Day Sixtyseven - Jul 27, 2012

Copenhagen, Denmark

High Point: Laura and Ulf

Low Point: Realizing we could have really used that extra day in Copenhagen

Miles By Foot: 7

Today's Antiquities: Sort of a summer of love antiquity, Christiania

Today's Weather: A nice day for a long walk, in the mid to high 70's

Tonight's Lodging: Jacob's flat in Vesterbro

Touristic Events: Actual Danish danishes for breakfast, a private walking tour of the city center, Freetown Christiania, Church of Our Saviour tower

Travel Tip: There are no photos in the green zone

Daily Didactic

The bad news is that we are a day short in Copenhagen, the great news is that we turn out to be two blocks from local friends of friends. We got in touch with Laura yesterday and she invited us over for Danish pastries for breakfast. It wasn't until we got there that Brian finally put together the reason they were called "danishes" back home. Got it. They were awesome and so was the conversation with Laura and Ulf (who we had met at Oregon friends Cori and Todd's wedding five years ago). We ate pastries, sipped coffee, and enjoyed a conversation in English for as long as we could until Laura had a bachelorette party to head to. We had a simplistic plan for the day (to see Christiania, Copenhagen's commune styled "city within a city" with roots in the late 60's, and maybe catch a boat tour). As we were getting near leaving, Ulf offered to walk with us for a while and for the next three or four hours proceeded to show us sites around Copenhagen we would have never found and schooled us on Copenhagen history. It really made what would have been a superficial touristing day amazing. Around 3:00 there was a walking tour of Christiana and Ulf had an appointment. We followed our local Christiania tour guide through the impressively run 40 year old squatter community. We moved through the open air hash market, past former military buildings turned workshops and housing, around idyllic lakes, and in and out of shops of locally made goods. After the tour, we left Christiana for a climb up the Church of our Savior tower. The twist on this tower is that the last bit of the climb to the top is on an exterior stair case. Theresa loved not being in a claustrophobic space and Brian came to terms with his dislike of exposure. We walked back into Christiana to look at a museum exhibit and then walked home. We relaxed a bit and then hooked back up with Ulf for a visit to a really outstanding microbrew pub and excellent meal. One of the great days of our summer. Our thanks to Laura and Ulf!