Copenhagen

So, last weekend I went with eight other exchange students to visit Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. We stayed in a hostel called "Sleep-in-Heaven" (Allison, you're taking notes, right? haha) which was walking distance from all of the main attractions in the city and the central train station. Actually, we went everywhere by foot, and were all exhausted by Sunday night.

Our first stop in Copenhagen was the Statens Museum for Kunst, home to the royal art collection. Inside were exhibitions of modern art, Danish art dating back to the 18th century, and international art dating as far back as the 14th century. My favorite pieces were probably the older paintings with religious or historical motifs. I have shown below a 550-year-old painting entitled "The Good Thief," showing the crucifixion of St. Dismas, who was executed alongside Jesus.

Next, we visited Rosenborg Castle, which was clearly visible from the museum. It was built in 1606 as a Summer Palace, that's right, a "vacation spot," so to speak, for King Christian IV. This structure was like something out of a fairy tale. It was surrounded by a moat with what appeared to be a drawbridge, and surrounding all of that was a large park. There were armed guards at the main entrance dressed in traditional uniforms.

Of course, you can't visit Copenhagen without seeing the Little Mermaid, which was sculpted and placed in the harbor in 1913. It was inspired by the play "The Little Mermaid" and symbolizes a fairy tale by Danish poet Christian Andersen. In a nutshell, the plot mirrors that of Disney's "The Little Mermaid," except that in the Disney version there is a happy ending.

We also visited the royal palace and the Church of Frederik before the first day was up. The Church of Frederik's dome was inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the inside was magnificient. One of my favorite things about Scandanavia is definitely the presence of old churches.

The second day in Copenhagen was all about the government buildings.... and Christiania. We visited the Danish Parliament and saw what was probably my favorite building in the city, the Danish Stock Exchange. The stock exchange was originally built as a marketplace in the 1620's and is the oldest stock exchange in all of Europe. Most interesting was the spire, which is formed by the interweaving tails of four dragons.

Now for the little segment on Christiania. This is a section of Copenhagen that was once declared a lawless free state by its founders. Thus, it became a safe-haven for, and symbol of, the free use of drugs and sexual expression. Of course, the area was eventually annexed by the Danish government and the use and sale of drugs has been banned. Christiania, though, is still a national symbol of sexual freedom and, of course, illegal drugs. Imagine Woodstock, except people actually live there. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, unfortunately.

And now for my favorite stop of the trip, the observatory, where we took 360-degree panoramic pictures of the city.