Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen......

We have just returned from Copenhagen (Denmark) and six days of travel into the future: Because Copenhagen is about 3 seasonal weeks ahead of Tallinn, we were suddenly in a place that was ‘hot’ with blooming tulips and trees covered with large dark green leaves.  We were in Copenhagen so that I could attend a workshop on somatic-based Attachment approaches, but early on, our plans expanded to i a few additional days of exploration and time for Bruce to visit an ex-student and her family currently living in Arhus (I will leave that part of the story for him to tell.)

Copenhagen town hall

Coffee kiosk and bikes-typical street scene

Our journey to Denmark was quick and easy- first, a short walk downstairs to the tram- a block away from our apartment. Fifteen minutes later we are at the small Tallinn airport.  After zipping through security, we board our plane (which  offered drinks and fresh baked chocolate chip muffins even to us cheapo economy passengers) and land in Copenhagen 1.5 hour later, after flying over glistening water and hundreds of islands.  Then a city train to Copenhagen central station and, after wading through hoards of people (Danes seem to be shorter, wider and much more casually dressed than Estonians, a challenging adjustment) we walked 20 minutes to Vesterbro, the ‘new/cool’ working class neighborhood and the apartment that was to be our 'home' for a few days.
As we walked,  I happily notice that we were passing through a neighborhood with many small Middle Eastern and Turkish shops and food stands, as well as men with large mustaches, hijab-covered women and lots of small children in a rainbow of clothing colors.  As we walked we soon learned to be careful of the bikes speeding by and to not walk in the bike-lanes, (which looked like sidewalks) if we wanted to avoid an accident.  The apartment, gotten through airBnB-a website that connects folks who have places to rent with people who are looking for a place to stay, was quiet, elegantly basic and filled with light.  After finding a local bakery for some substantial bread, tomatoes and coffee we settled in.

The historic 'touristy' canal

Kayaking on the canal..

For the first three days, we spent our time wandering and exploring different neighborhoods, from touristy canals with colorful historic houses to gritty working class neighborhoods filled with recent immigrants from Somalia, Iran, Turkey, Beirut and more.  We wandered into a nearby Turkish Cami/Mosque and were immediately greeted with an offer of tea.  As we sipped, the imam’s wife arrived (her English was better than her husband’s) and we talked about the experiences of the Muslim community in Denmark. According to her, all was fine, although I am not sure how true  this might have been. 

We also went to several museums, some abundantly overwhelming and other underwhelming. The most impressive exhibits were the Davids collection of Arabic art, a multi-story house filled with fabrics, paintings, calligraphy and other art objects of amazing beauty and variety. We could probably have spent several days exploring and admiring the beauty of the extensive collection.  We also went to the Danish National Museum and zoomed through an entire floor of Danish history and culture in the few minutes before it closed for the day.  We visited other museums were less impressive. The Jewish museum seemed small and superficial, despite its creatively designed building (the rooms were a stylized form of the Hebrew work ‘mitzvah’ which means good deed.) Historically, the Dane were one of the few nations where all of its citizens protected its Jewish population during World War II by everyone wearing a yellow star.  I was curious to know what cultural values led to this historic action? I also wondered how the Jewish community and other immigrant/ outsiders were currently viewed. However, these topics were not addressed.

Paintings in the National Art Museum

The National Art Museum was also somewhat underwhelming.  The building itself was expanded by leaving the old building intact and with a separate but connected structure that was made of glass walls to allow the outside in.  Inside, paintings were displayed in a giant ‘Victorian-styled’ patchwork, making it impossible to see many of the actual paintings.  Another museum we visited also seemed to be ‘viewing challenged’, with dim lighting and walls colored pink or blue or green. 

I am still curious about life now in Denmark, especially for those who are newcomer or ‘gers ‘(The term that is used in the Torah for people who live in or near your community but are not originally from your community.)  While 6 days is not enough to begin to understand the Danes, there was a lot that I found challenging.   My random impressions made me wonder how easy it is to adopt Denmark as a new home, despite its modern, developed European society. To start with, both Bruce and I were boggled by the cost of eating out and also of public transportation. While food-market prices seems somewhat in-line with what we were used to in Estonia, restaurants are incredibly more expensive-even for kebab stands. Similarly, public transportation is cheap but only if you are around long enough to use a 10-trip clip-card.  However, individual tickets are incredibly expensive. Although many metro stops are fully automated, if you don’t have coins to pay for your tickets you are out of luck. (At one point trying to rush to the airport, we realized there was no way to change our paper money to coins and were rescued by a local woman who offered coins for our bills.). 

wifi in the park...life is good!!!!

I was struck by the comments of a older local Jewish woman. She seemed exuberantly ecstatic to meet someone else who was Jewish and immediately said she felt drawn to both me and another woman who was at the workshop who was a therapist from Israel.  The Danish woman also commented, at one point, upon seeing the local rabbi crossing the street, that the rabbi was one of the bravest men she knew, because he wore a kippah in public. I am not clear what part of her comment came from her own sense of danger/trauma in her world and what was a mirror of a larger danger, but it was strange to hear her words in the middle of a busy, modern Danish intersection filled with people, bikes, trams and cars.  In the workshop I was attending, there seemed to be a natural split between Danish locals and the 4 or 5 of us from outside of Copenhagen.  No one came up to introduce them self by name or start a conversation.  While this might have been due to shyness, I felt like an outlier and some of the other non-Danes I met seemed to feel the same way.  This pattern seemed to fit what I have read about Danish responses to more recent Muslim immigrations but not with Denmark’s historic World War II response to threats to its Jewish community.  Of course, I don’t speak Danish and was only in one city for almost a week so these are only simplistic impressions, but in subsequent conversations with some local Estonian colleagues,  my impression that Denmark was be a hard place to feel at home was confirmed.

Old town building in Copenhagen

Speaking of home, our time in Estonia is coming to a close and I am noticing confusion about where my home actually is.  When I picture home, it looks a lot like our Tallinn apartment and only after a few seconds do I have images of our backyard or bedroom in Minneapolis.  Living in a smaller space, with much less clothing and belongings, what I have in Minnesota seems excessive- I mean, how much can anyone wear anyway?  

I am also trying not to think to much about the fact that it is mid May and a month from now, we will have moved out of our sweet apartment permanently, and be on our way to Amsterdam.  From there, we will have a brief transition day before we head  to Ireland, Scotland, France and, finally back to the Netherlands and then home.  I am sad and acutely aware of the brief amount of time we have left  in this delightful city and country.
 I don’t like good byes, but the count down is beginning… we are starting to make lists: what things do we want to do/visit/travel to/experience or eat before we leave.  Soon it will be the last time that we pay rent, or do laundry or a multitude of other small daily events that are unique to our being here (and that I never would have thought I would miss or be nostalgic about).  We are starting to think about boxes to be sent home, local crafts to purchase and -of course- saying many good byes.  We will be leaving despite the many wonderful things we will be missing-  Tallinn will be hosting a song festival in July, there are dance and theater performances throughout the summer and of course we will miss the the experience of  ‘white nights’ of midsummer (although we will be in Ireland at that time).  I am already feeling very sad. 

local cute Scandinavian guy...quite suave..