Christiania, Tivoli Gardens, and Dinner with Rikke, Feb 21 2018

In the wee hours Wednesday morning we awoke to the sounds of a rumbling and banging that would get steadily louder until the windows were rattling and then it would gradually fade away only to return again and repeat the cycle. In frustration I eventually got up and peeked out the window and caught sight of a man pulling a wheeled garbage can, which from the sound of it must have been half-filled with recyclable bottles, across the uneven cobblestones of the courtyard below. He must have been circling our place for a good 15 minutes without hardly ever stopping, just circling and circling with his bedeviled racket-making contraption. After what seemed an eternity he disappeared, off to plague some other hotel I imagine, and we were able to catch a few more precious moments of sleep.

When we finally got up for good we decided to snag another pastry and warm drink from the train station before heading across the water to the autonomous anarchist community of Christiania. It's basically a community of hippies, artists, and squatters who took over an old abandoned buildings and never left. They've added ramshackle structures over time and the whole place has a weird cheerful post-apocalyptic feel to it with its huge murals and crazy found object artworks. From what we've read they actually have quite a few functioning and popular eateries, but it was very quiet and nothing really looked open while we were there. That was fine with us though, I'm not sure I would have wanted to eat there anyway.

Our other big plan for the day was to spend some time at the amusement park: Tivoli Gardens. It had been taunting us ever since we had arrived because we had to walk right by it every day on our way to see other things. It opened at 11am and we were there shortly afterward. We got our entry tickets and added on the unlimited rides option. Although parts of the park were closed due to construction we were still pretty sure we'd get our money's worth. The park is small, but crammed with cheesy and whimsical goodness. We explored every nook and cranny, crawling through igloos intended for children, capering through the funhouse intended for children, chasing each other around ice-cube and mirror mazes intended for children, and generally having a great time together. We rode anything and everything that was being operated. Our favorite ride by far was the little wooden rollercoaster that's like a miniature Matterhorn at Disneyland, but instead of a scary yeti you get a glimpse of a friendly-looking polar bear family as you race by. We rode it enough times to be certain that the back row was the absolute best experience.

By mid-afternoon we'd pretty much done everything we could at Tivoli Gardens and we were both getting hungry. We didn't want to pay amusement-park prices for amusement-park quality food so we left and made sure to get our reentry stamps so we could come back later that night when it would be lit up. For lunch we headed back down to the meat packing district hoping to eat at BioMio if it was open, which it hadn't been on our fist night. Luck was with us and we had a great meal there.

Kat was ready for a nap back at the room and we had made plans to meet up with Rikke at her place for dinner around 5:30pm so I had a couple of hours to myself before we needed to catch our bus. I grabbed my camera and a map and headed out at top site-seeing speed. I took as direct a route as I could, pausing only briefly to admire the Round Tower, to Rosenborg Castle and the King's Gardens in the hopes of getting in to see the crown jewels, but alas it had closed by 3 that afternoon. I spent the time instead in the gardens photographing the wide array of statuary and snapping a few shots of the castle and grounds as well. 

Next on my list was hitting the National Museum to see their Viking collection. I was racing the clock now because I thought it closed at 4pm. I got there at 3:30 and learned they'd be open until 5, but I'd need to be on a bus by then in any case. I stashed my backpack and then blasted through the exhibits on the ground floor. I could have spent hours there and never even get to the upper floors, but I was glad to see what I could.

By 4:15 I was back at the hotel and picking up Kat so we could get our bus tickets and be on our way to dinner with Rikke. At the train station we wondered at the sheer number of 7-Elevens we had seen all over Denmark. The amazing thing was that they seemed to actually be stocked with decent quality food items, stuff you'd actually consider buying and eating. It was weird, our worst chain of convenience stores is actually an upmarket chain of grocery stores in Denmark. Strange.

We found our bus and followed Rikke's directions to her flat in the Northern part of Copenhagen. She was excited to see us and introduce us to her two new cats. The cats were very sweet and friendly. We had some tea and then helped Rikke prepare dinner before sitting down to eat. It was a short but very nice visit and we will get a chance to see her tomorrow as well since she's taking us on a car ride to see some castles and have lunch with her parents.

Our return bus trip to the train station got us back in time to reenter Tivoli Gardens and see it all lit up for the night. It began to lightly snow on us while we were there, which was kind of perfect. We rode the rollercoaster one more time and then watched a little fountain and laser light show before they closed the park. All in all it was a fun-filled day.