Hello All

Friday 20 April 2018

Letting No 1 Daughter have a lie in I caught up with my journal and checked out the map for our planned trip to Norrebro. Lucky for us it was sunny and mind-blowingly I even discarded my coat…and May not even out yet! Shocking.

Copenhagen is a city of water, wide uncongested roads and greenery and now for us tasty eateries. To find them we ventured further afield and felt we were given an opportunity to explore the city.

We had a beautiful walk, ambling through parks, crossing over ‘lakes’ in the brilliant sunshine.

I couldn’t help but smile at the statute of the Nile on the south side of Dronning Louises Bro the bridge which crosses between the lakes Sortedams So and Peblinge So. Why all the little ‘Cupids’ are wearing red woolly hats I don’t know. But it was adorable.

It may be a ‘tradition’ as I have seen a photograph of them wearing teeny Santa hats too. If it is a custom long may it continue.

We timed our arrival in the Norrebro area to the north of the city perfectly for lunch. We had identified two vegan friendly cafes, Blue Taco and Cafe N, in the same street Blagardsgade. But which to choose?

Blue Taco won out with it’s scrumptious menu of Mexican street food and plentiful outdoor seating. Using blue corn the tacos which were indeed blue and filled with three different yummy fillings,

The deliciousness was washed down by a cool ‘Jamaica’ drink which had a refreshing ginger kick and a sprinkling of hibiscus.

Enjoying the combined warmth of the food and the sunshine we walked on to Assistens Kirkegard Copenhagen’s famous cemetery. It’s a lovely space for introspection and calm. It is also the final resting place for several well know Copenhagen-ites.

Touchingly ‘pilgrims’ have left pens and pencils at the foot of Hans Christian Anderson’s gravestone.

The lovingly kept graves of unborn children and young children were poignant yet appropriately captured the mourned for children. The cemetery is still in use and I understand that an area for the poor and homeless has recently been set-aside.

Rather wonderfully the living sat happily amongst the graves enjoying the Spring and the peace.

Sigh.

Unbelievably it was actually getting rather too hot. A good time for an ice-cream…oh dear perhaps not for us vegans..maybe a sloppy sorbet is the best we can do…but no! Nice Cream on Elmegade came to the rescue.

My vegan strawberry and lemon double scoop ice-cream was soooooo good and gave me the lift I needed for more walking before a grateful sit-down in the grass overlooking the Rosenberg Slot a beautiful 17th century castle complete with moat and gardens.

It is years since I just lay down in a park, soaked up the sun and read a book. Perhaps this is due to the fact that some unsavoury character normally breaks your reverie with all sorts of weirdness/criminality/lewdness and often all three. Admittedly I was with No 1 Daughter but I don’t think I have ever felt as safe sitting in a British city park. Here groups of students played drinking games – the rules of which we couldn’t fathom – enjoying themselves without f-ing and blinding, screeching and getting blind drunk. It was very convivial.

This little respite set us up perfectly for an evening in another kind of park. Copenhagen’s world-famous Tivoli Gardens.

We had held off visiting until Friday night so we could enjoy the added atmosphere of a free concert – turned out to be hip-hop! – and a busy vibe. Large numbers of teens thronged in front of the stage it all felt huge fun and despite gaudy lights, cafes, souvenir shops and old style fairground shies not at all tacky. I can see why Copenhagen is proud of Tivoli one of the world’s oldest amusement parks. In multi-generational Denmark this is a must for all the family.

We loved it and wended happily around the now still (no roller coaster for me …. what a shame!) but illuminated rides before toddling back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep before our last day in Copenhagen. Sob.

Until next we meet

Moke xxx