June 9 - Christiania

After the Food Tour we went on another walking tour with Copenhagen Free Walking Tours. This tour ws called Christianshavn. We had Roger for our tour guide again. He is so good, but I wish we had smaller groups. I understand that the guides depend on tips and it is not in their interest to have smaller groups, but we must have had 40 people in our group, and that was too much.

Christianshavn was designed to be the port for Copenhagen

The Parliament

The Old Stock Exchange with its "Dragon Spire". Built in Dutch Renaissance style to promote the financial ambitions of Denmark. They wanted to be like Amsterdam.

The new Opera House

A biosphere and the new Royal Library (the "Black Diamond")

Christians Church

 

Our Savior's Church

Christiania

Christiania is a hippie commune that started in 1971 when squatters began to live in some old military barracks. Although it lies within Copenhagen, its 850 residents are self-governing. The Bohemian lifestyle within this community includes marijuana, even though it's not legal. They don't want hard drugs in Christiania, however. It's an experiment in an alternative style of living that draws many tourists. Our tour ended at the gate into Christiania, as they don't permit tour guides to guide inside the community. By the time we reached the gate, we were hot and tired and we decided it was time for us to head back to the hotel. We didn't get to see Christiania, but what we heard about it was interesting. The Danes are a very tolerant people. I don't know if somethng like Christiania could have happened in another country.

Christiania has become the third most visited tourist site in Copenhgen - after The Little Mermaid and (?) Tivoli Gardens (?).

One way the residents of Christiania suport themselves is by making Christania bikes. These are bicycles with big boxes attached to the front. You could use them to carry cargo, but mostly I have seen them used to carry people - children and adults.

This post needs a lot more work. That probably won't happen until I get home.