Copenhagen Canal Swims

Last week we took a study trip to Amsterdam and Copenhagen. We spent 2 days in Amsterdam and 3 days in Copenhagen. I’m glad we spent more time in Copenhagen because I had already been to Amsterdam before. I was excited that we had more time in the new city. The first day of Copenhagen started out with a pretty big disappointment. We were scheduled to take a tour of the Copenhill which was a pretty cool powerplant in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, the power plant had some complications and needed to shut down so we were unable to tour the facility. On the brightside this left us with a completely free day. 

We decided to take a train to a town called Malmö in Sweden. We didn’t really know what there was to do in Malmö but we wanted to check another country off the list. The train ride was only about 50 minutes across the Øresund. We walked around the city and it was weirdly empty. There was basically nobody in the streets, it was weird. We walked towards the coast and ended up at a rocky beach. There was a pretty cool view of the water but I had priorities. I needed to get some locally made Swedish candy. My goal was to get about half a pound to a pound of candy. Embarrassingly I messed up my conversion between kilograms and pounds. I thought 1 pound was 2.2 kilograms instead of what it actually is, which is 1 kilogram is 2.2 pounds. It also didn’t help that the candy was so cheap because it’s local. Due to this, I accidentally got about 2 pounds of Swedish candy for only 8 dollars. Honestly, I’ve made way worse purchases.

I’d go as far to say I would buy this amount of Swedish candy again. On the way back from Sweden I noticed a wind farm in the water. There was a group of about 30 wind turbines in the distance. This was an ideal place to have a wind farm because the winds are so strong offshore. My dad is a marine biologist and he is currently working with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for offshore wind off of Long Island. My dad would be researching how the wind turbines construction and operation would affect the local marine wildlife. Seems like New York could learn something from Copenhagen when it comes to offshore wind.

The next day we took a tour of the 8-house. The 8-house is pretty much an apartment building shaped like an 8 that is supposed to be its own little community. The tour kind of just felt like an open house and felt as if the tour guide was trying to get us to buy an apartment. After that we went to the Danish Architecture Center which was very cool. There was an exhibit about water that centered around a 50 minute show about what would happen if water levels kept rising. It was very interesting. The architecture center also had a slide which was a lot of fun. 

Later that night me and my friends decided to go to the canal in front of the famous colorful houses and go swimming. It was very late at night and the water was super cold. As soon as I jumped in I was hit with a cold shock. I immediately wanted to get out. I desperately swam for the ladder and I think I cut my foot on a rock. I was so cold I didn’t even notice the cut until the next day. I climbed the ladder as fast as I could while my friend Brendan followed quickly behind. It was a super fun experience that I’m really glad I did. I know I’m going to tell my grandkids this story. As much as I was regretting it as I ran back to the hostel freezing wet, it was so much fun. 

I loved this trip to Copenhagen and I was able to cross two new countries off my list. I would definitely recommend a trip to Copenhagen for anyone interested. I would also recommend a short trip because the city is expensive. You should probably also visit in the summer for some warmer canal swimming!

Jonah R

Ben, H. (2024, August 2). Swimming in Copenhagen – where are the best places?. Scandi Culture. https://www.scandiculture.org/blog/swimming-in-copenhagen