Today was our last full day in Copenhagen, and H. and I both wanted to visit Christiania...
It was a warm day, and there were thousands of people playing and lounging in and along the canal.
We spotted a Danish dog...
From our hotel, it was about a 35-minute walk to Christiania.
If you want to learn more about what Christiania is, check out the Wikipedia article or take your pick of Youtube videos. $5 says I originally learned about it from watching Rick Steves.
One thing I found interesting was how many different kinds of dwellings there were there. Some looked run-down, some were well-kept; some looked about 200 years old, others looked more modern. No cookie-cutter pre-fab neighborhoods, here!
And so much color!
Eventually we found ourselves on the edges of Christiania. I felt I'd seen what I wanted to see, but H. wanted to see more, so she went back in, and I went elsewhere.
I wanted to visit the Museum of Danish Resistance. Google Maps says the distance is only about a mile and a half, but I must've taken a really indirect route because I'm convinced I walked three miles at least. (It didn't help that I had acquired a minor limp from my Tivoli funhouse escapades the day before.)
However long it actually was, my route was scenic!
At last I reached my intended destination, the Museum of Danish Resistance aka the Frihedsmuseet (Freedom Museum).
Earlier this summer, I'd reread Number The Stars by Lois Lowry, a novel that features characters who are part of the Danish Resistance during WW2. The story, plus the info. in the book's afterward, prompted me to look into places that might give me even more information about those people and events.
The cost of an adult museum ticket is 95DKK, or about $13 USD. As of 2022, you don't need to buy tickets in advance or get a timed entry.
The exhibit was very modern, interactive, and compelling... and also a little bit creepy.
Everyone was given an audio device that we could use to scan things on the wall to listen to stories/dramatizations that made it seem like you were actually hearing/seeing someone from the past (who'd been involved in the Resistance) tell their story. The visuals/people were kind of in shadows, but next to that there were actual photos of the real person -- as well as artifacts and other things pertaining to them and their history.
I lost track of how many of the artifacts had bullet holes or other violent damage. Yikes.
They even had some clothing with bullet holes... some of the people wearing the items had survived the attack; others had not.
^This was either an actual boat, or a replica of a boat, that was used to smuggle Jewish people out of Nazi-occupied Denmark (also a plot element in Number The Stars) and into Sweden.
The Nazis began using dogs to help sniff out and discover Jews hiding in the secret compartments in the fishing boats. So a Danish pharmacist invented a powder that would dull the dogs' sense of smell. They could put the powder on a piece of cloth, and once the dogs sniffed that, they'd be physically unable to find the hidden humans.
This museum also had several really cool interactive elements, like the typewriter below. If you pressed the keys (any keys) words would appear on the "paper" (actually a screen.) There were also morse code machines/equipment you could use to send message to a friend across the room.
I spent a little over an hour exploring the museum. I didn't look at everything, nor did I listen to every dramatization -- I think that would've taken several hours -- but I did feel like I'd taken in what I wanted to on this visit. I was very impressed by the place, even if some of the artifacts were a little creepy.
The museum is on the southern side of this giant park, and after leaving there I decided to walk a little farther and explore more of the park.
I saw a cruise ship way off in the distance. (Originally our travel plans had included taking a cruise out of Copenhagen, but it got cancelled last spring. #noregrets?)
I found The Little Mermaid statue without meaning to...
Finally, I was truly worn out, so I used my map app to find the nearest Metro Station and I took a ride back to our hotel.
That evening, I went back to the nearby mall to get a few things, plus have dinner.
The mall had some cool art...
And a fun toy store...
Tomorrow we head for the central hub of LEGO, Billund, Denmark!
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