Copenhagen, 24.07.2017

We lucky devils have picked out the coziest bed in Copenhagen from the offers at Airbnb, no doubt about it. I'm telling you, the pillow - a dream. No wonder that even the alarm clock had a hard time getting us out of bed this morning. After flooding the bathroom during the shower, breakfast was served and the party could begin. First, we walked to the Glostrop train station just around the corner. Assuming we would surely be ripped off, we skeptically left the 7-Eleven shop again, where we were offered tickets to the city center very kindly, only to later realize that the saleswoman was actually incredibly accommodating. Lesson learned. 20 minutes later we found ourselves in the center of Copenhagen, at Nørreport station, from where we strolled through the shopping street. One must admit, the residents of Copenhagen have a knack for fashion. Unfortunately, financially speaking, we could only afford an intense look into the shop window. From there, we followed Santa Claus, who was strolling with children, towards one of Copenhagen's biggest attractions, Nyhavn, with its colorful facades and small cafes. Despite the many people snapping photos like crazy, this is a casual place that is beautiful to look at - the perfect place to have a midday snack (cheese toast). Opposite the pier for boat tours is Charlottenborg Castle, which, formerly a secondary residence of the Danish royal family, now houses the Charlottenborg Art Hall (the Royal Danish Academy of Art). Until October 1 this year, the public-critical work of the artist Ai Weiwei adorns the facade of this art house. It was impressive how the courtyard of a building, directly adjacent to the tourist hotspot Nyhavn, can exude such tranquility. From there, we plunged back into the crowd and let ourselves be carried along the harbor to a modern bridge near the National Library of Denmark, called the "Black Diamond," and then to Amalienborg Palace, the city residence of the royal family, and the associated Frederik's Church. The beautiful facade tempted us to take a long-exposure shot, in order to capture a tourist-free photo of this property. In the interest of safety, one of the royal guards quickly walked towards us and firmly told us that we were doing something forbidden. Oh well. Tourists after all. Just a little further along the sea, there is a park belonging to the castle with fountains. Then this park had to serve for Leon's long-exposure shot. I think it looks fantastic. If only Amalienborg Palace also stood. After a short break by the water, we visited the nearby St. Alban's Church, surrounded by an unreal park. There, we happily amused ourselves over a young duck family building their nest (what exactly we found so funny, I really don't know anymore). -- Hello, my name is Leon, I'm actually in charge of the photos, but I thought I should add this because Judith forgot it..., and it's about why the ducks were so fun to watch: for the construction of the nest for their duckling, the duck parents had to bring a lot of individual dry grass straws. However, they regularly got stuck in the reeds and wiggled their entire duck body, while their duck partner seemed to make fun of them and the duckling destroyed the nest again. Oh well, that's it from me again, I'd better let Judith do it, she's probably much better at it. See you soon! -- Situational comedy. The next stop was supposed to be the district of Nørrebro, somewhat outside the city. This former working-class district has become more and more the cool student scene in recent years. A colorful mix of hairdressers, cafes, sewing machine shops, street food stores, and vintage shops are lined up here. However, compared to everything else we saw in Copenhagen today, the previous character of the district can still be felt. On the way to one of the main streets in Nørrebro, we observed dogs mating in the park, crowds of sweating students in the park, and passed by the tomb of the famous Danish poet and writer Hans Christian Andersen. He became famous, especially for fairy tales like "The Princess and the Pea". Exhausted from a total of 44,674 steps (according to the health app), we reached our accommodation just in time before it started to rain around 7 pm. On warm, dry weather, Copenhagen is a beautiful, relaxed, hip city with remarkably many young families living here. Our goal today was to feel the Copenhagen vibe. Copenhagen feels good!