How to Cope in Copenhagen

The dome doesn't really have a hat. It's a street light.

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. Like the rest of Scandinavia, it is very clean, very orderly, and ridiculously expensive. If you are traveling in Scandinavia, be warned that each country has a different currency called a Crown. This one is in Danish, so it's a Krone. And just like a fairytale, the old krones can turn into a beautiful swan! Or whatever else you decide to buy.

There really is something a touch magical and child-like about the city. Everything is a little bit whimsical under the long shadow of this guy: Hans Christian Anderson.

Hello, Mr. Anderson...

Speaking of whimsy, Copenhagen is the site of Tivoli, which is an amusement park that served as an inspiration to Walt Disney. I hear it's a lot of fun, so I didn't go.

Tivoli is also a place in Italy. Try to find the Italian architectural influences.

Amusement aside,
Especially at night, the whole place looks like a toy model of some kind.

It also contains laser fences.

Adding to the magic, this place has the best integrated bike paths and bike culture of any city I've ever seen. There are bike lanes with proper lights right by the roads, and unlike Amsterdam, bikers actually obey the traffic laws. Do they wear helmets, you ask? Of course not! This isn't Australia. 

You will see bikes parked in the middle of nowhere, and think, wow, these Danes are trustworthy! Spoiler: they're not. Though bikes are not locked to objects, they have wheel locks, so they are still pretty hard to steal, according to my free tour guide.

City then: vikings.
City now: biking.

But it's not just an urban bike park. Copenhagen has other cool things too. Like The Marble Church, a building so beautiful they stuck a fountain in front of it!

If the photo was centered properly, you could only see the fountain.
This is poorly framed. You're welcome.

The city is just full of statues and fountains! While walking from the above from the most heavily touristed point, you can see the Gefion fountain.

Cow-Plow!

But of course you DO have to make the trek to the most touristed point. What is it? Why, none other than Hans's & Disney's heroine--The Little Mermaid!

Many tourists are disappointed with the Little Mermaid statue. I had heard some people complaining that she was too little. While she is a bit smaller than lifesize, I disagree. Being little is in her job description. But she doesn't even have red hair, so I have no idea what the sculptor thought he was doing.

Though she has fins, she is not a Fin.
Probably no relation to Huck Finn.

 And if you get tired of the nice, cute orderly side of Denmark and find yourself in search of another kind of magical city, make your way to Freetown Christiania. It's sort of a commune, with roughly a thousand people, who claimed it and made it their own. It's got handmade goods and a Green Zone, in which you can't take pictures, which is a place to escape the general laws of Copenhagen and feel yourself transported back to the sixties.

They have murals. But that's not why they call it a green zone.

They  have a common law of nine rules: no weapons, no hard drugs, no violence, no private cars, no biker colors, no bulletproof clothing, no sale of fireworks, no use of thundersticks, and no stolen goods.

Seems reasonable for laws, but what about boomsticks?