Lmst

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After ten days of waking up to these three little faces overlooking the head of the bed, it was time to pack up our room and head out for an early morning clatter across the cobbles to Christianshavn station, there to catch the M2 to Köbenhavns Lufthavn, and the flight home.

We'd had a hygge time, but I think we were all ready to explore the quirkiness of the new ArriveCAN app, and return to Canada, hoping our luggage would accompany us this time. (It did.)

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a row of three european electrical sockets, looking like little happy faces, below a window drape, and next to a wall-hung bedside reading lamp.

a four-bed hostel room, with two bunks and two singles, piled high with used bedding. A neat row of suitcases, daypacks, and outerwear await departure.

a path-side patch of miniature daisies, white with bright green centres, reminds us that we have flowers waiting for us at home.

Food played a community-building role: morning check-in over the breakfast buffet, snacking at a pølsevogn, lunch from the morning's grocery shopping, al fresco dining at POPL Burger, Reffen Street Food after visiting Copenhagen Contemporary, or the student-organized Pop-up Potluck Picnic (featuring baked goods from a pastry course some students signed up for!).

We always ate well, and among friends.

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elaborately loaded pølser (Danish hotdogs) resting of paper napkins and piled high with remoulade and ristede løg (fancy mayo and crispy onions), topped with little Danish flags on toothpicks.

burgers & fries in cardboard trays with bright-orange bottles of soda, laid out in late-afternoon sunlight at a harbour-side picnic table

piles of fresh sliced bread, meat, cheese, laid out on a picnic blanket beside bags which read "St. Peder's Bageri" and "HVEDE SANDWICH" (white sandwich bread), waiting for a horde of hungry diners.

We spent the day at the Experimentarium and there was SO MUCH TO DO!

Highlights included

an interactive movie,
a shipping port simulator,
tonnes of sensory input, and
a chance (via the Pulse Plaza) to see just how fit you are on a Field Trip. (We managed six of the eight activities.)

At closing time we were exhausted, but happy.

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a collage of photos of us participating in the activities of the Pulse Plaza, a family-oriented, fitness, endurance, balance, flexibility action space.

the shipping port global trade simulator at the Experimentarium. A number of workstations allowed you to dispatch and receive cargo, which took the form of balls that moved from place to place on overhead wire tracks.

In the foreground, a long, clear plexiglas chamber filled with immiscible blue and clear liquids. When tilted, waves were generated that simulated surf, tide, etc. In the background there is a bathysphere, a sort of wooden submarine.

It's Liberation Day in Denmark, this year marking 80 years since the end of the German occupation.

In 2022, we visited the Frihedsmuseet, the Museum of Danish Resistance, in its new home. New interactive exhibits, along with those rescued from the fire that destroyed the old museum, provided an engaging, thoughtful experience.

We are fortunate in these Elbows Up times to be able to reflect on the effects of past conflicts and conquests.

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A sign outside the Museum of Danish Resistance (Frihedsmuseet), containing a poster with a black and white image of a young person looking over a wall and a and across the harbour at a plume of rising smoke. The poster bears a large caption reading "Freedom isn't always black & white" and a smaller caption, "New museum about Danish resistance during WWII."

The entry hall and cafe of the Frihedsmuseet (Museum of Danish Resistance). The exhibit halls are located -- appropriately for a resistance museum -- underground, and covered by a large gravel forecourt. There is an ice cream wagon at the edge of the forecourt.

a museum visitor operates a duplicating machine that might have produced flyers and handbills for the Danish resistance. It has been adapted for an interactive museum exhibit; the stacks of paper have been replaced with digital screens. Cranking the handle of the duplicating machine changes the content of the screens.

What do you do if you have a massive, disused underground drinking-water cistern? Well, if you're Copenhagen, you create a gallery, and fill it with exhibits that engage the contrasts of dark and light and the qualities of cool and damp.The Cisternene does just that.

What does one do when visiting such a gallery? One takes in the immersive experience -- the ethereal lighting, and ambient dripping and inherent echoing -- and tries to capture others doing the same.

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a solitary person silhouetted in an arched opening which contains a sculptural installation covered in webs and lit from above.

two people silhouetted in an arched opening, leaning it make make sense of an installation surrounded by webs and lit from above.

a couple silhouetted in an arched opening, quietly discussing the implications of a webbed-and-lit installation.

One of our out-of-town excursions was to Helsingør, site of Hamlet's Kronborg, which is a short walk from the rail station.

Close to hand is the Maritime Museum of Denmark, which is constructed in a former drydock.

There we took in an exhibition on container shipping, with one display in a space about the size of a typical KIX exhibit.

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a signpost in Helsingor, with a circular map at the top, and a legend below labelling:

MUSEUMS
The Shipyard Museum
M/S Martime Museum of Denmark
Kronborg Castle

THE CULTURE YARD
Tourist Information
Library
Stages

THE OLD SHIPYARD
Maritime Workshop Hal 16
Elsinore Street Food
Catch

a view across the Helsingor harbour, with Kronborg Castle, of Hamlet fame, in the background. It is brick and stone, with a few pointed towers.

an exhibit at the Maritime Museum, that uses a shipping container to create a tiny Brugsen's grocery shop containing a wide range of goods that arrive via container ship.

A favourite spot every Field Trip is the Rundetaarn or Round Tower, a 17th century tower with an astronomical observatory at its top.

There is a gallery/cafe about half-way up the spiral ramp that visitors ascend, Europe's oldest observatory in the dome, and striking 360° views of the city.

Each visit is capped with a treat from the Pølsevogn that is outside the Rundetaarn's entrance.

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the exterior of the Rundetaarn, or Round Tower, in Copenhagen. It is built of yellow brick, and has columns of arched windows around its periphery.

a view of Copenhagen through the elaborate wrought iron railings that surround the deck at the top of the Round Tower.

two fully-loaded pølser, or Danish hotdogs, served hot from a street vendor's cabin. They are about to be enjoyed outside the Round Tower in Copenhagen.

Walking along Strøget, we found another variation on the Copenhagen Bench. This one has its seat raised a meter to recognize rising sea levels under climate change.

Many waste cans have special shelves for recyclables. These "pant boxes" make it possible for people who don't want the deposit to pass the value along to someone who does. In 2022, Denmark had a 92% return rate for deposit/recyclables.

Nearby in Amagertorv: the Storkespringvandet, or Stork Fountain.

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two people, one standing next to, and one sitting on a Copenhagen bench with its seat one meter higher than standard. A plaque affixed to it, translated from Danish, reads:

FLOODS WILL BECOME EVERYDAY IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE CLIMATE.

According to the UN climate report, sea levels will rise by up to 1 meter by 2100 if global warming continues.

#OurEarthOurResponsibility

This is an installation - use at your own risk

a waste can with a special shelf for holding recyclables, to make it easy for people who don't want to collect the deposit for a bottle or can to pass the value to someone who does. The signage on the can, translated from Danish, reads: "pass on your deposit," and "Pure love for Copenhagen."

The Storkespringvandet, or Stork Fountain is a multi-tiered fountain with bronze statues of storks, and a large round base a good height for sitting. Many people are doing just that.

Copenhagen Harbour is more than a pretty place; it's also a part of the City's transit system. The Harbour Bus is a relaxing, scenic way to get from, for example, the DieselHouse to Frihedsmuseet.

The water is also clean enough for swimming; there are multiple harbour baths which residents, visitors, and -- it's rumoured -- students take advantage of. (There is a havnebade a short walk from the Danhostel.)

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a view of the cycling bridge that crosses Copenhagen Harbour near the Danhostel. There is a cafe table and chairs in the foreground (where there is excellent coffee and sandwiches) with the Danhostel and several lower-rise buildings in the background.

one of the bright yellow Harbour Bus ferries that zigzag their way across the harbour along its length. In the background are several buildings and the tower of Christiansborg Palace.

swimmers at a private harbour bath in Copenhagen. They are sitting, sunning, and -- perhaps -- shivering. It is April after all.

Our hostel, Danhostel Copenhagen City, sits right on the harbour. It had been the Hotel Europa in its prime, but King beds and wall-sized TVs made its room size unsuitable for "modern needs."

As a hostel, though, it's perfect, and so close to the Glyptotek, Tivoli, the City- and National-museums, as well as the central Rail Station, for out-of-town trips.

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the Danhostel Copenhagen City sits on HC Andersen Blvd where it crosses the harbour. It is a multi-story block of tan and grey.

an old-time telephone as part of an exhibit at the the Copenhagen City Museum. The building used to house the City's social services department, and the telephone invites visitors to "listen in" on recreated conversations.

We see the Copenhagen Bench again in an exhibit at the National Museum. It has a didactic wrap, in rainbow colours, part of which reads:

Bench

This is a reproduction of a bench originally produced in the 1870s by the iron foundry Ludvigsen & Hermann and is the predecessor of the familiar 'Copenhagen bench'. The ends are original, but the seat and back are new. The wood is painted in a range of colours based on research on the appearance of the benches at different periods.

Please take a seat!

The lost-luggage folks were great, collecting our details about what was missing and where we were staying.

Because there were so many of us, they raided their storeroom to get us each an "overnight kit" with a clean t-shirt, deodorant, toothbrush and other personal products.

While we waited, we encountered our first didactic / display for the Copenhagen Bench.

After we checked in to our hostel, we did some group reconnoitering, and tried to stay awake until 8:00.

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a group of weary travellers waiting on a Copenhagen Bench, a city-specific design found throughout CPH

the skyline of Copenhagen as seen from a vantage point outside the DanHostel Copenhagen City on H. C. Andersens Boulevard. It shows a row of five-or-six-story buildings, with the City Hall tower rising to a point above them.

Except ... the Toronto flight was late departing, so the transfer between flights was a little tight.

Kudos to the carrier, though! We were met at the skyway in Frankfurt, ushered onto a bus, whisked to a entry gate opened just for us, cleared through Customs, shepherded back onto a bus, and rushed to the in-field location of our next flight.

We made the flight with minutes to spare. Sadly, our luggage didn't, but we wouldn't know that for a few more hours.

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