Copenhagen, 20-22 January 2017.

We spent a weekend in Copenhagen. It was our New Year's present from kids. The weather was not great: it was grey, dull and drizzly both days, but we should not complain... It was a nice trip, anyway.

Self-portrait.

The very first thing we did in Copenhagen was to rent bikes. Victor is pumping up the tyres.

With the bikes, you can cover much bigger area than on foot! We visited a couple of parks on the outskirts of the city. This is Sortedams canal. In cold winters one can skate on the canals and there are lots of them in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, the ice was very patchy this time.

Outdoor art: a girl is flying away from Copenhagen.

Our reflection in the Mirror House at the kids playground in Faelledparken.

A pigeon on a dragon.

We visited Frederiksberg Have and spent some time in Haveselskabernes Have. It was a very quiet and cosy place, we hardly met anybody. It's probably even better in the Summer.

A skating rink by the main entrance to the Frederiksberg park. You can hire skates or use your own. The rink was quite small and crowded, so we moved on.

A big flock of gray herons right at the entrance to the park. We got pretty close to them as they waited to be fed by the passerby.

All herons were different, although they all belonged to the same species (Ardea cinerea).

Later we cycled to a very famous part of Copenhagen called Christiania. About 50 years ago hippies occupied some abandoned warehouses and army barracks. The area soon became known for drugs which are openly sold. We were not interested in drugs and just walked around Christiania.

A small pretty country house on the canal.

This one resembles Louvre.

We liked this small house. In the shed next to it was a modern woodworking machine.

A tree house with big wine barrel underneath.

We came across several small brick sheds/booths. While these buildings were uninhabited, they were used as a foundation for some very stylish houses.

We liked this place so much that we returned next morning to have another look. Half barrel houses with grass on the roofs.

This house was built around a dead tree.

A brightly decorated shed.

Another booth.

A UFO on a lake.

This house with a parabolic roof resembles Sydney Opera House.

This house is like a ship.

We even came across a yurt... What a strange place Christiania is.

This is our favorite house: the best view was from across the lake. Zoom in to find some fascinating details.

Bird feeding spot.

We somehow got to the old shipyard Holmen. One can see The Masting Crane, which was used to erect masts on the ship.

One of the canals near the Christiansborg. It looks bright and cheerful even in dull weather.

We climbed up the Tower of King's Palace Chrtiansborg to look at Copenhagen from above. It resembles St. Petersburg, just like any other city built on the islands. The green-roofed building is Stock Exchange. The spire is made of the tails of four dragons.

A view towards Glyptotek (a domed building) and park Tivoli. From the top of the Tower we saw horses and horsemen in the palace coutryard, probably a horse parade. Unfortunately, they were gone by the time we got down. Zoom in to find the horses in the left part of the picture.

The bridge is only just wide enough for this boat.

Wet block pavement in the old town centre.

This underwater sculpture near Højbro is well-known. "As the story goes, a young woman named Agnete was passing by the sea when a remarkably forward and decisive merman emerged from the waters and offered her his hand in marriage. Being a spritely and impulsive girl herself, she dropped what she was doing and went to live with him beneath the waves. The couple had seven little mer-kids and things seemed to be going great until Agnete heard distant church bells ringing from land. She left her mer-family to pay a visit to her old life, promising to return. However once she was reacquainted with her old life Agnete decided not to return to the sea, leaving her merman to be a single dad, forever pining for his lost love."

A sculpture of archbishop Absalon, a founding father of Copenhagen, on Højbro Plads. His axe is a fitting weapon to keep birds at bay.

A frog from the fountain with four stokes is enjoying wet weather.

Our last stop in Copenhagen was Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. An unusual sculpture, Watermother, by Danish sculpter Kai Nielsen. There are 14 babies in the sculpture, and the baby sitting on the left hand of Watermother is Roman goddess Venus.

These were two memorable days. We may not have visited all must-see attractions, but we've been to some places not frequented by the tourists.

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