July 7 - Christiania

This morning started with some chores and then a walk to Christiania.  

Christiania is a 'suburb' of Copenhagen that came into being when people (hippies?) took over some abandoned army barracks in 1971 and formed a commune.  It's had a tumultuous relationship with the authorities over the years, partially because of cannabis use and other issues affecting local governance.  There are about 1000 inhabitants.







Street art















The market, especially popular at Christmas.

I had to use one of the pubic toilets in the area.  I haven't seen a 'pooper' of that style since I was hiking in South America.  You don't need to see a picture.

Remember this spire?  I talked about it a few days ago and said I'd get around to having a look at it.

This is the tower of Our Saviors Church, which has been around in some form since the late 1600's; the spire was finished in 1752.

The public is allowed to climb the tower and visit the church, although the church was closed today for a wedding. 










Climbing the brick part of the tower starts off with wooden stairs that get progressively narrower and steeper.












Once outside the stairs are copper with a nice tall, strong railing (although there were some jittery people up there).  As you get to the top the stairs disappear.



So, why did all use crazy people climb the tower - for the views of course.

View down the river east towards the ocean.  Five (count 'em) cruise ships in town.

You can see the line of boats in the canal a street over from the church.

To the southeast, in the distance, is the 16 km tunnel / bridge to Sweden.













The canals to the northeast.  Our hotel is on the other side of the canal, just behind the boat.












 On the way down, here's the clock mechanism.  To be honest, I could no detect any motion, so maybe it is replaced.












Some of the bells.  The church has a large carillon, but luckily, no bells were struck while I was there.























Leaving the tower and walking back, here's some live aboard boats in one of the many canal marinas.

Speaking of canals, I thought I should include a map of Copenhagen's centre so you can orient yourselves.  
Some of the features:
-The blue dot at the centre is the hotel.
- Christiania is directly east , on the next canal.
-The Little Mermaid is the cut off blue marker top centre.
-The cruise ships are moored above the map.

The point of the map is to show you the number of canals in the city and how, in the past, they were crucial for the shipping trade of the city.  Whenever you are walking / biking around the centre, you will run into canals.

I have one more day in Copenhagen before I fly home.  Not sure if I am doing any touristy stuff tomorrow as I have to pack up and sort some stuff out.  So, I may not post anything.  

I hope to make up some maps of the whole trip and post them here.  Check back in a few days to see if I have gotten around to it.