DailyTourist: Copenhagen, Denmark: Day 1 & Day 2

What an exhilarating day!!! We reached Copenhagen after having come from Stockholm by ferry, getting us into town early eve. Chasing daylight and feeling the need to explore a bit we immediately hit the streets in typical Danish fashion,..... on bicycle. We conveniently rented them from the hotel and quickly hit the streets. My first notice were the appropriate and very useful stoplights for bikers. Ahhhh,...impressive.

In addition to the lights, we found it easy to navigate through the streets of Copenhagen thanks to the many bike lanes woven throughout town. It only makes sense considering the cycling culture in the city.

Not far from our hotel was Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world and most visited in Scandinavia. I learned that it was built in the mid 19th century as a distraction for people from politics of the day. It was thought that if people had something to preoccupy themselves with outside of their thoughts, they'd have no time to be concerned with the more important matters at hand. At times, it seems as though that philosophy still holds true today, considering some of the senseless and non thought provoking media programming and visual stimulates we're barraged with these days. Hmmm, some things never change.

Unfortunately, due to time, we didn't get to visit the grounds of the park, but instead, had to settle for a peek beyond the gates. From what I could see, the park was beautifully maintained, fanciful and lively.

Tivoli Gardens Amusement Park entrance.

Across the road from Tivoli is City Hall and the City Hall Square. Like most open area squares in Europe or the likes. It's festive with local street acts, artists, musicians, passersby and pigeons. We continued on in search of a meal.

City Hall and City Hall Square.

On the streets of Copenhagen

We pit stopped at a currency exchange on one of the main pedestrian shopping streets along the way.

pedestrian shopping street.

We used these Lady Gaga promo posters as a marker to park our bikes, while taking time out to carry on by foot to find a spot to eat.

In lieu of our meal, here we are treating ourselves to gelato, churros and crepes.

Mr. Crepe maker.

Yum, nutella and banana

The girls getting gelato.

Crepes,.....banana and nutella,.....sugar with lemon..... We did eventually sit down for a proper meal, but some sugary crepes and gelato never hurt anybody. Yum!

Copenhagen, Denmark: Day 2

Lucky me, I found a bit more time to take in Copenhagen again. This time it would be the Copenhagen sight seeing Cliff Notes version,.....the Hop On Hop Off bus. I loved it! Provided that the weather conditions are cooperative, the bus is always a fine way to go. It takes you to all the pertinent "must-see" landmarks in most any city, makes rounders so that you can take your time exploring before continuing on and travels to more distant parts of town that I'd might not otherwise travel to or see. You get your photo opts from a great vantage point and get to learn about the sights, through the provided headsets, along the way. I don't prefer to look like the obvious tourist, but hey, it's an option and sometimes a girls got to do, what a girls got to do.

Here I am on the bus passing by the harbor.

Tourist viewing the Little Mermaid.

Little Mermaid vendor.

The Little Mermaid statue and me.

Here I am at the famous landmark and "must-see" statue in Copenhagen, the Little Mermaid. I didn't realize that the fairy tale and animated film of the same name were inspired by this little statue. She's the story of a sea creature willing to give up her life at sea to gain a human soul for the likes of a prince. Hmmmm,.....yeah, definitely a fairy tale.

Well, below are photos of my day and the bus trip around town. It's the quickest way I know to say that I saw a city. Thankfully, this isn't my first time in Copenhagen. Haven been here before I can honestly say that I find it to be a friendly and inviting city. The people are warm, open and optimistic. It's without a doubt a place I'd love to spend more time in and revisit. But until then, this will have to do.....