Copen-hanging

Copenhagen is the shit. Joel and I love this city, the prices, not so much. Originally we thought we would stay there for 3 days but we ended up staying 6 days. We arrived at 6am, and started exploring city center since we couldn't check-in. Right away we were impressed by the transit and how it easy it is to get around, as well as admiring all the bikes and elevated bike lines (separated from the driving lane)! Sitting on a street corner we just happened to be sitting next to two people from Oakland, noticed them because they were wearing Warrior hats, and a guy from UC Davis wearing a Davis sweatshirt. Small world :) Then, a bit of a set-back, both Joel and I got a bad cold and were bedridden for 2 days, super lame. When you are really sick you just wish you were in the comfort of your own home, but our Airbnb host was so sweet and made us fresh ginger tea. There is construction all over Copenhagen because they are making their metro system even more awesome, so instead of being an eye-sore, there is art covering the fenced of areas. Very nice, see evidence. 

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C- You know, why not add a mini skate park here?

Copenhagen is expensive, so the Iceland diet as I am now calling it (so expensive you become cheap and hungry often) continued. This is also the reason we did not stay in a hostel or hotel, too expensive. We stayed across the street from a famous cemetery in Norrebro, which is a lot more like a park.

I really like how the landscaping is built around the gravestone. 

Lots of people hanging out at the cemetery, it really looked like a garden. Norreboro is a cool and walkable neighborhood and I guess I would describe it as an “ethnic” neighborhood, meaning that there are many brown people here, mainly people from the Middle East, especially Turkey. This means that you can get shwarma and falafal on every corner, and it's one of the cheapest foods you can buy. After Norrebro we stayed in a residential, very quiet, neighborhood.

Throughout the week we had the chance to walk through several different, amazingly beautiful-green-luscious parks. I guess when I think of a park I think of a big open space with trees, but these have little lakes, canals, hills, beautiful landscaping, more of what I expect from a park you pay to get into.

All over the place young people are drinking beer and hanging out with their friends. You know, because this is the cheaper option and drinking in public is A-OK. Oh yeah, their playgrounds kick the ass of our playgrounds.

Octopus Slide, so cool!

We made a day trip out to the Hamlet Castle, it has a real name, but I am going to call it Hamlet Castle because Shakespeare wrote the play with this castle in mind. It was a beautiful castle, less stony than I expected, I guess I always imagine British castles when I think of castles.

We took the metro out there and also stopped to visit “Europe's Best Library,” that's their claim to fame. And I have to say, I haven't been this impressed since I visited the main branch of Seattle Public Library, that's a good-looking library! This library wasn't as big but it was so beautifully functional, those Danes know how to design!

On our fifth day we visited Christiania, a neighborhood across a canal from the center of Copenhagen. Think co-op neighborhood, ad it's so unique, in a good way. The history is super interesting, from squatters to a community that wishes to be a free town, separate from Copenhagen. We were walking around and then a local, Nis, started chatting us up. He has lived in Christiania for 25 years and was very involved with gay rights and politics in Copenhagen. It was so great to hear his story and to hear about Christiania and how people live. Definitely, one of my favorite moments so far. There is a cool documentary about it too, here is a trailer and you can watch it for free on Vimeo: Trailer

Being in Denmark made me reflect about interacting with strangers. In the US we are somewhat phony-nice, at least in retail. I mean, I know through all the years I worked in retail I wasn't sincere when I said “have a nice day” like 90% of the time, it's just something you know you have to do. But outside of work, I do open doors, say thank you when someone opens a door for me, make eye-contact and smile...this is not how things are done in Denmark. I suppose it took me by surprise. One of our hosts is Brazillian and she talked about how that was something she had to get used to as well, people being somewhat distant than what she was used to.

Of note:

• Danes pay around 45% or more in taxes. I would do totally pay into that for universal healthcare, free education, etc.
• In general, everyone is fit, very rarely saw people who are overweight.
• Lots and lots of blondes, of course.
• Homeless people are pretty much non-existant
• Locking your bike is different...You lock your bike tire to the frame and lean it against  so a thief would only have to carry your bike away to steal it. Except, people do not steal your bike! 

Copenhagen is cool, well-designed, functional *sigh* BUT...we did walk by a park where a group of 20 blondies were loudly singing along to the Backstreet Boys. Yeah, we saw you! Minus 5 cool points from Copenhagen.

For a photo flood of Copenhagen, go here: Copenhagen