COPENHAGEN: Let's imagine that you're a tourist in Copenhagen. You want to get out there, eat some Danish pastry and meet some of the people in this little Scandinavian kingdom. If you follow the advice of the glittery “Wonderful Copenhagen" Tourism Bureau board, you will likely spend your day posing for tacky photos in front of the renowned Little Mermaid statue by the waterfront. Next they may have you eating some expensive local ice cream, which would then turn inside of your stomach on one of the thrilling rides of the Tivoli Gardens amusement park. Perhaps, instead, you want to experience some local color before the disappointment of “just another over-priced Scandinavian city" hits you. Even with just 108 minutes to spare before your trip ends, you can see some local highlights of the city. Start your route from the bridge that separates the downtown area from Nørrebro, Dronning Louises Bro. From here, make your way to Nørrebrogade, a wide and fast-paced street that serves as the main artery of the area. This neighborhood is a former working class ghetto with the dodgy name “The Black Square." Today it's a mix of trendiness and local flavor. The familiar dynamic of gentrification has had its impact on this part of town. The first couple of blocks are trendy and young, with cocktail bars and your choice of fair trade, vegan, and raw food eateries lining the street. Following squatters of the eighties, the “alternatives" moved in, and ended up forming an educated intellectual elite in the area. Today this is what we call the “creative class," a class of innovative social liberals. Cafes, businesses and general entrepreneurship flock to the area –but to get the real feel of it, take a quick look to the street on your left– Blågårdsgade. As you walk on, the next few blocks have been subject to less commercialization. Bicycles may ease their way around you as a lady yells at her kids in Iraqi Arabic. If you are hungry, grab a shawarma, a falafel or a pizza slice from a to-go window on the street. It's a cheap and delicious option. At this point you will have to turn left at Griffenfeldsgade– a street with a traditional Danish pub called Nørrehus. The street has an African buzz—cars park haphazardly as you hear people talk in Somali or Sudanese. Before arriving at the “Park of the People" straight ahead, you pass an orange building with greasy windows on the right. A couple of bearded guys in their fifties may be hanging out on the stairs, smoking and drinking canned beers. The park in itself is small, so just cross over the grass to make it into Café Under Construction. The dimly lit, worn-down cafe on the ground floor offers hot soy cocoa-milk or your choice of lovely chilled beers. The staff is talkative and pierced, and all the workers are volunteers. Unless you are chatting with someone, your drink is quickly done, and you still have half an hour to kill. Walk back to the main street and continue straight, passing streets named after Odin, Thor and the other infamous gods and goddesses of the Nordic mythology. Turn on Nanna's Street, where you will find the Banana Park, a newly build compound where local kids are skateboarding, playing basketball and climbing a great climbing wall. If the sun hasn't left you yet, buy an ice cream from nearby corner store, sit on the grass and watch the brave youth play in the open air. You're still in the city, but it is quiet and green. Take a deep breath, look at the clock, and see that your time is up. Just catch the 5A bus to get yourself back to where you began. BN
