I was lucky that the conference I attended in Copenhagen last week was close to a number of the city’s public gardens and green spaces.

I had Saturday free to explore the city on what became a gorgeous spring afternoon. My explorations of course included the Botanical Garden. The place was full of people enjoying the spring weather. It features extensive glasshouses, but I didn’t go inside them. Too many outdoor spaces to explore with my limited time.

I managed to get up early enough for a run on Friday, before the day’s sessions started, and ran by The lakes.

I also passed through a corner of Østre Anlæg Park. I think this building is a library but I can’t quite identify it right now.

On Saturday afternoon, I visited the Kastellet, which is a fort, several centuries old. Its built in the shape of a giant star, complete with surrounding moat and rampart. My pictures make it look empty, but the place was full of people jogging along the top of the ramparts, along with others just sitting and enjoying the sunshine, or walking their dogs.

The garden I like the best by far was Kongens Have or the King’s Garden.

I first visited Copenhagen 4 years ago — the last time I attended this very conference. I was new in my job, and was on my first work trip in the role, stringing together 2 conferences, a user group meeting, and a visit to the UK office. I think I was gone for a full 2 weeks… might have been more. I landed in Copenhagen first, jet lagged, nervous and exhausted. Arriving early in the day, I couldn’t check in to my hotel room for hours, so I dropped my luggage at the bell desk and wandered out to find some lunch and my bearings (or at least some bearings). A big green square on Google maps was close by — Kongens Have.

This is where I first came to understand how much I love a pleached tree, and the 2 long, intersecting allees in this garden are spectacular. The effect is enchantment: the scale of the impossibly formal yet very much living trees to a human (me) walking through them. The trees in Kongens Have are Lime trees (but not the citrus kind) (Tilia).

And there are lilacs! Like hydrangeas, this is an exotic plant to me, living in Southern California.

I took multiples pictures of the lime tree allees at different times of day — on a morning jog, then again an afternoon walk, and then lingered here for a long time on Saturday afternoon, just soaking it up (along with a large portion of Copenhagen’s populace).

Kongens Have is huge, and full of people even in the early morning (mostly joggers, like me, or people walking their dog, or headed somewhere purposefully, probably their job).

This visit I discovered something new in the park — a perennial garden long border. I had no idea it was here. I found it Friday morning.

And then went back Saturday morning, and then later in the day when the clouds started to thin out.

Kongens Have also features a palace, Rosenborg Castle, completed in 1624, and an extensive and impressive collection of statuary, but I was just focused on the gardens. My documentation of the place is not very thorough. Here’s the rose garden — too early for any blooms. I bet it will be amazing in a few weeks.

I saw only a tiny part of the city of Copenhagen — there are so many museums, restaurants, that famous mermaid stature, other neighboods… Plenty left to explore if I visit again.