Once upon a time there was a tiny little country hidden somewhere deep down between the Norwegian mountains, the Swedish political correctness and the German sausages and sauerkraut, never forgotten but not remembered that often either. This little country had some pretty grand ideas once and both Sweden, Norway and England has been invaded and ruled by the, quite frankly megalomaniac and excessive violent, people of Denmark. Now though it's not that grand anymore, even though we try our hardest, the only thing we've really ruled the past few years has been the world happiness chart because we are in fact decently happy when all comes to all.
One of the reasons we are so happy is, according to clever guys studying social behavior and shit, the term "hygge" that we got. It roughly translates to "cosy" which again means to have a good relaxed time without worries, or well, something close to that anyways. Us Danish people we achieve hygge in many different ways and it's hard to pin point exactly what it is but I still want to give you an example of some quality hygge I had last week with my Father.
If you are unfamiliar with the Danish weather, and our spring weather in particular, it's worth noting that 87% of our weather (highly inaccurate number directly pulled out of my opinionated ass) is cold, rainy, windy and horrible in general. Because of that there was a collected sigh of relief and much rejoice when the temperature suddenly skyrocketed to 20+ degrees last week and half of Copenhagen could be seen outside soaking in the rare blessing that is the sun.
Among the crowds my Father and I decided to get some fresh air and enjoy the spring as much as possible so we decided to visit the botanical garden of Copenhagen where everything has started to bloom and sprout, giving us a cosy and freshly green setting for some quality family time.
The first Royal Botanical Garden of Copenhagen was founded the 2nd of August in the year 1600 but since people didn't really gave many fucks about science of nature back then it slowly died out and was almost completely erased in the great fire in 1828. Moving forward 50 years and a few attempts later we finally have the garden that we know today with the giant greenhouses and enormous amounts of plants from all over the world. Science of nature started to pick up and today the garden houses just about 23.000 different species divided into a myriad of specialized "neighbourhoods" - counting among many the Danish area, the Asian area etc etc you get the picture I'm sure.
Part of the European highland area
The Garden is a much sought out refugee for inhabitants of Copenhagen to get a breather in the big city and offers besides exotic plants, beautiful flowers and green shrubberies a big green lawn for picnic and sunbathing, an outdoor cafe and a safe haven for unwanted pets and other small animals. It's not uncommon to see turtles at the lake that has been released by the public (and regulated by the park) and the indigenous snog (grass snake) soaking sun on the stones or in the water.
We did manage to see a snog but they are like suuuper fast and no chance to snap a picture of them with so many people visiting the park that day, unlike the turtles that could pose for hours uninterrupted.
The institute of nature science or whatever it's called are quite baffled these guys can survive our winters, but I guess no one told the turtles cause here they are!
Not many flowers blooms yet but some of the rhododendrons had already started making quite a colorful show that I'd like to share with you here below. It was quite a treat to waddle around the garden among these festive colors and it's certainly bound to make even the grumpiest of grannies become delighted light spirited beings, if nothing else then at least for just an hour or two.
My Latin is horrible so I'll not be including all the Latin names but if you are somehow incredible interested in botanic, I'm sure I can find the correct names for each of them. Just let me know in the comments and I'll do everything I can to help you, I promise.
Rhododendron lacteum
Rhododendron uvarifolium
Not sure what this one is to be honest..
Horribly out of focus but couldn't resist to include this sea of pink - Rododendron mucronulatum
Obviously, with 23000 different plants there was bound to be a lot more than a few rhododendrons showing of so I collected a few various flowers for you to enjoy here below. Remember that some of these are from vastly different eco-systems around the globe and then marvel at how good they are at adapt to their new surroundings so well as they do.. while also appreciate the gigantic work the staff of the institute and the garden put into maintaining this green heaven in our lovely capital.
Top left I don't remember sorry
Top right: Bergenia spathulata
Lower left: Iris willmottiana
Lower right: Magnolia something x soulangeana
We went around, we did our pictures and we had a great time in the sun. The Botanical garden is a great place to visit while in the city, specially if you want a little break from the scheduled sightseeing or just get a little tired of concrete and asphalt. We definitely had a good time, enjoying some much deserved and appreciated pure hygge
It's free to enter, both the garden and the giant green houses, by everyone, residents and tourists alike and it's located right next to the busiest underground travel-hub that is Nørrebro station. This both makes it easy to reach but also easy to leave again when you get hungry or want to get back to that mandatory sightseeing or shopping while visiting Copenhagen.
We ended our day eating a delicious pita shawarma from the nearby local shawarma pusher but otherwise you are within walking distance of some of Copenhagen finest and best foodie areas where you for sure can satisfy every craving you might have, but more on that in a later post.
Lastly I wish you all a joyous and happy spring time and I hope you all are having a great time here late April. To end on a colorful note here is a traditional Easter lilly.
Best wishes
The Wandering Danish
All pictures are my own taken with my shitty Samsung A6
Everything is original, down to the shitty attempt at humor
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