High Hopes

“You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart always will be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.”

― Miriam Adeney

After 6 years of friendship and living on two different continents for most of those years, my friend has finally managed to visit me (usually I would manage to win a trip to Paris and see her). We spent three days in Flensburg just catching up and testing how long we could lounge around on the couch before we headed to Copenhagen for three days.

It is the most silent city, like a ghost town. Even the swarms of furiously pedaling cyclists make no sound. Very strange. I don't know if it is the climate or because we were there during the week, but the noiselessness was astonishing.

The first day we arrived, booked into our hostel and walked to the Tietgenkollegiet near the University of Copenhagen. It is a residence that looks as though the architect was playing a game of Jenga. There we also saw the Konserthuset (concert hall) before finding our way back to the main shopping street Strøget to eat something (which turned out to be Burger King because it was the cheapest). 

That evening we found the only source of sound in the entire city: our hostel. Monday nights were apparently acoustic night or something and there was a band playing below us (our room was directly above the bar/check-in) til well into the night.

Hello Copenhagen.

Tietgenkollegiet, or playing Jenga. 

The next day we made our way to a bakery because we thought we'd always grab some Danish pastry for breakfast, but sadly the store had disappeared. We found another though and then walked past Nyhavn to the Amalienborg castle to see the changing of the guard.

Like in John Irving's Til I Find You. 

Changing of the very young guards.

Then we jumped on a canal tour and saw the city from the water. We were extremely lucky with the weather during our entire stay in Copenhagen. Given that it was not even spring yet it was fairly warm and we had no rain. Yay! NO RAIN!!!

Nyhavn

Vor Freisers Kirke

After the hour-long boat ride I spent more money on a pair of beautiful earrings than on the entire trip (bad bad Sabine) . We wanted to go up the Vor Freisers Kirke but were too late so we instead went directly to Christiania, which is a neighbourhood that doesn't see itself as belonging to the EU and where drugs are dealt openly. It was a bit too hippy-ish for us so we went in search of pastry yet again and walked along Strøget (it is one of the longest shopping streets in the world, so enough space to drift along silently). 

It was so good to get away from Flensburg for a few days and to spend time with someone where I don't need to explain my jokes or feel self conscious about what I am allowed to say without being too honest. It is a strange tightrope one walks when being alone in a new place and has to find new friends. But it makes me all the more thankful for the old ones that I can carry with me whether they live in the same city, the same country or 12 000km away.