Welcome to Copenhagen

Yesterday we finished our trip to Berlin with a final visit to Buchwald Konditorei und Cafe for some more torte. While our choices weren't quite as good as the day before they were still extremely tasty and worth getting rained on to get there.

From there we headed to the airport and after the usual annoying waiting time we arrived in Copenhagen.  S's brother is getting married this weekend just outside Copenhagen, so first thing we caught up with the rest of the family.  We have managed to find a cute little place to stay together.  Spread over three floors, we each have a tiny apartment in a gorgeous part of town.  S and I are on the top floor.  It is compact to say the least and the slope of the ceiling means we need to be careful of our heads in places but it is very comfortable.

We headed out for dinner with the bride and groom to be and some of their friends then they took us on a tour of the "green-light district".  It is basically an area that used to be a navy barracks that hippies took over in the 70's.  These days it is still a sort of hippie commune of squatters and lots and lots of places to buy marijuana - hence the rule that no photos are allowed.  It is still illegal, just tolerated.  It certainly wasn't what I was expecting to find in the middle of Copenhagen.

After a refreshing night's sleep S and I set about seeing some of Copenhagen on foot today.  We are here for quite awhile so didn't feel any need to rush and see things.  Instead we wandered about the town centre, starting to give ourselves an idea of where things are.  We did go up the Round Tower, a 16th century building that comprised a church, university library and observatory when first built.  The observatory tower is round (hence the name) and you go most of the way up on a winding slope before climbing some stairs at the top.  As Copenhagen is so flat you get a good view of the city from the top.  The slope of the path also makes for a fun slope for kids to play on, so the whole tower was filled with the sounds of excited children thundering about.  Between their shouts you could hear strains of the jazz festival that is going on in the city this week.

We finished our wanderings with some grocery shopping.  It is always interesting to check out supermarkets in different cities (plus we needed breakfast stuff!).

Copenhagen really is a very pretty city, I particularly love all the brightly painted buildings.  However it is also a very expensive city.  Compared to the last few cities, things can be eyewateringly pricey.  It should be an interesting week trying not to completely blow our budget!