There is something magical about botanical gardens, and this one in the center of Copenhagen is no exception. Ever since I went here on an overcast day this Spring to shoot it for an Instagram guide to Copenhagen for Guided by Cereal (some of you might recognize the first photo in this post), I have been meaning to go back and take some photos of the greenhouses from the inside. Yesterday, an opportunity finally arose when I met with Karen, a very sweet journalist and friend of mine. Karen is doing a feature on me for a Berlin based travel site, and when she asked me where we should shoot the photos, I immediately thought of these greenhouses.

The Botanical Garden is a peaceful oasis in the middle of the city. As part of University of Copenhagen, the garden and greenhouses hold the largest collection of living plants in the country and the whole garden with hills and lakes is beautiful year round. The light in here is absolutely stunning, and the greenhouses hold collections of palm trees, cacti, succulents, and many endangered species. To be honest, I don’t know the first thing about botanics, but these surroundings are well worth a visit either way. Karen and I started contemplating the great potential of these glass houses – imagine having a big gathering here with long tables, white table cloths and the setting sun reflected through the windows? That would be pretty amazing. And probably impossible (or crazy expensive, at least).

We had a lot of fun taking photos in here – mostly, she was shooting me; a situation I am not normally that comfortable in.. But the surroundings made for some pretty good shots! If you go here whilst visiting Copenhagen, please note that opening hours are kind of quirky. The garden is open all days until 4pm (winter) and 6pm (summer), but the different greenhouses are only open a couple of days a week – from what I can tell, coming here on a Wednesday at 2pm is ideal!

Botanical Garden 
Øster Farigmagsgade 2B, 1353 Kbh. K

Back in Copenhagen. Back to real life, overpriced coffee, everyone looking beautiful and exactly the same, dark afternoons and freezing nights, quiet streets in the city center and a very low-key ambiance all over the city. No more wonderfully weird New Yorkers, no more exploring new neighborhoods, no more of that breathtaking skyline as a constant reminder of the many different lives in that huge city.

Moving from one place and back to the other hasn’t completely dawned on me yet, and this weekend, I needed a dose of Copenhagen. So I dragged Esben up in one of the city’s main tourist attractions; The Round Tower. He thought I was a little silly, but I needed to see the city from high above to really understand where I was. And doing a touristy thing in our own city did help a little, perhaps making the transition a little easier. Because Copenhagen really is a great city. And the view from this tower built in 1642 and now the oldest functioning astronomy observatory in Europe is spectacular. Built with a spiral walk so the astronomers’ heavy instruments could be transported up and down on wagons, the inside of the tower with brick floors and white walls is quite a pretty sight.

Although it takes a bit of a hike to make it all the way to the top (no elevators!) the view is definitely worth it. It does not compare to taking in the Manhattan skyline from Top of The Rock, but that’s OK. Because the two cities can’t be compared, and CPH does have a lot of good things that NYC lacks. Like most of my friends living in the same neighbourhood just a couple of minutes apart, thousands of bikelanes making it so easy to get around compared to the subway system in NYC, peace and quiet and a whole lot of stunning and historical architecture like this well visited tower in Central Copenhagen.

The Round Tower
Købmagergade 52A
1150 KBH K

The Glypthoteque in Copenhagen is one of the most peaceful places in town and well worth a visit whether you are into sculpture collections or not. This beautiful 19th century building holds an Ancient Mediterranean collection on the first floor, where the majority of these photos are from. The different rooms – both grandiose with marble floors and less dramatic – are all painted in different colors such as green, blue, yellow and red and these walls make picturesque backgrounds for the ancient sculptures.

My favourite spot is the Winter Garden (pictured above) with palm trees and plants everywhere and a beautiful dome ceiling. Here you will also find a café with a view to the garden that serves lunch, cakes and coffee. It is slightly overpriced, but the surroundings couldn’t be any better! In 1996, a new building by world renowned Dansih architect Henning Larsen was added to the museum and if you walk up the stairs to the rooftop terrace, you have an incredible view to the neighbouring Tivoli Gardens and the city center.

Closed on Mondays and free entrance on Sundays.

Glyptoteket
Dantes Plads 7, 1556 Kbh K.

One sunny Monday, I got up early and rode my bike out to the Bispebjerg-area of Copenhagen. This neighbourhood does not have that many sights or attractions, but one place keeps me coming back: Grundtvig’s Church on top of the small hill, Bispebjerg Bakke. This day, I came on a mission to research for a small piece on the church for Cereal Magazine. I sat for a little while with my laptop in the sunlit building and felt really thankful for having the possibly to write for such an amazing magazine (or, their website at least!).  I will let the photos speak for themselves and give you this link where you can read my words and enjoy the amazingly beautiful photos taken by Finn Beales. (The photos is this posts are taken by me – I couldn’t help myself when I saw that beautiful morning light!).

Grundtvig’s Church
På Bjerget 14B, 2400 Kbh. NV