Copenhagen manages to be simultaneously neatly organized and dirty. This quality alone makes the city supremely appealing. The overhead clocks in the metro are illuminated just so, trains glide right into the airport, and the airport itself is strewn with signs telling passengers exactly how long they'll have to wait in security lines. Yet the streets are grubby, drunks are prevalent, and an anything-goes spirit infuses many central neighborhoods. In comparison to more pristine Nordic capitals, Copenhagen feels downright sultry.
I spent three nights in Copenhagen with my cousins Brad and Trina and their kids. The Robertson foursome is doing two successive three-week home exchanges in the Copenhagen area. During my visit, they inhabited the top floors of a beautiful Christianshavn abode with access to an enormous shared courtyard. The complex is enveloped in a relaxed, communal atmosphere. (My cousin and his family have since moved on to a modernist house in the swank northern suburb of Lyngby.) My other native informant was an old college friend, Jason, who has been living in Copenhagen for a few years.
Copenhagen has its problems as well as its perfections. Here, I'll glance at the latter.
1. A perfect neighborhood: Nørrebro.
Jason mentioned that Nørrebro reminded him of Berlin, and, in fact, it was the most Berlin-like of the 'hoods I checked out in Copenhagen. With cafés spilling out onto a pedestrian-only street, leftist bookstores, shops serving immigrant communities, and political posters I felt Prenzlauer Berg on one corner and Kreuzberg on another. Were I to find myself in Copenhagen for a while, Nørrebro is likely where I'd look first for a smart little flat.
Street scene. Blågårdsgade, Nørrebro.
Mural. Wesselsgade, Nørrebro.
2. A perfect bakery: Lagkagehuset.
The branch of Lagkagehuset on Torvegade in Christianshavn is a beautiful space. In warm weather, customers can enjoy their incredible pastries over a newspaper in front of an open window that faces the canal. The pastries are of exquisite quality. When you eat an iced pastry like a tryksnegl at Lagkagehuset, you realize how the vastly inferior "danish" developed over time in the US and other places, and you find yourself fervently wishing that Lagkagehuset would set up shop in your hometown.
3. A perfect swimming spot: Islands Brygge.
Copenhagen's canals are so clean that you can swim in them. In 2002, a swimming facility was opened at Islands Brygge. During warm weather, the facility is mobbed with serious swimmers doing laps as well as huge throngs of families. The bracingly cold water feels great fifteen seconds in. There is something downright lovely about being able to swim in an urban canal. It's the sort of experience that triumphantly reconciles the urban and the natural.
4. A perfect canal: Christianshavns Kanal
Christianshavns Kanal lends its neighborhood atmosphere and provides an elongated congregation zone. Unlike the urban canals in Amsterdam, which derive much of their charm from how pinched they feel, Christianshavns Kanal is broad and open. There is certainly something undeniably calming about urban canals.
Christianshavn Kanal.
Along the canal at Torvegade.
5. A perfect place to discover a new country: Det Grønlandske Hus/Kalaallit Illuutaat.
Greenland has been on my list of places to visit for as long as I can remember. With tourism opening up in the Arctic territory it's becoming easier and easier to visit, though it remains excruciatingly expensive to do so. Greenland is a Danish territory—albeit one with newly expanded powers of self-determination—and the Greenlandic presence can be felt around the city. There are people of Greenlandic background throughout, and one also sees a Greenlandic language option at some cash machines as well as the occasional presence of Greenland's flag. Greenland in Tivoli, apparently the largest Greenlandic cultural event outside of the mother country, will be held this year at the amusement park July 30 through August 1.
The Greenland House is a cultural hub for Greenlanders and other curious sorts interested in the territory. There is a gallery—during my visit, an exhibition of Greenland in the 1970s was on display—a library space, and a café. A Grønlandseksperten travel agency is conveniently located on the premises.
My visit made me want to board one of these red airplanes for Kangerlussuaq...
Air Greenland airplane at Kastrup.
