We were just over two weeks in Copenhagen. TOO SHORT! Boy, did we love it there. The city radiates an aura of happiness and health. Inhabiting two Danish islands, Zealand and Amager, the city is crisscrossed with canals. The streets during the day swarm with people on bicycles going to work, shopping, running errands, carting the kids to school, and generally being industrious. The beautiful canals are lined with shops and cafes, just begging a person to enter or sit canalside and sip a beverage. It's an eminently walkable city, seemingly with some new joy to be found around every corner. We'd love to go back and explore some more!

Freetown Christiania is a commune that has its own separate identity within Copenhagen. It was founded in the 1970's when hippies squatted on an abandoned military base. Today, it has its own laws and manages its own affairs. We discovered our apartment was only a block from its gates!

We didn't go in, but we enjoyed the kitchy sight.

We look for botanical gardens and arboretums everywhere we go. Copenhagen's botanical garden was quite lovely . . .

. . . and included a butterfly garden . . .

. . . swimming with lovely and diverse creatures. We spent quite a while just enjoying the beauty.

There's some amazing food in Copenhagen. As avid followers of "Somebody Feed Phil", we had seen Hija de Sanchez featured on his show, so we had to come have some street tacos in Denmark! Yum!

Probably the most iconic area of Copenhagen, Nyhavn (New Harbor) is loaded with picturesque 17th-century houses. It was a relatively short walk for us and a pleasant afternoon's saunter.

Danes in Copenhagen use the canals for boating, eating, shopping, sunbathing, swimming, and just relaxing in a serene landscape. Also . . .

. . . they make for good kayaking! We try to kayak wherever we go, and we had an enjoyable afternoon paddling around the city. . . .

. . . includng paddling by this place -- a former submarine faciity turned into a condominium! The Danes are experts at repurposing!

That includes this old factory, that was repurposed to become the innovation laboratory of a clothing company.

We could see this spiral steeple from our apartment and wondered if it was climable . . .

. . . so we walked over, and yes, it was! Here's a shot from the top.

We couldn't leave the city without visiting its most distinctive resident. The statue is really quite petite, but evocative just the same!

Here we have some of the residents dancing to their own kind of music . . .