After marveling at the market, we went to Bike Mike’s storefront to begin the tour. Our first stop was at a German school. German schools are much more strict than Copenhagen schools. Bike Mike described this part of the city as “a little piece of Germany in the center of Copenhagen”. Parents send their children here if they want them to be taught with more discipline. We stopped at a variety of streets, intersections, and statues. One of the main takeaways I got from the tour is the difficulty of biking in large groups. If you’re with a big group, you will get separated at each light. It’s nearly impossible to keep track of everyone. One of my favorite stops on the tour was the royal palace: Amalienborg. This palace showcases Parisian architecture. Each family member has their own wing. We ended the tour at Christiania, the “hippie” neighborhood of Copenhagen. There was an abundance of vendors selling colorful clothing and jewelry. We walked around here for a while and found an area where vendors sell clothing and jewelry. The surrounding neighborhood is beautiful. There is a waitlist to even apply to live here.

(Parts of Christiania)

 

 

 

 

 

 

After enjoying the liveliness of Christiania, we biked back to our neighborhood. We decided to do a common local activity for dinner; going to a grocery store and having a picnic dinner in the park. We purchased material for a charcuterie board. The park was crowded with people, pets, and picnic blankets even late at night. The park was extremely clean and felt safe, unlike the parks I grew up around. We stayed here for hours and watched the sun begin to set. This day was particularly sunny so we wanted to get as much sunlight as possible. The park closes at 10 PM so then we walked home and went to bed early. We were all pretty exhausted from the tour (it was about four hours in total) and are catching up on sleep from the trip here. 

One of the most interesting things I’ve noticed is the high school graduation traditions. Danish students wear sailor hats with their names and school on them all week and celebrate all over the city. I’ve seen these hats everywhere from bars, parks, and shops at all times of the day. There is celebratory shouting and music throughout the street. There are competitions to see who can have the nicest vehicle to drop them off. It’s interesting to observe the contrasting traditions of students my age here.