Lifestyle & Habits, Copenhagen

1 more image

Believe it or not, a local superstition says, the Viking horn blowers named Bjorn Iron Rib and Ljoter the Unwashed, sound their S-shaped horns called lurs, if a virgin walk by.
Because of unknown reason, I never heard anything, when I strolled there.
Would anybody explain, why is it? Am I a little bit deaf, or ...?

By the way, the figure of the proud lur blowers (Lurblæserne) unveiled in 1914 is the work of two sculptors, Wagner and Rosen.
The stone statue of the two manly Vikings can be seen on the top of a pillar beside the clock tower of the City Hall, as that is a Victorian building, statue is presumably also part of the nineteenth century mythologisation of the past.

On the eastern side of Christianshavn is the area called Christiania. Originally a military camp which was abandoned. It was subsequently taken over in 1971 by hippies who then declared their own “free state“.
Christiana has never gained full independence but still enjoys status as a tax and rent- -free enclave with a lively, arts scene. Cars aren't allowed here but you can walk or cycle through the area without street lighting and take in the craft market and organic food eateries or buy drugs being legal here.
Guided tours are available daily in the summer. Today, the village stands as a utopian experiment.
To my big surprise it attracts almost as many visitors as The Little Mermaid!

Directions: Christiania is located east of the city centre, in Christianshavn, in the near of the metro station Christianshavn, about a few hundred metres walk on Prinsessegade.

Bill Bryson writes up Copenhagen in his book 'Neither here nor there' in a very entertaining way. Although written a few decades ago, his observations still seem to ring true. One particular point (or two) stick out in my mind. They are beautifully rounded sentences :

"Copenhagen is also the only city I’ve ever been in where office girls come out at lunchtime to sunbathe topless in the city parks. This alone earns it my vote for European city of Culture for any year you care to mention. (p.107, Bryson.)".

Bravo. - sourbugger

Nipped out one night from the hotel, in search of a something to feed a late night hunger pang.

I stumbled across a 24hour petrol station. What little havens these are to the somewhat hidden Danish sense of masculinity. Aside from petrol, the main products on sale appeared to be sausages, chilled beer and hard-core porn DVD's.

What more could a man need for an entertaining evening ?

The bars and restaurants in Nyhavn have seemingly good meal deals but they rake it in on beverages. Locals of course know this, but in order not to miss out on the great Nyhavn atmosphere, they have a solution! They simply bring their own crate of beer and sit on the quay with their friends and, perhaps a guitar.

At times, you could be forgiven for thinking that you were in England when walking the streets of Copenhagen. This is particularly true in Osterbro where you have Kartoffelraekerne and a whole range of other areas with row after row of extremely English looking brick houses but going by train along the coast north of the city will also give English views. The photo shows the St Albans anglican church in Churchill Park. This is at least something you expect to look English. I will add more pictures when I've been around Triangeln with my camera.

1 more image

Danish royals have not been as posh as their continental counterparts in the last century and the Danes love their royal family. A sign of this is the fact that during the German occupation of Denmark, King Christian X went for his daily morning rides along the streets of Copenhagen and when the German soldiers asked if he didn't need guards to accompany him, the king replied "The Danish people is my guard". You can see his statue in St Annæ Plads just behind Nyhavn. Non-royalists will quickly point out that the king had nothing but good to say about the nazis before Denmark was occupied by Germany. Then the tune changed apparently. Personally, I have no view on the matter.

People ALWAYS obey signals at pedestrian crossings. If the red man is showing, whether the road is busy or not, no-one crosses the road until the green man shows it is allowed.

Because us Brits always want to try and get from A to B as quickly as humanly possible, this phenomenum was a complete novelty. We were inclined to march fearlessly across the empty road, to looks of horror and admiration from the crowd on the pavement.

But everyone knows and defends their rights on the road in Denmark - cars, cyclists and pedestrians - which must make for a happy city overall!