush hour
There are more people cycling than people driving

Christiansborg Slot
Unfortunately the tower was covered up for restoration works

Christiansborg Slotplads
(with the steeple of Kikolaj Kirke in the distance)

A double-decker bus!
(Reminds me of the double-decker bus in Berlin because it's yellow)

Morning at Nyhavn
Unfortunately the tide was too high and we were unable to take a canal boat tour (the boats couldn't pass under the bridges)

Magasin du Nord
A big department store