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09-06-10

Days 15 – 20 : Copenhagen

Thursday we headed to the Schoenefeld Airport to board our EasyJet flight to Copenhagen.  A very decent selection of breakfast foods from marche had to be gulped down in haste while we lined up and waited an hour to collect our boarding pass, even without bags to check.  Thankfully the flight was short, and upon arriving in Copenhagen, our friend Falah collected us at the gate and led us to the very efficient train to travel to where her and her husband, Torben, live.  It was so great to see friends again after weeks of travel, it really lightened our spirits.  They took us to the city center for traditional danish street food of hotdogs – “ristet pølse”. These are topped with ketchup, mustard and remoulade sauce is followed by a sprinkling of raw and toasted onion, and a layer of pickled cucumber. Torben also introduced us to traditional Danish liquor shots (“snaps” and “fisherman”). Once filled with Danish courage, we took our talents to the local karaoke bar.

The currency in Denmark is the Kroner, but taxes make many things much more expensive than other parts of europe.  We were very lucky to be able to stay with our friends and benefit from their savvy while in the Danish capital.

On Friday we picked up bikes.  Copenhagen is very bike friendly.  While we waited for fresh bikes to arrive at the shop, we walked across the street to get ice cream in the botanical gardens.  An extensive indoor greenhouse had a second floor reachable from cascading stairs.  We then rode to Christiania, a unique independent state established by counter-culture squatters of a former army base.  The rules are no pictures, violence, or hard drugs, so instead we drank Tuborg and ate sandwiches in the sunny weather.  We stopped at Bankeraat, a cool bar with oddities of taxidermy animals and artist types, for some more beer.  Back at the pad Falah made a fantastic Indian dish.

Saturday we biked to the Statens Museum of Kunst, an art museum.  The rear hall  is filled with natural light, and extends the original building facade.  The space occupied with an exhibit by Tomás Saraceno - giant suspended plastic biospheres.  We had coffee in the atrium cafe and wandered through the museum filled with art, largely of danish origin.

After the museum we headed to a restaurant where we had some traditional Danish food.  Andrew gorged smorrebord: cheese, ham, herring, liver pate, and breaded whitefish.

We topped off the afternoon in Nyhavn where colorful buildings – one of which was the birthplace of physicist Neils Bohr – line the canal filled with sailboats and further on a view of the operahouse.
 

In the evening we headed to the local dive bar for Carlsberg and dice games, but the locals provided extra entertainment as they drank and played a 5-pin billiards game.    

Sunday it rained, and we were fully prepared with Torben’s excellent DVD collection, lots of food and boxed wine. It was the first Sunday that we had the opportunity to be lazy . [also football match]    

Monday we waited for Falah to finish her half day of work and before taking a train trip up to Elisnore.  At 7-11 we picked up an assortment of licorice – a Danish favorite.  All were quite tasty except for the salted variety, which I had to spit out after a few curious chews. 

Elisnore is home to Kronberg castle, which was the hypothetical setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  We had just enough time to tour the tapestry-filled castle, climb to the roof where we could see the Swedish coastline, and browse through the maritime museum which had a fantastic collection of ship models.  When we got home, Torben had prepared an amazing meal for us.