Copenhagen: Christiania, Harbor cruise, Tivoli, Diana Krall concert, Sailing

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What a great city! We arrived around 10pm from our short flight from Bergen. Kirsten took a cab to her cousin's home to stay with their family for a few days. Mitch and I took the metro to our hotel near Nyhavn, the colorful 17th century waterfront. The next day we met up with Kirsten and her family on their sailboat for coffee. It was very sunny and warm and the forecast for the week was good. Rasmus is a swashbucklin sailor who lived on a boat for two years while attending theater school in Copenhagen. He has two adorable daughtes and a pretty Danish girlfriend who was born in Christiania. They recently traveled to Bali and live in a converted church at the edge of the city.

After coffee we explored Christiania, which is a free community established in 1971 when hippies took over abandoned military bararks. It is both a controversial social experiment and a thriving community. We had a picnic with some smoked salmon we bought in Norway, and some Tuborg beer we bought at a friendly bar in Christiania. Photos are not allowed, but we walked around for a bit to explore. Cannabis grows everywhere, and there are restaurants, a famous bike shop, stores and art galleries. People were doing their own thing and seemed to be happy. *See excerpt below from a Rick Steves article, or read the chapter from his book Travel as a Political Act. I find it fascinating.

Later we took a 90 minute harbor cruise which was a great way to sightsee from the water. That night Mitch and I explored the Stroget, the longest pedestrianized street in Europe full of shops, street musicians, cafes and food vendors. Every block had ice cream, waffles or crepe stands so the air was saturated in sweetness.

Jazzfest is going on all week, there are bandstands set up throughout the city. Outdoor venues are free, and there are some top names at the larger indoor venues. We thought we'd try to get tickets to see Diana Krall at Tivoli Tues. night. We got lucky and got seats in row 30, center of the orchestra. Tivoli itelf was amazing, but to see one of our favorite singers was beyond belief. Tivoli is an amusement park built in 1843 long before Disneyland. Its charming and full of rides, restaurants, lakes and gardens. At night everything is lit up, giving it a magical glow. We had a very nice dinner at a Danish restaurant, and explored Tivoli more after the concert. Elvis Costello performed the night before and we were hoping he'd come out and perform an encore song with Diana (they are married with kids), but that didn't happen. She did sing a song he wrote the lyrics to. Our favorites that night were I'll String Along with You, Dancing Cheek to Cheek and a soulful Tom Waits song. Diana with her 3 piece band was amazing live.

The next day Kirsten and I went sailing with Rasmus, Liev, Lil (5 yrs), Coco (1 yr) and Pearl, who they were dog sitting. It was a great day, and the girls and dog were so cute. We sailed out beyond the huge windmills and could see the bridge to Sweden. It was very calm on the way out but the wind picked up as we came back in. Rasmus is a skilled sailor and quite amazing. At one point he had his baby asleep on his lap while navigating into the harbor and pointing out interesting sites to Kirsten and I. He's one cool Dane!

That night we watched the Spain-Germany world cup game. There is a huge screen on the pier that was packed with fans which we could see from our hotel window. At one point I had Danish TV on mute and the espn audio feed in English streaming on my laptop, but the audio was about 1 minute behind real time so I cut the audio and listened to the Danish commentary. I'm so happy Spain won and look forward to watching the final against Holland on Sun. Go Espana!


* "In 1971, the original 700 Christianians established squatters' rights in an abandoned military barracks, just a 10-minute walk from the Danish parliament building. A generation later, this "free city" still stands — an ultra-human mishmash of idealists, hippies, potheads, non-materialists and happy children (600 adults, 200 kids, 200 cats, 200 dogs, 17 horses and 2 parrots). There are even a handful of Willie Nelson–type seniors among the 180 remaining here from the original takeover. And an amazing thing has happened: The place has become the third-most-visited sight among tourists in Copenhagen. Move over, Little Mermaid." -- Rick Steves