Intro
Rådhus
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Real
København
There is no such place as Copenhagen, there never was, it's a
myth from an old Danny Kaye film. København, on the
other hand, does exist and is doing fine.
"Copenhagen" being an english name for the danish city, "København"
being the proper danish name, the native name, the real name.
Let's get it right : København means "merchant's port" in
Danish, and is pronounced
with glottal stops (') of course. Wonderful
language.
Copenhagen is a tourist town where life revolves around
Tivoli, Nyhavn, the Little Mermaid, Danish Royal Porcelain, the Royal
Palace, Rosenborg Castle, and Carlsberg Brewery.
København is where people go to work every day and life
revolves around bicycles, kindergartens, hot-dog wagons, the grocery
store, and Carlsberg Beer.
To get there you must first travel to an exotic country far far away,
called
Danmark
just north of Germany, south of Norway, east of England and west of
Sweden...think you can find it?
I started out as a tourist here myself (almost every foreigner does,
you know) and liked it so much that I stayed. Which is why I'm
doing Real Kbh, to show you and all my friends (and anybody who
wants to be friends) the nifty city I live in. Maybe you'll come for
a visit someday.
The walking street is the central promenade through the old 17th Century
Inner City, stretching about a kilometer from Rådhuspladsen to
Kongens Nytorv. It's flashy, it's fun, it's Downtown Kbh.
One of the most popular parts of town, for tourists or natives.
Beautifully preserved and painted old buildings beside an impressive
canal, sidewalk resturants, often music, lots of people to look at,
very picturesque. Which is why almost every time you do see a
picture of "Copenhagen" in tourist ads, it's usually of Nyhavn.
It is the duty of every Copenhagen tourist to go out to the harbour and
look at the Little Mermaid. Sorry, but there's no escape.
The famous 250 year old amusement park in the very center of Kbh. One of
the major attractions in town. Fun, culture, eating & drinking.
"Copenhagen" has always had a reputation for being a music mecca:
The Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Blues Festival, Carnival, etc,
traditional events that go on every year and attract big name performers.
There's a lot of free music in town, both outdoors and in, especially in
the summer months.
Denmark is a modern democracy, but also an ancient monarchy, having one of the oldest continuous Royal Lineages in the World, descended from Viking times. The current regent is Queen Margarethe II.
Summer is kind of iffy in Denmark, but when/if it does show up the
place lights up in every way. And the beaches and parks fill up with
sun-starved Scandinavians...and sex-starved tourists. Naked girls
everywhere, all so natural and relaxed about it, this is heaven on
earth, guys.
As in any respectable city, there are speciality goodies to eat,
gobble & guff. Without being specifically concerned about
traditional Danish cuisine, let's see what you can get when you're
hungry in København.
Bicycles are a way of life in København, composing much of the
city traffic, people bike to work, to the grocery store, out on the
weekends. Even if you have a car you also have a bike. Every day you
can see locally famous politicians bicycling to work in the government
building, media stars on their way to the studio, the rich have nicer
bikes: it's good PR to be seen biking.
Christiania seems to have a certain reputation outside Denmark, but in
case you don't know, it was an old unused military fort which was
physically occupied by "hippies" in the early 70's and declared a
"free state". They moved into the barracks and buildings to set up
an alternative society, communal in nature, and were allowed to do so
by the Danish government as a "social experiment". They have endured
long enough to celebrate their 28th Anniversary this year.
København has a very active night life, there are bars and music
all night long if you really want to push it. In the summer it never
really gets dark, being up north, and in the winter the bright lights
compensate for the long cold dark nights. There's lots of cool scenes,
lots of beer, lots of friendly and open-minded Danes of both sexes, as
well as a few mad foreigners here and there.
Lotsa cultural stuff going on in Kbh.
You will be relieved to know that Kbh is not actually perfect, and that
not everyone lives in a gingerbread house. As with all cities, there
is an underbelly. Some people like it.
The Danes have resisted going with the € Euro, the new standard European currency, so the Danske Krone, Danish Crown, is still the currency used in Denmark.
So how and why did I end up here? Here's my personal København
story.
Other København web sites
this way back to the
Intro Kbh
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