A Canadian in Sweden

Denmark

Nice place. I will happily return, despite the lack of snow.

As you may have figured out from my last post, I was kindly hosted by a Danish couple I had never even met before, Rolf Lund and Lene Jensen. If you are Danish, you may have heard of Rolf, because he has sold over 100 000 cookbooks (in a country of 6 million). They are basically books about cooking well on a shoestring. He has published six books, all called "Fattig røvens". Apparently this is an expression which describes someone who is poor but happy, or so Rolf explained to me. Rolf is also an amazing orienteer, at 50 he kicks my ass. I don't feel bad, though, because he is national champion in his age group, and is a former national team member. Same with Lene. We got along like a house on fire. Lene keeps chickens in the backyard, in the middle of town. Apparently municipal regulations are flexible about keeping livestock within town limits. I thought this was awesome, and of course with Rolf's culinary skills I enjoyed fresh eggs in the morning and amazing meals for dinner.

Rold and Lene live up in Helsingør. This may ring a bell, because Shakespeare set Hamlet in the castle in Helsingør. You know, the whole "Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo" thing.

Uh, wait, thats not right is it?

Um... "Out! out! damn spot!" ?

Heh heh. Uh, maybe not. Hey, I'm an engineer! Cut me some slack here.

"To be or not to be, that is the question"

That's it, I knew it would come eventually. So yeah, Hamlet was set in that very town, which even as an engineer I thought was pretty cool. Although Shakespeare apparently never set foot there.

Helsingør castle was built at the narrowest point between Sweden and Denmark, so the Danes could levy stiff taxes on any ships sailing the straits. Since it was the only way to get to ports in Germany, this was apparently quite lucrative for the Danes for a few centuries.

Orienteering was quite good too. By that I mean I didn't embarrass myself and placed solidly middle of the pack for the two classic races Thursday and Friday. I even managed to improve quite a bit between the two days. I think orienteering is one of the best ways to visit a place, because you get to see the countryside in rather intimate detail. Also, the races tend to be in rather pretty areas. If you go to an orienteering race, you are kind of guaranteed to see something nice.

Copenhagen was also nice, with the exception of the freak show that is Christiania.

Christiania is basically a holdover commune from the '70s. Hippies tore down a fence on an abandoned military base and declared themselves the free state of Christiania in 1971. They have been there ever since - a population fluctuating between 800 and 1000. They are all about free love, man, and peace and contentment, and new age and all that.

Also, they are apparently all about ramshackle buildings, lots of graffitti and so many drugs, the main street is actually named "Pusher street." I found it quite charming to be told in no uncertain terms by a guy who was clearly not getting much of that free love that if I didn't stop taking photos, I would "regret it". Allllready then. So much for this Free Love social experiment with no central government, hum? Apparently, the Danish government has been getting antsy over the past few years to retake Christiania (it is in a very prime location), and they have set the wheels in motion for this to happen. The only thing I find surprising about this is that it hasn't happened sooner. Denmark has basically allowed a bunch of people to live here tax and rent free for over 30 years. For some reason, Lonely Planet (who publish tourist books) finds it tragic that this brave social experiment will soon be snuffed out. All I can say as a visitor is: get on with it, already. This place gave me the creeps. Interesting fact (from Rolf): for all their idealism about inclusion and equality etc etc, there are no immigrants at all in Christiania. Interesting.

However, Copenhagen as a whole is a great city, with a really nice pedestrian mall that is apparently the longest outdoor mall in the world. I also rather enjoyed the smørbrod and schnapps. Smørbrod is just a fancy name for an open face sandwich, but the Danes are known for it, and they elevate it to an art. I heartily encourage anyone visiting to go to Cap Horn on Nyhavn. This is probably the most photographed street in Copenhagen, and rightfully so. Although I suspect I was doing a typical tourist thing by eating there, I still recommend it. It was delish.

posted by Jeff @ 9:03 AM