“Memories are rarely solid things, but it’s surprising how a single image can stand out clearly from a period of time when stress and oddities dominate the day.” -Old Sean
A Land of Canal Days
Following my time in Odense, I took a bus visiting Copenhagen, my final destination in Denmark. While Copenhagen was still expensive for Europe, it was far more reasonable than the rest of Denmark’s towns and cities.
By the time I arrived in Copenhagen, I had just finished visiting three Denmark towns in just a couple of days. The only advantage to this was Denmark’s size: The tiny country made it possible to get from destination to destination in just a couple of hours.
I was completely burnt out by this stage. I finished a couple of reports on the bus ride into town and then gave myself a chance to rest.
My first evening visiting Copenhagen, I bought a bottle of wine, sat down at Havnegade Harbour Promenade and chatted with strangers. I figured I deserved a bit of time sitting down while gazing into the waters.
Day One in Copenhagen
The following day, I was back to work and beginning my explorations. I quickly learned that Copenhagen is an outlandish and unique city. As a trade hub, shipping nexus, Baltic Sea waypoint, university city and industrial zone, the urban space has taken on a lot of odd attributes.
Reputedly the happiest city in the world, I started to get an idea why. There are numerous canals, windmills on the horizons, a robust bicycling culture, obvious signs of wealth and an enormous fixation on urban artwork and wholesome city planning.
For my first morning, I wandered north along the coast of the main canal. I passed the large Børsen old stock exchange with it’s copper-green spires and spent time walking up and down the Nyhavn brightly colored canal. Afterwards, I ate ice cream at Ofelia Beach and continued on until I reached the star-shaped Kastellet fortress with it’s large waterside greenspaces and quaint interior windmills.
I also eventually spotted forlorn The Little Mermaid statue near Langelinieparken, though I accidently passed it without noticing a couple of times.
Finally, I kicked my feet in shallow waters for a moment, letting my heels cool. At this point, I had just been wandering aimlessly, still too burnt-out to properly work and research.
A Land of Giants
When I finally gathered the remaining dregs of energy and cobbled them into something akin to a plan, It was already noon. I sat down for lunch and checked my work-itinerary. Aside from a huge number of bright tourist attractions in the central city, there were notations about Copenhagen’s Hidden Giants.
Better known as Copenhagen’s Six Forgotten Giants, I decided to go out looking for the huge wooden statues hidden around the city’s fringes. These giants are part of an artistic-exploration treasure-hunt.
Copenhagen hosts six enormous wooden giants scattered around the city created from scrap wood in Dambo’s ongoing story “Little People and Giant Trolls.” The giants are hidden in outdoor location in the Western municipalities Rødovre, Hvidovre, Vallensbæk, Ishøj, Albertslund and Høje Taastrup.
I wasn’t quite up to scheduling interviews for work, yet, so I opted to look for the giants instead. I managed to see two before I decided to get back to work. Fishing out my laptop, I returned to the Indre By center district. I then set up interviews and ordered some nachos for lunch.
A Tangent About Cheese
Since I’ve arrived back in Europe, I’ve been eating a lot of cheese. It was never readily available in Asia and I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it.
Despite all my walking, hiking, camping and backpacking, I haven’t really lost any weight. And that’s due to my cheese problem. I’ve been adding it to at least one or two meals every day.
Apparently, cheese and other dairy products have a protein called casein which is mildly addictive, latching onto the same part of the brain as many more infamously addictive substances.
So I might be legitimately addicted. Which is fine. I can think of worse vices.
After Interviews
Following my work interviews and demented snacking, I visited Superkilen, an ultra-pink blaze of colors and park-art district. The walking area is unique and very disorienting to wander around.
Later, I took a bike around the city, visiting Grundtvigs Church, which is a very outlandishly styled building. After this, I stopped trying to go inside buildings and just settled for outside observation of the unique architecture. I passed the Copenhagen Opera House, Fristaden Christiania artistic park and neighborhood area, the narrow Christianshavns Vold nature preserve and Det Kgl. Bibliotek (Library).
The last thing I tried to visit was Rosenborg Castle and the King’s Garden. These were so impressive, I actually stopped for a time to appreciate the area.
Finally, I spent the rest of my night wandering along the docks and canals to stretch my legs a bit more before a morning bus ride.
Back to Germany
After my two nights visiting Copenhagen, I had blown my time-and-money budget for the country. Denmark turned out to be far more expensive than my company had expected, though they were pleased with the work I sent back.
After buying my ticket back to Germany, I was over my projections by nearly sixty euros and couldn’t justify remaining.
The next morning, I shouldered my backpack, marched to a bus-and-ferry station. Afterwards, I started trundling all the way back to Germany.
The trip itself has been quite nice, if uncomfortably rapid. Denmark citizens are wonderful people, although a vast number of them are very tall. When I was in China, I towered over the average citizen. Now, my role has switched and I spend a lot of time craning my neck backwards and accidently looking up people’s noses when they talk.
Regardless, I’m on my way back to Germany now, blinking exhaustion out of my eyes and giggling in minor, hysterical hiccups as I write this.
Is life just funnier when you’re sleepy?
Once I return to Germany, I intend to sleep for two solid days. The pace of Denmark was beautiful and brutal, so I’ll need a bit of recovery time.
So until then.
Best regards and excellent trails,
Old Sean
Written June 7th, 2018
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Ten years ago, I abandoned my military surplus store backpack for a Farpoint 40 Osprey Travel Pack. I’ve never replaced my bag since. Two years ago, I bought two more Osprey Backpacks for my younger siblings on their first tour outside the country. I have nothing but praise for Osprey Products.
