Copenhagen

I spent a good two weeks in Copenhagen this month. It was largely a photography trip; not very many museums or touristy locations, just having coffee and walking around with a a camera.

I was actively trying to mix it up a bit and not only get photos of old buildings. I think that was mostly successful? I’m happy with how it turned out. There are some new patterns in the mix: reflections, abstract, “a person standing in an interesting place”. I wasn’t actively thinking about these at the time, just interesting what your brain can come up with.

I even got a few “street” photos (ugh). Lots of people had cameras up and out, it didn’t feel out of place to point mine around.

A few other bits and bobs:

• As usual with European cities, the public transporation situation in Copenhagen is really great. The Metro, buses, and even S-Line were all easy and convenient. There are app based tickets; I was “inspected” twice and they just scan a QR code. It was also super clean. (No open drug use, trash, or people screaming at the sky like you get in Seattle.)

• The specialty coffee game is on point. ORSA, Coffee Collective, Prolog, April, and La Cabra were all top tier. I particularly liked Coffee Collective: I went to the Berkinow location more or less every day for a cortado and/or pour over. One street over from the Leica store too, they let me ogle the new grey paint M11-P.

• The city is not actually very large for tourists. I think you could basically see most of what’s inside the 02 loop in 3-4 days. Strøget and Nyhavn were neat but got old fast. I spent most of my time in Nørrebro and Vesterbro. Ørestad felt like Dallas.

• Malmö is right across Øresund. It was weird and dead and I spent less than two hours there before heading back. I want to give Sweden a fair shake and would like to see Gothenburg, Stockholm, and drive up to the far north. Malmö wasn’t it.

Finally, I spent some time at Assistens Kirkegård. Cemeteries, old cemeteries, are often a stronger link to the past than you’d expect. Among many others Hans Ørsted, HC Andersen, Niels Bohr, and Søren Kierkegaard are all here. Kierkegaard in particular has been meaningful in my life. I sat at his gravesite for a while. He believed, I think, that truth wasn’t something that could be handed to you; it must be lived, experienced, discovered. He believed that existence was waking up and leaning into the horror of it all, finding God through pleasures or duty or the unexplained, and moving through the inevitable despair of life toward something like faith. He collapsed in the street, not much older than I am now, and died about a month later.

I sat there and couldn’t help but imagine Kierkegaard up at the gates, on his way in, wondering what all the fuss was about.

Anyway, Copenhagen is nice. I’d go back.