Day 2 Copenhagen

Day 2 of Copenhagen began ridiculously early because the sun is up at 5am and therefore we were as well. However we bummed around for a few hours indulged in a hostel breakfast (overpriced but we compensated by eating absolutely everything) and then headed out on a free walking tour.
On my last trip to Europe it was first thing we did in every new city which was to suss out a free walking tour and begin with that. The concept is they show you the main sights of the city tell you a few stories and a brief summary of the history and if you like the tour you tip them. If it was terrible you don't pay. And it's up to you how much you pay, so it's excellent for impoverished backpackers.
This tour picked us up from the hostel and started in the town square. Nome was now feeling loads better and it was a glorious sunny day so we were off to a great start.
We heard 6000 years of history in 20 mins (in the first 4000 years nothing much happened) - then about Vikings, Bishop Absalom - founder of Copenhagen and pirate hunter and faith converter, the oldest Royal family in Europe, the golden ages, the century of the northern sea wars (Sweden and Denmark have fought more wars between them than anyone else has), the decline of Denmark - plague and two great fires that kept wiping out everything (they built 5 town halls in total), Napoleon wars and invasion by Nelson (twice), going bankrupt -which turned out to be a good thing because they became left out of world politics and instead produced some of the greatest writers and philosophers, was neutral in WWI, invaded by Hitler in WWII, had a pretty amazing underground resistance and then post WWII became the greatest welfare country in the world with the happiest population!
We also heard all about Carlsberg (so much more than just beer), walked on stone streets made by Vikings, saw canals, Royal Island, the Danish parliament, the oldest building in Denmark (survived 2 fires!), saw the royal theatre and where Hans Christian Anderson lived, possibly the world's ugliest opera house, Christianshaun - a new island to cope with over population and the royal residence! We waved at Princess Mary, we'll probably head over there for high tea today!
All in all an excellent tour. Sustained by our extremely large breakfast we headed out post tour to see the Little Mermaid statue. She is gorgeous but like most things in life - smaller than you think.
After that we ended up at New harbour (which is actually the oldest harbour) for a very late lunch and our first taste of proper Danish food, herrings, bread and cheese (and beer!). We then went on a canal tour coasted along the water in the sunshine and heard more stories and histories (but in three languages!).
We then headed to Christiania which is free city in Copenhagen. Basically some hippies, artists and architects began squatting on the island of Christianshaun  in an abandoned military place in the 1970s and as a social experiment the government let them have that area to themselves. They have their own rules and are not governed by police or military. This means that's it's full of pot and hippies but it is worth a look. Some gorgeous art work is in there, it's quite green and full of trees ABC's people do seen very relaxed and happy but of course that might just be all the drugs.
After checking that out we then headed into the meat packing district for dinner, a cheap Italian restaurant called Mother that had excellent wood fire pizzas (great recommendation thanks Mutty!)
Of course we were completely knackered by then so we finished up at our hostel in time to catch a blazing sunset from our 8th floor room over the city. (For those that are interested the sun sets at 1030pm).
So today is our last day in Copenhagen so hopefully more adventures to come!