Copenhagen

I could only stay for two nights in Copenhagen, as every place was booked out on Saturday night (I never found out the reason why). But by the time I arrived in Copenhagen I had begun to tire of both the Scandinavian cities and the frustratingly early nightfall, so this did not bother me unduly. Despite my limited stay I explored a moderate fraction of the city, in particular the medieval inner city (“Indre By”). A self-guided walking tour of the town was very pleasant, and in contrast to the other Scandinavian capitals the streets of Copenhagen were overrun by cyclists. The streets were pleasant to walk and often lined with quaint medieval buildings, and there were several nice gardens (although the trees were all barren).

Amusing trivia: suburban Copenhagen is planned according to the 1947 Fingerplanen (“The Finger Plan”), which divides the suburbs into five fingers separated by green belts and highways. Each finger is named accordingly, and so the north-western suburbs are referred to as the “middle finger”.

After walking the streets for an entire day, I made my way to the self-governing and semi-legal enclave of Christiania (also known as “little Amsterdam” due to the legality and open trade of a certain plant), which was founded in 1971 when squatters took over unused military barracks. It soon became apparent that the dark of night was not the most appropriate time to visit Christiania, as there is almost no outdoor lighting and the paths that twist randomly through the open spaces are treacherous to navigate in the dark. Despite the darkness I was able to determine that the community mostly consists of ramshackle buildings and stalls in all manner of disrepair.

I entered a tiny store that invited passers by to “buy something or come in for a chat”, which was decorated with all manner of anarchist and revolutionary posters, accompanied by a hardcore punk soundtrack and a small lounge. Here I met Frode, a young Danish man with whom I talked at length about both the history of Christiania and its current situation — in 2004 the Danish government legally abolished the collective and police have been frequently storming the area ever since, demolishing constructions and immobilising the residents with tear gas at times.

I visited an M. C. Escher exhibition in a tiny gallery located in a picturesque little village in the Danish countryside (I owe Tatianna for discovering this exhibition and recommending it to me). It was a pleasant half-hour walk from the nearest train station (there were buses, but the weather was nice) and it was great to finally see some original Escher prints. I also went on a tour of the Carlsberg brewery (how could I resist?) which ended with two free beers from a range of around 15 on offer, most of which were limited runs or are simply unavailable in Australia. I approached the bar staff to enquire about the different beers, and as a result of my curiosity and my accent I ended up trying all of the different beers, gratis. Who says there’s no such thing as a free (liquid) lunch?

In conclusion I had an enjoyable three days in Copenhagen, but I was glad to finally head south to the Netherlands, even if it did involve a 14 hour bus ride. According to Wikipedia (which I’m only referencing because this is a blog entry, not a paper), the magazine Monocle “listed Copenhagen first in their Top 25 Most Livable Cities list [in 2008] and gave the city the special award as ‘Best Design City’ … [and] also stated that Copenhagen is Scandinavia’s most desirable city.” It’s possible that my perception of the city was tainted by my desire to leave Scandinavia, but I found Oslo and Stockholm to be more enjoyable cities — not that Copenhagen wasn’t a very nice city, mind you. But it was sufficiently large that walking wasn’t always suitable, and I didn’t find it to be quite as scenic or as charming as Stockholm or Oslo.

I hope this finds you well!