After 15 years of layovers at Copenhagen airport, occasional drives through Denmark, and visits to pretty much every other major Danish city, I finally found myself in Copenhagen – with 2 days off.

So what to do? Stroll through the Stroget cobblestone streets; get lost in Illums Bolighus interior design department store; dine at Fiskebaren, an old fish-processing factory-turned trendy hang-out; tour the canals; and squeeze onto the very top of the tapering spiral staircase of the Christianshavn church. That’s hippie freetown Christiania below.

(Copenhagen, Denmark; April 2013)