There Is Nothing Like the Danes!

The Stroget, Royal Guards, bikes everywhere, and Nyhaven (the old harbor)

Springtime in Copenhagen...Royal Guards out of a Hans Christian Anderson story, more bikes than anyone could count, and waffles (and inexplicably hot dog stands) at every turn. While Rudy worked (reviewing student work at DIS, the Danish Institute for Study Abroad), I played tourist. We did have some time together to stroll along the canals; trip over cobblestones and drool over high-priced, high design goods in the Stroget shopping district; and watch the guards march back and forth at the Amalienborg Castle, which was a few doors down from the B & B where we stayed in a lovely 1890s apartment filled with family heirlooms. Rudy even spotted the prince walking his dog around the castle grounds, nattily dressed in a double-breasted blazer (the prince, not the dog). On our last day, the head of DIS's architecture program took us on a tour of Orestead, a suburb to the south that is being carved out of wetlands. The area is filled with several architectural experiments from BIG and similar cutting edge firms--lots of crazy angles, eco-roofs, and intriguing public spaces, all laced with canals and a stone's throw from a new elevated rail line.

The New Copenhagen-Student (!) housing, BIG's "mountain," the Opera House, and market-rate housing.