Clean Corners in Copenhagen

May 10, 2025|Rick Juliusson

Everything works in Copenhagen. Corners are 90 degrees. Metro trains are every 4 minutes. Cyclists use proper hand signals. After all the delightful quirks and imperfections of Albania, Tunisia and Turkey, it’s relaxing and pleasant to be in a place where the quirk is to make sense.

We are here in Denmark to visit Zekiah near the end of his 4-month foreign study. Since Urban Planning is his thing, his tours (on rented bicycles) highlight how well planned and intentional this place is. More and more roads have given way to bike lanes and efficient metro, so people actually use and enjoy them (at least in the glorious spring weather we luck out on). Before installing new bike racks at the main metro station, planners watched the pedestrian patterns on a light snow day so they could see the tracks of which shortcuts people actually take across the big square, then placed the racks in the untrodden spots between - a brilliant application of Pattern Language principles.

Buildings are spaced out enough to allow light everywhere - there is no sky-scraper-clogged downtown. In the former industrial island where we stay, buildings are staggered along both sides of the riverfront road so that every building has a view and light, with accessible parkland in between, instead of clogging the riverside and cutting it off from the rest of the world.

Bike parking garage is front and center at this mall

Speaking of design, here's the ungraceful clunky testimony to all the wires and plugs we need to set up in each new home to recharge our too-many devices

See how the bike area is moulded around walking corridors

To be (a tourist) or not to be

After 4 months of curious living, our son knows amazing insider places to show us. The best place to jump in the cold seawater canal, best Korean restaurant, best bike route shortcuts past historic old buildings and parks. The steepest highest scariest staircase winding up to the very top of the church spire. The best bakeries for Kanelsnegle and Flødeboller (imagine your favorite hollow chocolate Easter bunny, but filled with a creamy cool whip.)

We also indulge in the touristic spots that are, as my blogger friend “Sarah, Seeking” points out, popular because they are awesome and shouldn’t be skipped just because they’re touristic. We take very unoriginal photos at the iconic Nyhavn - a 17th-century waterfront district known for its brightly colored townhouses lining the canal. Catch the train out to Hamlet’s castle in Helsingør, and to the stunning seaside Louisiana Museum. Pay homage to Hans Christian Anderson’s grave (though we don’t make it out to the Little Mermaid statue).

Sarah at the coloured townhouses of Nyhavn

Hamlet's castle

Cool buildings in Helsingør

Yes he did make me climb all 1,000 stairs winding around the narrow steep outside of this church spire!

Carlberg beer brewery and estate

From the Louisiana Museum: "In 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 20-year-old Iranian woman, was killed by the morality poolice in Tehran for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly. This picture was taken at the country's embassy in Brussels. A female protester holds Amini's portrait in front of her face - perhaps she has roots in the slain woman's homeland; we cannot be sure. Printed on an A4 sheet of paper, the portrait of Amini resembles a religious icon. Highlighting the power of photography as a tool of resistance, Longo gives visibility to Amini in the face of the brutal repression in Iran."

That '70's Village

We step back into the 70’s with a walk around Freetown Christiania, a semi-autonomous artist enclave on the edge of town. It was founded in 1971 when a group of “hippies, artists and activists” cut a hole in the fence to the military barracks and declared the area a free town, independent of Danish government laws and regulations. Impressively, the Danish government has allowed it to continue, particularly now that the residents have regained control and safety by pushing out the drug-pushers and declaring it to be a creative non-hallucinogenic community.

We enjoy the murals, funky jewelry, and surprisingly mediocre fish&chips, but mostly just enjoy being with our boy. How nourished he has been by this semester abroad, and how happy he is to share it with us! I remember the first time my mom came to visit me in My Home to see My Life, how I wanted to show her all the sights and friends and wonders I’d discovered. And that was Akron Ohio, not exactly a tourist mecca (Goldie Hawn referred to it as “a detour” in Housesitter)! What a Joy to experience all that now as a parent, with the bonus that it’s in a truly remarkable city like Copenhagen. Now if we can just convince him to leave in a few weeks…