Today we started the day excited to continue our Danish adventure into Copenhagen. First we had a workshop at Ordrup Gymnasium about democracy in each of our countries. We compared and contrasted the political systems and governments of both Denmark and the United States and answered dilemmas about democratic issues after debating and discussing each topic in mixed groups of Danish and American students.
Following this activity we took the train to Copenhagen in order to visit the harbor city as a group. We kicked off by arriving at the train station in the center of Copenhagen where we found ourselves completely surrounded by bikes. We then started walking around following of a scavenger hunt in which we had to find certain buildings throughout the city. We really made use of the pedestrian streets and the paved roads which are dense with bakeries and clothing stores. As we were walking around we noticed how similar Copenhagen was to other European cities we had been too, but we all agreed that some things, especially the heavy use of bikes, are unique to Denmark. We admired the architecture of the city, making note of both the use of the red brick and the high spires on not only churches but also government buildings or ordinary housing. When we were done the first part of this visit, we went walked to Nyhavn (New Harbor), where we boarded a boat that took us on a ride through the canal streets and under the bridges of Nyhavn, Christianshavn and more from where we had an opportunity to see the colorful houses and the very common houseboats from a different angle.From the boat, we got a chance to see the famous Little Mermaid statue which was a lot smaller than we thought yet still attracted a good crowd. Once the tour was over, as some of us went home, others walked around some more and got some delicious crepes which we enjoyed before taking a train home.
We all had dinner then met back in the evening on the beach where we listened to music, played beach volleyball and frisbee and some of us even took a dip into the frigid water of the Øresund (The Sound) which is the strait of water that separates Denmark and Sweden.
The Memorial Anchor at the end of Nyhavn commemorating the deaths of Danish Navy soldiers during WWII
St Petri Kirke (St Peter's Church) is a German church in Copenhagen
Brick buildings and paved road alleyways
Danish Brick Architecture
Stork Fountain in Højbro Plads near Amargertorv square (both major pedestrian zones) and the Christiansborg Palace, the seat for the Danish government, in the background.
The Egmont Clock Bridge and bikes
Nyhavn's famous colorful façades and tall sailboats
On the Tour Boat moving up Nyhavn
In the canal
A sea of bicycles outside of Nørreport
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