Matt Gedye
Christianshavn, Cold Bears and Cuisine
My favourite place in Copenhagen so far is Christianshavn. It sits, or perhaps even acts as, the link connecting the islands of Amager (where we live currently) and Zealand. As such, many canals thread and weave their way through the neighbourhood, creating a wonderful nautical atmosphere. Nested within Christianshavn itself, is Christiana, the Freetown, which is a delightful pocket of bohemian culture filled with thrift stores, bars, graffiti and the lingering scent of marajuana. Most weekends, we find ourselves wondering through Christianshavn on the way back home from whatever exploring we’ve done that day and I haven’t tired of it yet.
The month of April more or less began with the coldest and quietest Easter I’ve ever had, but we nonetheless managed to make the most of it. We utilised the many public holidays around that time to frequent the zoo. My wife and I both want our children to grow up with a love for animals, and I never tired of my son, while sitting on my shoulders, looking out at the pandas calling out, “oh, so cute.” Or exclaiming while pointing excitedly, “cold bear, cold bear, cold bear” as we watched the polar bears play in the water. It’s a wonderful spot that also includes (at the time we visited) a three-week old Asian Elephant calf and the rest of her herd, an Australian section, and a petting zoo where my son was able to interact with his absolute favourite animal. A ‘moo cow’. These are just a handful of the exhibits. For a zoo in the middle of a large capital city, the garden is massive and the collection contains many animals I’ve never seen before like tapirs, Asian leopard, and like I said earlier, giant pandas, which to see in a zoo, is quite a big deal. The zoo is located in Frederiksberg, which is its own municipality within Copenhagen (and is unpronouncable in Danish to native english-speakers). We haven’t spent as much time here as we would have liked, as it’s also a very cool part of the city.
Unrelated to the municipality is Frederiskborg Castle. Located in Hillerød, this has so far been our only venture out of Copenhagen itself. It’s spectacular and I was thrilled to at last see, for the first time, a European castle. We didn’t make it to the history museum located inside and so I’m determined to go back to learn more about this historic landmark. Speaking of history, much of what is so appealing to me about Europe is how ‘old’ it is. Not to disparage Australia’s pre-colonial history (which goes back further than any still-living human society), but I mean things like buildings and written records that go back centuries. As such, I’ve been on the lookout for ‘old’ Copenhagen. But I learned that almost all of the city’s buildings and statues are from the 1700s onwards. Young by European standards. This, apparently, is due to a series of plagues and fires that decimated the city on and off in the 17th Century, leading to the entire city being rebuilt. The result is that today Copenhagen is a marvelous blend of Renaissance and contemporary architecture. Nonetheless, I still can’t help but wonder, every time I run through it, what Gammel Strand looked like as a small Viking fishing village in the Middle Ages when Copenhagen was founded.
I’d love to say that after two months I’ve become enamoured with Danish cuisine and could reel off all my favourite traditional dishes. But I can’t. Like many other places I’ve visited and lived, America’s culinary influence is firmly entrenched. Rather than meatballs, herring and pastry upon delicious pastry, I often find myself in 7/11 looking for the El Mexicana chicken wrap or nuggets from McDonalds. That said, I did enjoy some smørrebrod on our first day and Carlsbergs have become a staple in the fridge.
We’ve got to know our local area quite well and as it’s got warmer, the trees have started to turn green again. A stark contrast to how it looked when we arrived. But rain, hail or shine, we’re out on foot, because we have no other choice. I average just shy of twenty-thousand steps every day (though I am training for a marathon which is likely skewing the average). We love how easy the city is to navigate on foot and the public transport is incredible. Nothing feels out of reach. Sadly, we will have to move soon as we were only offered our current rental for three months. But while we do still have it, we’ll be soaking up all the amazing things that are right on our doorstep here in Copenhagen South on Amager.
P.S What I’m doing now and full Copenhagen photo album