I got up at 4am (which is a miracle in itself), my taxi showed up right on time at 4:30 and whisked me to the airport in less than 15 minutes. Since it wasn't crowded, I sailed though security and was waiting at my gate WAY too early for my 6:30am flight.
After an hour flight, I was in Madrid. There, I had 4 hours to kill before my 11:30am flight to CPN. I had carry-on only. Unfortunately, in Madrid, they don't display your gate # until 1 hour before the flight. As a result, you don't know which concourse or satellite to go to. So, you have to hang out, in limbo, near the gigantic reader boards until the bewitching moment comes and the gate # is displayed. Only THEN, you can traipse to your gate.
Luckily, I snagged an exit-row which meant plenty of legroom on my 3-hour flight to CPN. But, there was no entertainment system on board so I tried to snooze as much as I could.
CPN's terminal was nice, but very dated in that there were no moving sidewalks and it was a long haul to get all the way out to the street and metro (subway) station.
Copenhagen (which I will use the acronym CPN forthwith, hereafter, and neverthemore) is a very advanced city. Denmark as a whole is known for this as well. Before my trip, I purchased a CCC (Copenhagen City Card) which allowed me to use any mode of transportation (bus, subway, trains) as much as I wanted for five days. Plus, it provided free entrance to more than 80 attractions such as the zoo, aquarium, canal tour, museums, castles, etc.
Right off the bat, I was able to board the subway to the central station, then switch to a bus just two blocks away (which showed up 2 minutes after I arrived), and ride to my stop which was two blocks from the HomeExchange apartment I would be staying in.
I love European train stations! They're massive and archecturally fascinating.
I knew Copenhagen was big on bicycles but...geez laweeze....how do you remember where you left it?
Denmark doesn't use the Euro currency even though it's part of the EU (European Union). It uses Krones. The conversion rate of Krones to Euros is roughly 8 to 1, which means it takes 8 Krones to get 1 Euro. Seeing prices in Denmark is freaky!! For example, 69 for cheese, 59 for a prepared package of lasagna, 99 for wine. My groceries came to 310. YIKES!! But, once I divided everything by 8, it made more sense and put into context how much things cost compared to what I pay back home in Spain. After adjusting, the cheese was really (mas o menos) 9, the lasagna 8, and 12 for the wine. I paid about 40 total. Fair 'nuf.
On Day 2, I went whole hog. I took over 100 photos...which, don't worry, I pared down. The weather was clear and sunny but cold (about 55 degrees) compared to back in Mallorca which was in the high 70's. But, that's normal here because CPN is aligned with the southern portion of Canada. Another notable difference is how EARLY the sun shows up!!! 4:30am!!!!! This is mid-May and it stays light until 9:30pm or so. Back in Ecuador, being on the Equator, it was 6:30am to 6:30pm with very little variance throughout the year.
I took Bus 6A ('A' stands for all-day/all-night) from 'my' apartment back to Central Station where I purchased a Hop On/Hop Off bus ticket. Most popular tourist cities have them nowadays...double decker busses that show you the highlights of the city. You can get off anywhere you want (ie; to see a specific site) then hop back on whenever another one comes along and continue the tour.
First stop: Vor Freisers Kirke (Church of Our Savior). Side note: I don't even try to pronounce any of these words because they never sound like what you THINK it would be if you try enunciating it phonetically. The above name, for all I know, is probably pronounced 'Feer Vrayserzuz Sheershay'!!!! Ok, back to the church.
Why the church? Because I need savin? No, I don't. yes I do Because I could climb the spire and part of it takes you OUTside!!! COOL!!! It's most famous for its helix spire (inaugurated in 1752) with an external winding staircase that can be climbed to the top, offering extensive views over central Copenhagen. The entire structure is over 275 feet tall and entails 400 steps to climb from the street to the top....150 of those steps are outside of the spire (yes, Chris Uwyo...OUTside).
Ready to climb with me?
NOTE: In many of the photos, you might consider zooming in on the photo to see more of the details. Most photo-viewing software and browsers have a zoom tool. Or, use the two-finger spread dance. For example, in the next photo, if you zoom in, you can see the people on the staircase (with their scared face!).
The very tip top, where you can go no more, is located right where you see the last of the hand railing and at that point, the steps are no more than 12" wide. BTW...that's Jesus standing at the very top.
On the way up. some artifacts being stored in attic spaces.
The tower was built out of huge wood beams.
The cogs and gears that operate the Tower Clock.
Suffice to say, the stairs took on a steep angle and narrowed the further up I went.
One of the many bells in the tower. Note the size in relation to the steel mesh door (with graffiti on it...GRRRR!!!).
At the point where you leave the interior stairwell for the outside spiral staircase, the steps are extremely steep and you have to duck your head under the crossbeam.
At this point, I'm at the level of the first gold railing and platform you see in the main photo of the whole church spire. From there, it's up the last 3 wraps of the serpentine staircase....OUTside.
But, before continuing on, I stopped and took a few photo snaps of the views.....and caught my breath after all that climbing!
Yep...Copenhagen is FLAAAAAT.
Looking to the streets below.
Wanna watch a movie of the stairclimb? It's a bit noisy due to the wind and shaky. But, I'm standing 250 feet in the air on a step about 20 inches wide....so gimme a break!!!
As you enter the massive organ is overhead. You can get a feel for the size by comparing the arched window over the doorway below.
Notice who has the burden of holding this heavy behemoth up!!
Poh Elephanties!!
I don't know.
I still don't know!!!
Use your Zoom function to view the detail and scroll left/right.
Well, that was the START of my 2nd day in Copenhagen. There's still a lot of territory to cover about the remainder of my day, but I'll cover that in the next chapter.
Till then....
Indtil Næste Gang!! (pronounced: 'Poopleet Venghast Plow')
Translation: Until Next Time!!
Dano
Looks very nice there ! Those bicycles are really stacked for sure. I would have an alarm on mine like a car just to find it back. 😂
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