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Danish Delights

One night in Copenhagen

By Carl Fisher

June 16^th, 2016

Bikemania

I started by mini-European adventure in Copenhagen because that was where I had to change plans and figured why not take the opportunity to see a new city. I had planned so that I would be there on Friday afternoon at around 1:30, which would give me the whole afternoon to check out the sites. Unfortunately, my flight from SFO was cancelled just as I was preparing to leave for the airport. How could that be? How was I supposed to start my vacation without transport? Fortunately, they booked me on a flight later that afternoon, but I would be stopping in Heathrow for 2.5 hours before the final leg to Copenhagen. Another piece of fortune was that I had United Club passes. All the booze and snacks I could stuff into my craw. Turned out to not be much, but at least it eased the burden of being so inconvenienced. So even though I lost the afternoon, I had the opportunity to spend more quality time in airports

When I finally touched down in Denmark, it was a pretty easy train ride to the main train station, which dropped me only a few blocks from my modest hotel. Urban House had gotten good reviews and I could feel the good vibes of the place from the website and the pics that had been posted. Reviews were good too. It lived up to my expectations. It was located near the Red light district (a plus for those into that sort of thing), but it was also a short walk to the Meatpacking District in Vesterbro, which is the latest hip happening place to have drinks and catch a bite. There is still meat packing going on there, just not at night. And I think many of the new drinking establishments displaced some of the packing that went on in the past. Maybe the rents got too high to make money off just meat alone. After much scoping out of the place, I ended up getting a burger at Tommi’s Burger Joint. Mine came with local cheese (or was it Kraft cheese slices? Hard to tell) and it hit the spot. It gave me enough fuel to head back to the hotel and get ready to hit a club or two. Well, the House was shaking when I arrived. It was not CA, so no earthquake. It was just the house music being spun in the bar area. It was quite the scene. I felt compelled to have a brewski and take it all in. I was tempted to just call it a night, but it was my only night there so I did a quick change into my disco togs and headed for the city center. I certainly was not alone. There were lots of folks out and about. I stuck my head into a couple of small bars, but was repelled by all the smoke. I thought we were past that whole cigarette smoking in bars thing. Big turn off. I ended up at G.A.Y Copenhagen. I hit the gay sweetspot. I wasn’t on the prowl for anything other than observing a foreign culture. It actually wasn’t all that different from any other gay bar. Even the music was familiar. My home away from home. Cheers!

The next day I was determined to get an early start to make the most of my partial day in Copenhagen. I thought that Amsterdam was the only place that really gets into the bikes, but it appears that this handy form of transportation is in many northern European cities. I was tempted to partake in this activity, but I failed to pack my helmet (who knew?) and have the same feeling as I do sitting in a car without a seatbelt when I am helmetless. Quite vulnerable. Not having a helmet didn’t seem to slow down the locals though. They appeared to have no qualms about cycling along sans hard hat. Maybe people felt that it would mess with their hair, although I would think that hitting the pavement with their melon would be much worse than having helmet head. It could also be that the drivers are just that much more aware of cyclists and are extra cautious around them. I’ll have to make a return visit to do more research. Perhaps I’ll look into getting a grant or something to study this strange phenomenon.

Multi decker racks. I have no idea how they got them all up there, but there must be some mechanical assist since many bikes had heft.

A cheap way to get around for a bachelorette party.

Diversity

The style of architecture was quite diverse, from shiny new ones to little scruffy ones. From modest to grand. According to the Sandemans walking tour guide, most of the buildings are relatively new, including the city hall which dates from the early 1900’s. That may seem old to some, but when the city was old even in medieval times, that’s pretty young. Unfortunately most of the buildings from that time were destroyed in a series of fires. If only they had had smoke detectors, and fire trucks, and firemen, and…..you get the idea. I should say a word or two about the Sandemans tour. It seem like a racket when I first heard about it. These were free walking tours. You don’t have to pay anything if you don’t want to. You’d be a real jerk if you trekked along for the entire 2.5 hour tour and didn’t give the guide even a nickel. People would be lining up to know you up side your head. The guides earned rent money solely from the tips that participants gave them at the end. The guide I had (along with 20 other people) had only been at it for 3 years, but was a wealth of information. He wasn’t even a native Dane. He was a Canadian of all things. Such good fortune. Overall, it was worth the ~10$ I ended up giving him. Could have been 50. It was in Krona. I just handed him some bills and he seemed happy.

Not the hotel I stayed in, but I liked the sign and the lighting.

Alternative

While there were lots of the usual touristy sights, there were also some grittier locations to be toured. Glad I poney up the bucks and went on the Alternative Copenhagen tour. It wasn’t quite as out there as I was expecting, but it did give me a taste for the parts of the city that weren’t overrun with tourists (like myself). We even hit Christiania, a sort of commune on a former military base where cannabis can be easily purchased from balaclava clad vendors prior to lighting up right then and there. Past a certain point in the compound no photos were allowed, so if you really want to see what it’s like, you’ll just have to make the trip (you may not even need a plane if you have the right supplier).

The Free State of Christiania. The only place in town where you can openly buy and try the green herb.

street life

The city was teeming with activity. Even if the sun wasn’t splitting the rocks, people were still out and about enjoying themselves.

Supposedly the best Italian food in Copenhagen. All those blankets keep our door diners warm when the sun goes down.

Views worth the climb

By now, you probably get the idea that there was a lot of rustic buildings pretty much everywhere you turned.

Putting the hefty wide angle lens to good use.

Well worth the walk to the top for the view.

More sights

It certain ways, the place reminded me of Amsterdam. It’s been quite a few years since I was there, but there are definite similarities. Such as the pulleys used to haul furniture up to the upper floors of some of the narrower dwellings. You didn’t have canals, but there were narrow cobblestone streets. Very Hans Christian Andersen