Denmark - Freetown Christiana

I visited, Christiania, which is known as the 'hippie' community as my host Peter called it. Taking pictures are not advised because some of the activity - Peter even said one of his guests had her phone thrown in the water by one of the residents because they thought she was filming them. Peter said this was only the 2nd time he has been in this neighborhood. So I took this pic at the outskirts of the community which is a nice example of some of the nice street art.

The people in Christiania have developed their own set of rules, independent of the Danish government. The rules forbid stealing, violence, guns, knives, bulletproof vests, hard drugs and bikers' colors.

Famous for Pusher Street, where hash and skunk weed are sold, it does have rules forbidding 'hard drugs', such as cocaine, amphetamine, ecstasy and heroin. The hash commerce is controversial, because it's not legal, but since the rules require a consensus they can't be removed unless everybody agrees. 

The dichotomy is that this area is only a short distance from the Royal Palace which is what piqued most of my inetrest :)

Well that's it for Denmark - thanks for being part of this journey. Next stop Lapland, Finland to chase Wonder of the World the Northern Lights again (Finland was my backup plan for Northern Ireland). I never thought I would ever go to Finland but I'm too close to not stop by, and looking forward to being so close to the North Pole and hanging out with a few reindeer :)

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Copenhagen, Denmark - The Royal Palace

Of course I visited the Royal Palace (we were on our way here when we caught the Queen's band leaving the other day) .

The Original Palace burned down years ago and the Royal family moved here temporarily (it wasn't orignally built to be a palace as there are 4 separate quarters),  but they liked it so much they stayed. 

You can't see in these images but the Danish flag was at full staff so I asked my host, Peter, what that meant and he said that means the Queen is home. With a look of disbelief on my face I asked him "What about her safety, doesn't knowing she's home risk her safety?". He simply replied "We don't have those problems here".

My 'American parinoia' had been officially challenged and proven wrong. It's nice to know that all countries don't always have to be on high alert! Denmark is currently ranked the #1 happiest country in the world, and has been several times. Even with some of the highest taxes in the world (currently 60%) and long winters (there's now only 8hrs of daylight since I've been here) they have universal healthcare, universal pensions, short 35-37hr work weeks, legally mandated 4 weeks minimum vacation, & paid maternity and paternity leave just to name a few.

They've even changed their Constitution a few times to stay current with the times (most notably to allow daughters to inherit the crown just like sons). I love the progressive mindset! :)

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Copenhagen, Denmark - Great Host, Great Food!

I usually don't post food pics but my Danish host's kitchen could be a 3-star Michelin restaurant :)I've had food I didn't even know existed or could taste so good - from guinea fowl to pumpkin soup. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day (especially pastries) so of course I asked Peter what the Danish call danish pastries here, and he told me that danish actually came from Austria and Danes call danish 'weinerbrød', which means "bread from Vienna". 😀
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Copenhagen, Denmark - The Queen's Band

While walking with my host yesterday to see the Royal Palace he heard music and said "That's the Queen's band!". So we ran through the park to catch them. My host, Peter, is born and raised in Denmark and said he has never seen the Queen's band so this was an exciting impromptu moment for both of us. He looked it up and they were marching from the palace after the changing of the guard because the Queen was home. 

For those who don't know Denmark is a monarchy. Even though the Queen doesn't have any power (the Prime Minister & Parliament have most of the power - similar to Britain) they still respect her. Her name is Queen Margrethe II and she's the first female monarch in Denmark ruling since 1972.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! This is my first time out of the states for New Years and I love it! What do you get when the people in all of the neighborhoods organize the fireworks instead of the city ?.... 360-degrees of spectacular fireworks lasting 3 hours!! These are by far my favorite ever :)

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