Sandeman Free Walking Tour -- Copenhagen

I love these tours -- absolutely adore them. I've now taken the free walking tours in Madrid, Berlin, Dublin, and Copenhagen, and they've all been superb. Here are a few pictures from the tour today:

Copenhagen's Town Hall -- where the tour commenced. 

In the Town Hall Square

Tivoli is the amusement park Walt Disney visited for his own theme park inspiration. Or so my Irish guide would have me believe. It has the oldest wooden roller-coaster in the world, though -- an ancient structure from 1914. 

Hans Christian Anderson. In Denmark, he's referred to H.C. Anderson. As my guide was not Danish,  he was very confused about this for his first few months here. According to him (please correct me if I'm wrong), the Danish language pronounces  H as "HO" and C as "SAY". So the poor Irishman thought that the Danes were constantly referencing their famous author, "Jose Anderson." Which didn't sound remotely Danish, oddly enough. 

Some volunteers demonstrating the geography of Denmark. I volunteered in Madrid and had to enact one of the many King Ferdinands dying of dysentery, so I decided to sit this one out. It was harmless enough, though. We just had Jutland, Copenhagen, some port, and a bridge to Sweden.  

A memorial to the 2000 Danish navy men who lost their lives when they sunk their own ships to keep them from falling into the hands of the Germans. 

This used to be a very sketchy area of Copenhagen -- where all the sailers would land to drink, gamble, and spend the night in one of the many brothels. It ended up getting so bad that even sailers stopped going. At this all time low,  the brothels were turned into restaurants and cafes, and a party was thrown. Thus the sketchy side of town became the trendy, touristy side of town. 

One of the "lighthouse" boats. 

Hans Christian Anderson lived here during the time it was full of brothels. 

I used to poke fun at Alex because of the simplicity of the Danish flag, but it's actually the oldest flag in the world, so it has a good reason to be simple. It's kind of a prototype. The mother flag. ;) 

A magnificent, 500 million euro opéra house. 

I can't quite remember which famous king this is...

This ship was in England during WWII, so it is the only Danish battleship to survive. It's now a museum. 

A miniature, ancient Copenhagen.