Copenhagen

I was asked to chaperone, along with another teacher, our annual year 11 trip abroad. This year the trip was to Copenhagen. Our year 11 has only 7 students but only 5 could go on the trip so it was a pretty manageable number between the two of us. We were a bit worried about how they might behave but they really surprised us and were great while we were away. I was also quite pleased that the school payed for my trip, food and payed me a nice fee to go - it was a definite win- win for me!

Copenhagen streets

We left very early on Wednesday (March 3) and arrived in town about 9am. We found our hotel which was slightly outside the city center to prevent mischievous behavior. Once we checked in we went to explore a bit. We let the students pick lunch so we ended up at Burger King. Then we let them have some free time to shop - I wandered the city to see the sights. The downtown is a mix of modern and old so it is interesting. I saw a cool church, the Queen's residence, the opera house and a few other sights. I tried to make it out to see Copenhagen's famous Little Mermaid statue but it was to far for me to walk and make it back to get the kids. The one defining characteristic of the city is that it uses a lot of copper - much of it from Norway. It is also the cycling capital of Europe - they have bike lanes everywhere and it seems like everyone bikes- we heard something like 35% of people commute on bikes in Copenhagen each day!

The "marble church" with the domed roof and the Queen's Residence on the right

The old stock exchange with a roof made from the copper from Roros, a famous copper mine in Norway.

After we meet the kids we went to the planetarium and saw an IMAX movie about space etc - it was very uninteresting to me since it was in Danish. Danish and Norwegian are very similar so the kids mostly understood it. Later that evening we went to a great buffet type restaurant. Then next day we were off to Elsinor to see Hamlet's Castle. It was about a 45 minute train ride north then a 15 minute walk in the brutal cold to the castle. It was a nicely maintained castle but not amazing. It was the castle that Shakespeare placed the story of Hamlet but of course it was a fictional story so it is not really Hamlet's castle. After we got back into the city we let the kids shop some more while Morten and I wandered into the hippie district of Copenhagen - it was were all the protests happen each time some major political event happens in Copenhagen like the Climate Change Conference or the G20.

Hamlet's Castle

The private chapel in the castle - beautiful wood carvings covered the chapel yet they were using real candles for light - strange!

On our last day we headed slightly outside the city center to the Copenhagen International School. The kids attended a few classes while Morten and I got to learn a little about the school. The kids were dreading it but they really enjoyed it and we think it gave them an idea of what else school has to offer. The school was pretty amazing with great resources. They had 600 students from ages 4-18 and over 100 teachers. They have over 50 countries represented, a waiting list to get in and it costs roughly $20,000 a year. Unlike our school there are very few kids from the country - most are true expats many of whom are diplomatic. It was a good experience to see something different. All and all Copenhagen was nice but I don't think I got a real feel for the city since it was winter and off season. I think in the summer it would be nicer but it doesn't stand at as one of best tourist sights in Europe. But a free trip to see it was well worth it! Plus now I can say I have chaperoned a trip abroad!

The cool church in the hippie district- the steeple inspired Jules Verne for images in the book Journey to the Center of the Earth!