Relaxing in Copenhagen

The best part about getting from Hamburg to Copenhagen was the ICE ride. You get to be on a train AND a ship at the same time! Truly an experience!

ICE chilling on the deck

Beautiful structure at Københavns Hovedbanegård

We finished most of the things in Copenhagen in a few hours. The city is compact and walkable. The mermaid was very small in-person. Rest of the time was spend on relaxing and taking photos around the city.

Underwhelming…

Nyhavn was pretty cool, with lots of tourists. A lot quieter at night for sure.

The next day, we headed out after having Danish breakfast at our hostel to get lit at Christianshavn!

A different kind of lit at The Royal Library

My mates were feeling tired so they stayed at the hostel to chill. But there was something else in Copenhagen that I needed to checkout: works of architect Bjarke Ingels.

I began my exploration from Ørestad station, heading north to first find the VM Houses which forms an interesting geometric relationship with its neighbours.

Further down the street is Mountain Dwellings. Half of its exterior is clad in a “literal” Himalaya mountain, while the other half is are terraced balconies which gives generous private outdoor space its residents.

I was excited to discover a publicly accessible staircase which takes you to top of the mountain! The “underbelly” of the building is the parking garage, with the rainbow-coloured hallways of each floor spanning across.

And you cannot talk about Ingels without the famous 8 House. It has retail, offices, and homes arranged in a bow-tie shape, with corners of the bow-tie depressed to enhance sunlight and airflow into the courtyards.

Across from the 8 House (i.e. if you turn around at the above photo) is a nature preserve. I ventured into the park as the sunset scatter rays of gold across the land, and found some cows roaming about (cover photo). You can live an urban lifestyle and still be right next to nature.

Everything here just seems more thought-out and coherent. You experience this even as a visitor. The architecture is such a departure from the North American glass-clad towers that I’m used to. Very jealous.

At COP: They were the most comfortable waiting room seats ever!

Copenhagen showed me what a livable and sustainable city looks like. I can only hope that Canada can come up with something resembling it one day…

Oh who am I kidding, we love cars, it’s never gonna change!