Rød

Day 4 in Copenhagen started with a lovely lazy morning, lounging round our delightful apartment in Christianshavn. But, come the afternoon, we were ready to hit the town again and we took the metro over to Vesterbro to check out another part of the city. M had read about an interesting community project at a former church on Sønder Boulevard. The Folkehuset Absalon https://absaloncph.dk/en/about-absalon/ is a funky, grassroots place to meet, play board games, take classes such as yoga or ceramics, see bands, have a dance, etc. One of its key features is that they serve cheap and healthy food 3 times a day - all cooked and served by volunteers.

We called in for a cuppa and decided to book tickets for today’s evening meal and then walked further down the boulevard (which has recently been redeveloped into a ‘linear park’ and seems very well used) to the Meat Packing District. This area is somewhat akin to Smithfield Market in London and has become a trendy, foodie destination https://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/neighbourhoods/guide-meatpacking-district

Back at Absalon we arrived half an hour before dinner was served, and were shown to our spot at one of the long communal dining tables (see today’s Blip), where our neighbours turned out to be the lovely Birgitte and Bente, two music teachers, who were thoroughly engaging company. We nattered away to them about a whole range of topics including the linguistic similarities and differences between Danish, Swedish and Norwegian, the pros and cons of Scandi and British crime dramas, the concept and pronunciation of ‘hygge’, and folk music of the world. You can see a picture of them in the Extras! Tonight’s community dinner was pea barlotto (barley risotto) with salad, delicious bread and cheese. Yum!

After an evening in alternative Copenhagen we then headed back along the boulevard and into the heart of tourist-land - the Tivoli Gardens https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoli_Gardens the pleasure gardens and amusement fair which has been drawing the crowds since 1843. We didn’t go on any rides but enjoyed people-watching. The evening ended with a light show by the lake, before we walked home across the Christianshavn Canal, taking in the gorgeous Circle Bridge (Cirkelbroen) and city lights on the water.

Another great day!

Today’s song is ‘Turning the Town Red’ by Elvis Costello https://youtube.com/watch?v=UdS8RwCE9F4

M thanks you for all your birthday wishes!