Covid 19 Stay Home

Crazy - this is probably the most beautiful, warmest, driest March and April in all the years that I have been here.  And we are supposed to stay home unless we need to go to the market or pharmacy or to exercise.  Well...…….. walking is part of my exercise plan so I went out 2 days ago and today.  

2 days ago I walked out of the building and I heard sirens - several of them.  And they kept coming.  As I got to the sidewalk, I looked down the street to see what all the commotion was.  It turns out, the apartment complex next-door to us was on fire.  It just also just happens to be the apartment complex that the mayor of Copenhagen lives in.

I just snapped 1 pix but there was a lot more smoke than what this pix shows and it was coming out of the back side of the building as well.  But I couldn't be bothered with such trivia.  No.  The sun was beckoning me to take a nice exercising walk.  

But I walked only 50 steps because the harbor bus just happened to be docking at the stop so I hastily hopped on board.

 Leaving the bus stop.

This is one of the brand new boats that runs on battery.  Supposed to be way cleaner for the enviroment.  Producing electricity isn't always cleaner but here in DK, all of our electricity is windmill produced, so it's very clean.  The harbor bus has a new design that allows you to look through the boat and there is more space to stand on the back and front deck.

While I was in Gran Canaria (see the last blog) I found a new button on my camera.  It turns a long video into a few seconds, making it easy to post.  I just love the harbor and never get tired of just taking a ride or walking along side of it.  I know now that I need to keep the camera more still as it makes all movements happen really fast in the fast speed mode.  But here are my first attempts.

And of course when I got to the 3rd. stop, I got out of the harbor bus and walked back which constitutes my exercise and allowance to get out and stretch my body.  Now if you want to see more of the harbor, there is always my blog about the bridges of Copenhagen. Click here.

So that was 2 days ago.

Today was another beautiful day and I just had to get out and take a walk.  But this time, instead of going into the city, I walked south to a new part of town which I have not seen yet.  And what a surprise it was.  Just a 10 minute walk south of our apartment complex is a nature area and you can walk in the nature along the harbor to Sluseholmen and then to the new area of Sydhavn.  So that's what I did.  Sluse = water-lock, holmen = tiny island.  But it's not an island.  It may have been at one time, I don't know.  Syd = south, havn = harbor.  The harbor in Copenhagen is quite long and skinny.  And all of the industry has been moved so it is one of the cleanest harbors in the world. 

I started out by exiting the back gate where I then cross a bridge over a fake lake.  It is this square lake that is between our apartment complex and the complex that was on fire 2 days ago.  I live in the complex that is white on the right.

I passed a bunch of brand new apartments and I end up in the nature area called Nokken.

I am in the nature area and almost at Sluseholmen following the white line.  From this point I snap a photo of a building that I call The Jetson's building because of the space-age look with bubble windows and oval balconies.  For years and years, this was the only apt. building in this area.  When we moved into our apt, we could look south and see all the way down the harbor and see this cool building.  We can't see it anymore due to all the new apt. buildings that have popped up everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE !

Then I get to the harbor water lock island - or Sluseholmen.

Here is a brief history of the water-lock.  The harbor is not a river as many tourist believe.  So the water, depending on the current and the wind, can flow either one direction or the other. The sign doesn't say, but I think it also regulates how much water can come into the harbor so that the city doesn't flood over.  In the above sign, it talks about a railway bridge built in 1998.  After a zillion years of talking about it, they finally built a rail line to the airport and this is it.  The rail line also goes to Sweden which is the first stop after the airport. 

Now looking north, back towards the Jetson's building and Copenhagen city center.

 The yellow sluse house.

Here now is a full 360° view.

As I cross the water-lock, I snapped a kayaker playing in the current of the water, rushing in towards the city.

And here you can see more clearly the water rushing in.

Now standing at the far end of the water-lock and at the beginning of Sydhavn.

Just at the other end of the water-lock is the new part of town - Sydhavn (South Harbor).  There was nothing here before with exception of abandon old warehouses and empty fields.  Now there are about a gillion, maybe even a gazillion apartments in organized blocks so that just about every apartment has a canal view.  It's pretty amazing and very reminiscent of Venice or Amsterdam.

You can't really tell from this cheap camera phone photos but the building is painted a blue-grey and it has red tops.

I snapped this photo for my friend George, whom I am sure would absolutely love to try out this floating church.

Now I am nearly done with my exercising walk now.  Way in the background in the red circle is our apt. complex.  When I got home, I made dinner and served it out on our balcony.  Covid-19 doesn't get better than this.

In total, the walk was 7.2 km or 4½ mi.

Are YOU still staying in-doors?