A Stroll Through Copenhagen | Day 25

Woke up and spent the morning in the standard way. The weather app yesterday said that there was going to be a bit of rain which I’m not sure why it keeps following me. It had rained in every city I have been in haha. I looked out the window and it was raining pretty good. I have it another 30 minutes or so and the rain seemed to subside a bit. The station wasn’t to far so figure I brave the elements and at least ride the metro to the city center and see about food. When I got outside it was a light drizzle and relatively chilly. Knowing the ticket debacle last time I stopped at the ticket machine and got a metro card. It was hard to figure out exactly how much to put on there because I didn’t know what each ride cost. The last station just had a 24hr pass but this was money oriented. I just loaded it with 100 Krone and see what happened. I checked in and got the green light. So far so good. The trains run every 2 minutes so by the time I was finished at the ticket machine the next train arrived. I rode it the 5 stops and got off at Gammel Station. When I reached the street level the rain hadn’t exactly let up but was still only a drizzle. I had see a recommendation for a spot that had a funny name so of course was going to go check it out. The name of the establishment was called Cocks and Cows. Any guesses as to what they served? If you guessed chicken and burgers you are right haha. I had walked the little square and took a few photos before the rain started coming down a bit harder. The restaurant was just around the corner so made my way there and just had gotten in the door before I started pouring. It was crowded inside and not just because of the weather. Luckily enough a group had just left and one table was open. My table was near the door and could watch new people file in. I snagged the last table so most had to wait a few minutes before being seated. The waiter came up and asked if I knew what I wanted but I hadn’t had a chance to look at the menu. I did order a beer to start and I attempted to order one that sounded good but turned out it was alcohol free and that wasn’t going to happen haha. I got a local IPA and by the time he returned I was ready to order food. I wen’t with a burger called “The Govenator.” It was a good ole fashion bbq bacon burger with double bacon. I sipped my beer and 5 or so minutes later he came with the food. I thought I read for detail but apparently I didn’t read close enough and not only did the burger have double bacon but it also had double patties. It was a bit bigger than I thought it was going to be haha. I cut it in half and dove in. I almost finished it but just couldn’t finish the last few bites. It was outstanding and the fries were really good too. Also, it was a tad more expensive than I planned coming out to about $30 with the beer. I am trying to keep my food budget to under $100 a day and so far I was succeeding. Sufficiently full I headed out the door to see what the weather was like,

The rain had stopped but it was still overcast and chilly. There was a 7-11 on the corner so dove in to grab a Redbull and continued on the exploration trail. There was a canal that cut through the section of town I was in and guided boats sailed up and back. With the rain there weren’t to many people on them but still had a few. Coming toward me on the sidewalk was a group of people in their mid 30s who were dressed nicely and one of the girls had balloons. They were headed to one of the boats that I assumed they privately rented. They were all drinking of course and looked like were having a blast. I wasn’t all that far from famous inlet in Copenhagen so I started to head that way. It was about a 20 minute walk which wasn’t to terrible. Not to many people on the street either but I did pass an Irish pub that had a fair amount of people in it. Haha it is hard not to order a beer when every place you go, and no matter the time, people are enjoying adult beverages. I ranged up on the section of town and I have to say it was pretty cool. The inlet come in to town probably a 1/8th of a mile or so and is lined with sail boats. The buildings on the far side are the famous brightly colored ones people see in photos. Of course it wasn’t a blue bird day so the colors weren’t as vibrant as the could have been but it was still an awesome view. There were dozens of sail boats docked all along the inlet and most of them were older boats made of wood. There was an endless amount of photos to be taken. Everywhere I looked there was something new to see. I took panoramas of the far side of the inlet, detail shots of various boats, and candids of all of the people walking around. Where I had entered the area was about in the middle. I stopped on the bridge and took the various photos and then started down toward where the inlet ended. I stopped every 20 feet or so shooting and was fascinated with all of it. When I got to where the inlet dead end there was a mom, dad, and daughter and they two girl were attempting to take a photo but neither of them could stop laughing. It was a cool moment and I fired off a few photos. They tried taking this photo for a solid 10 minutes which gave me time to download it to my phone and give it a color grade. I walked up to them and mentioned that I had take a photo of them and I would love to send it to them if they would like it. The daughter was a bit more in tune with tech than the parents so she was able to turn on her airdrop. I sent it her way and her mom asked, in so so english, “how much for the photo.” I gestured and said, “absolutely nothing, it is free.” They smiled and said thank you and I ventured off.

I started heading back up the inlet from where it originated and the whole walkway was lined with little cafes. At the start there was a cool little street and a brand new Porshe that was charcoal grey. It looked really cool especially with the overcast skies. I strolled down to take a few photos of it and as I was doing so the warning lights flashed. I looked up from my camera and there was a gentleman and his wife and they looked and me and I looked back. I inquired if that was his Porshe to which he said it was. I asked him if we would like a photo of it and I could download it to my phone and send it to him. He replied, “no, not really.” I said, “no worries at all.” They walked in to one of the stores and that was that encounter. There were three young adults standing not to far from where I was and they asked what I was shooting for and if I was a photographer. I told them about my trip, site, and yes that I was a photographer. The one girl asked if I could take a photo of them. I said, “100% lets do it!” They all smiled but she couldn’t help putting up the “Westside” symbol with her hands. I didn’t really know that was a thing in Copenhagen, but what do I know. I added it to my phone did a quick color grade and airdropped it to them. They all laughed and shared it amongst themselves. They were in music and we a rap group I was told. We chatted for a few more minutes and then I said adios and headed back to the waterfront. I slowly walked up the waterfront shooting a million photos a long the way. By the time I reached the end I thought it be best to start heading back to the hotel to charge some batteries. On my walk back toward the dead end of the inlet there was a man working at one of the cafes and he was leaning against the walk up bar looking at all of the tourists passing by. He had a smile on his face and I couldn’t help taking a few photos of him. I approached him after and said, “I might join you guys for a beer but,” and he jumped in saying, “Uh oh a but?” I replied, “no, no, this is an alright but. I took a photo of you a moment ago and I would love to send it to you if you would like it.” I showed it to him and he laughed and said he was alright. He mentioned that it was of him working and he was ok. Was no problem at all and I decided to at least have a beer and enjoy the view a bit longer. I ended up sitting for about 30 minutes when the clouds broke and the sun came out. This illuminated all of the colored buildings and now there was a whole new vibe to photograph. I walked both sides of the river shooting some of the same stuff as earlier but in the new light. The buildings really popped off of the blue sky. People seemed a bit cheerier too and the temperature went up a degree or two. I shot all around and then an hour later was finally ready to head back. A metro station wasn’t to far away and was just on the other side of a giant round about passed the ending of the inlet. I walked that way when police officers went by and stopped on their motorcycles. There was a parade that had just passed and it was filled with soldiers and Danish flags. I tried to cross the large roundabout as quickly as possible but they were just a little to far ahead. They ended up making a left and were heading back around the roundabout so I was just in front of them and was able to get a few photos of the parade. I was unsure of what exactly they were having the parade for but there were about 100 people in the group. That was pretty neat to see and glad I was able to get a few photos. I hit the metro station and made my way back to the hotel.

I was able to download the memory card and charge up my batteries. It was about 8pm and it was starting to get toward that sunset hour. There was a building that I really wanted to photograph and I thought sunset would be the perfect time. The building was a good 30 minutes via metro and was on the outskirts of Copenhagen. It was a bit of a “risk” venturing way out there as it was getting dark but I knew the photo would be cool. I pulled my tripod out of the suitcase to find that one of the legs had come loose and one of the bolts was missing. The leg was still attached my the remaining bolt the the secondary one was gone. I tore my bag apart to try and find it. The washer fell out of a shirt so I knew I must be close. After 15 minutes of going through every article of clothing, space in the bag, and individual pockets the bolt was no where to be found. This derailed my sunset plans. It sucked the motivation out of me. I looked to see about going to the tribute bands but that read sold out so I abandoned the architecture photo plan and going out. Instead I decided to just go downstairs and have a beverage and retouch images. Not exactly how I saw the day working out but here we were. The bar wasn’t as crowded as the previous evening but I suspect that is because everyone was out enjoying the city. I had my couple of beers and then headed up to the room. I put on a movie which I realized was the first bit of TV I had watched in about a month. I watched the original Lethal Weapon which I hadn’t seen in ages and went over images. The afternoon was so successful that even though the evening plans didn’t work out I wasn’t to terribly disappointed. There was a whole day tomorrow before the evening’s concert so would look to tomorrow to photograph the building. I finally shut the computer down about midnight and drifted off to sleep. What an awesome day in Copenhagen and I have full confidence tomorrow will be more of the same.