bicyclecentric copenhagen

copenhagen and bicycles are like paris and tour eiffel are like alps and skiing are like suisse and chocolates are like holland and tulips and bikes are like vancouver and rain...

 where else would there be a bike with viking horns...

 

or find a way to attach an advertising sign...

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parked demurely in a small courtyard garden...

or lined up along a wall of political imagery...

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only in copenhagen could there be a bicycle store with this name and only because it is located the meatpacking district...

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and only in copenhagen would a bicycle be elevated in a display case and exhibited in the courtyard of the design museum...

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bicycles are the 21st century horses of copenhagen

copenhagen ididioms

As I wandered around Copenhagen on these splendiferous spring days, such divine danish ididioms caught my fantabulous fancy... and like so many inciteful and insightful ididioms from my past, they invaded my vividly visual consciousness and insinuated themselves into a wholly receptive and wildly interpretative subconsciousness...

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 [Be yourself]

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 [and cakes]

[Bicycles are not allowed in the Port Room]

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messages received...

 be careful what you wish for, copenhagen...

the tourists have all gone home now

 no more money to give you, copenhagen...

just fucking close up shop already

sorry, but you have to save yourselves now...

copenhagen, you are on your own

elefancentric copenhagen

Oddly, elephant sightings are more frequent than you would think in the cool nordic climes of Copenhagen!

There are moving, breathing ones in their own "healthy, stimulating environment" (but still an enclosure!) designed by Foster + Partners. This apparently more enlightened and innovative example of zoo architecture has been home to a few Asian elephants since 2008 at the Copenhagen Zoo... but I'm sure they would rather be free where they can roam and frolic to their hearts' content!

we sense your sadness and boredom...

But perhaps more well-known than the sad live ones at the zoo are the 4 life-size stone elephants bearing an imposing tower at the gateway to the former Carlsberg Brewery complex, which is now being urbanized and integrated as a new district of the city. Some of the old brewery buildings are re-purposed into residential and commercial ventures, including a cool new hotel, Hotel Ottilia (where we stayed one weekend).

The four elephants with the much too heavy load were dedicated to four of the children of Carl Jacobsen, the son of the founder of the brewery, Jacob Christian Jacobsen, who named his company Carlsberg after his son. 
(Carl's wife Ottilia is now commemorated by the hip and happening hotel!)

the elephants are barely protected from the construction work around them

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As I walked around Copenhagen the next few days with visions of trapped elephants and dusty elephant statues in my head, I encountered a variety of elephant imagery in random spots...

 swimming in an underwater scene painted on a hoarding in the construction zone of the brewery district...

 as a coveted door-knocker on the door of a modest rowhouse on an Osterbro street...

holding up the ends of a carved ornamental garland below an elegant stone window frame on a building near Amalienborg...

even worked into an Escher-like design on a man-hole cover, and this was spotted right outside the gates of the Danish Designmuseum!

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As I became curiouser and curiouser about this state of elefancentricity in a place where it was never a natural habitat for elephants, I found out that there exists a royal Order of the Elephant dating back to the 15th century that is "Denmark's oldest and most distinguished royal order of chivalry"

http://kongehuset.dk/en/menu/news/the-history-behind-the-order-of-the-elephant

Which explains somewhat the appreciation and affinity that the Danes have for this most immense and powerful and stoic of creatures...

but never too powerful even for a little dog to relieve itself upon!

copenhagen points of view

While in Copenhagen last spring for the Architecture Festival, I decided to stay in an assortment of hotels in various neighbourhoods to more fully enjoy the flavour of each.

The two places below provided lovely 180 degree views as I managed to secure rooms on the top floor of each building.

Steel House Copenhagen bills itself as a "luxury hostel", which admittedly it is perhaps more upscale than most generic hostels, but the descriptive of "luxury" is questionably relative! It is, however, well-located on the edge of the Vesterbro area and on a quieter street next to the Lakes (and my double room on the top floor under the STEEL sign has a small terrace overlooking the end lake, as well as the nearby iconic SAS building by Arne Jacobsen). 
This steel-clad building was originally the headquarters for the Danish Union of Metalworkers, and the admirable task of re-purposing it into a hostel was undertaken with some care to preserving the industrial and minimalist character without being too institutional in the comfort zone. I must confess that I had one long night of the most satisfying sleep here, but that could also be attributable to the cumulative effect of days of power walking!

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Located diagonally across central Copenhagen to near the waterfront with the Little Mermaid and a block from the Designmuseum (which my room overlooked onto its courtyard with the prunus in full bloom!) is the more conventional Hotel Babette Guldsmeden with a complete opposite of decor aesthetic from Steel House. Although my attic room (in the white building on the right above) was only slightly larger than the private room at Steel House, its rate was almost twice as much. But the neighbourhood is lovely with stately buildings on elegant streets leading to the Royal Palace.

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