Hamburg and Copenhagen 2nd and 3rd August 2017

Hej from Copenhagen

We boarded the ole’ Expat bus with driver Paul and headed out of the ‘Dam. First shtop was the clog n cheese demo that we’d seen before. It was OK and I took more of interest in old mate’s lathe this time. Tried some cheese and headed off. Quick pic shtop at the windmill and then it was north into Germany.

We shtopped for lunch at the border and had great schnitzel and fries (me) and satay chicken and fries (Jen.) A few hours later and we pulled into the northern Germanic town of Hamburg.

We spent a few hours walking around, saw the amazeballs Rathaus (Government Building) had great felafel in a food court, took a few pics and checked out the lakes and people watched. Everyone here was well dressed, calm and very orderly…this was not Amshterdam my friends. Anyway, we knew that we only had an hour or two, so we didn’t bust a gut trying to see everything. We chilled, saw churches and then headed back to the bar at the hotel for some great local beer called Jever. Very pale, light and easy to neck.

The next morning, s’later Germany, we’ll be back to see Berlin in a few short weeks.

Another drive day – which included crossing a massive suspension bridge – and then we rocked into our hotel in Copenhagen around 3pm. A quick change and we were back in the bus for our driving/walking tour of this beautiful pearl of a Danish town.

First stop was the famed statue of Han Christian Anderson’s “Mermaid.” In a word: meh…tick, move on.

Paul then drove us through this bustling, wealthy, historical town – past the famed Tivoli amusement park – the second oldest in Europe – which was an inspiration for Walt Disney, orange military barracks, citadels, canals etc… beautiful

Grace then took us to see a massive church – biggest dome in Denmark, the new Opera House and the house of Fred and Our Mary…I’d forgotten all about Princess Mary until now – pretty cool.

We then walked down the famous Nyhavn (New Harbour) street. This is the postcard street with sailing ships moored in front of multi-coloured beautiful terrace houses. Restaurants, bars and clubs dot this street and the Danes were all tucking in to plenty of great food and booze. This city felt 100% safe and it’s no wonder that the Danes always rank in the Top 5 world-wide for happiness. They pay high taxes but in return they get free education and healthcare, subsidised child care and 52 weeks parental leave…what a pinnacle of society!!

Grace then pointed out the food markets across the bay and we traversed via a tres’ cool bike/pedestrian bridge. The food and booze markets were contained in an old factory on a pier and they sold amazing food from across the planet. Some highlights were the Happy Joe’s cider from Finland and the fries cooked in duck fat…unbelievable. We grazed and people watched for an hour before we headed off for an adventure to the Freetown of Christiana.

Back in the early 1970’s a group of hippies/squatters took over a derelict area of Copenhagen and set up their own “country” – Freetown. Over the years it has evolved and has always been controversial, but the hippies now actually own the land and the town has been cleaned up a bit. Basically, this is a commune where weed is permitted, but officially there is a ban on hard drugs. We walked through and the next hour was something else.

The good bits included the art, the two-storey skate ramp house, nurseries, gardens, the river, smiling people, cafés and a sense of freedom.

The bad bits included homeless refugees, a pub full of smacked out punters – mostly Romany, dodgy gansta wannabe’s and a sense of danger.

The weird bits include the main street – Pusher Street – where stalls openly sell hash, weed and whatever else, plus dope plants openly growing in any available space.

We walked around, had a few drinks and then got the fuck out of Dodge before nightfall.

I’m glad we’ve seen it, but like any sort of lifestyle that begins with a free love ideology, the criminal element usually moves in and hard drugs fuck shit up…

We then had a look in a funky swirly spiral church that was lit by purple light, and people lay on the floor as two muso’s played trippy shit…hey whatever floats ya boat.

The Metro was easy as and we were home by about 10pm.

We loved Copenhagen and will defo be back.

Tak

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Copenhagen – you were very special…