Bike Ride

Deb and I went on a three hour bike tour with a guy named Nils, that's him on the left. We were riding through the cemetery where Hans Christian Andersen is buried. The ground cover was so green and the tree cover was so thick the air itself seemed green. It was beautiful and the tour was great. Nils has lots of stories about Copenhagen and opinions about the current state of Denmark and was happy to share them.
For instance, the Little Mermaid is a huge draw and I was thrilled to see it, Nils is less enthusiastic.
This is an old fort that still contains military offices. There wasn't much security. At one time moats and berms were built around Copenhagen to keep out the Swedes... and who would want those hockey wannabes around, but now the old defenses have been converted into parks so there's a ring of 'green' around the city.
The free city of Christiana in the middle of Copenhagen. It's the site of an abandoned army base taken over by 'hippies' in the early 70s and now the home to the third generation of the original inhabitants, who wanted to set up a Utopian community. About 1000 people live on 85 acres and while it's a huge tourist draw, the residents strictly control who can actually live there. I kind of expected a big mess, but except for a dodgy part where pot is sold, it was neat and clean and Utopian looking. The government really wants to close it down, but Nils says the last time they tried there were big riots and every anarchist in Europe was heading to Copenhagen to join the fight so the government backed off.

Hello Denmark

Took the train from Hamburg to Copenhagen. There was low cloud and rain during the short ferry trip from Germany to Denmark and I thought, scheiße, this won't be good for sightseeing, but actually as the train got closer to Copenhagen the skies cleared and everything turned out great.
The Queen's palace in Copehagen. No need for high fences and concrete barriers here I guess. Denmark sort of reminds me of Canada. Why would someone bother going there to make trouble. There's always somewhere better, closer.
The stock exchange, I think it was built around 1600 and maybe the first one anywhere. There are lots of well maintained old buildings here and the national museum is excellent, full of treaures from around the world, and we went to a separate part of a national museum to see an exhibit on Danish resistance during the Second World War. It was well done. The Viking exhibit was closed because of renovations.. maybe they're embarrassed Danes once made that much trouble, I kind of doubt it though.

An old church and a nice fountain in a park. We were on bikes at this point and I don't think the other tourists liked us whizzing through them, the Dad on the left of the photo gave me the glare.

On the road to Denmark

Went up to Copenhagen for the weekend to see my friend Deb and her family. The first leg from Cologne to Hamburg was through a ride service on the internet. Me and another guy shared the front seat of a delivery van with the driver. That's Mehmet the driver, on the left, and Karsten the passenger on right. We talked for almost all of the six hour trip so it was fun.
We had to stop in Bochum to pick up some newspapers Mehmet was taking to Hamburg, but the guys bringing him to the meeting point were about 45 minutes late so we had lots of time waste there.

Mehmet said we could go to a snack stand that was there (above), or there was a video place next door, above, where we could watch pornies (in private presumably). Karsten and I went for a walk instead and then came back for a beer. Because the guys bringing the papers were late, Mehmet had to boot it to make his deadline into Hamburg... he did with about a minute to spare.
The Reeperbahn in Hamburg. Lots of sex shops, strip joints and of course hookers in the evening. It's also a tourist attraction and part of the St Pauli neighbourhood so there's a real mix of people strolling around. I had dinner in a sidewalk cafe. This Russian guy and his buddy were sitting next to me and when he noticed my mobile phone was the same as his, he had a proposition... we would arm wrestle and if he won, I'd give him my mobile, buy dinner and give him some money for his "beetch." And if I won he would give me his mobile, buy dinner, and find me "a beetch." I declined.. but really, where was Sam Singh, Yukon Ladies Arm Wrestling Champion, when I needed him.


Went to this bar in the Reeperbahn in the evening. It was a Thursday and a lot quieter than I thought it would be. The bar had a nice neighbourhood pub feel and I drank lots of beer. The foosball table was getting lots of action. It was a warm night and between games the players would sit outside to cool off.

Cheap Shots

Just some signs that have caught my attention along the way.

Beer Fest.... yahoooooo...

When I heard the MC say, Deutschland's wunderbar cover band the QueenKings were the main act at the 12th annual Bonn beer fest, I knew it was going to be a fun evening... actually they weren't bad. I think for any German rock musician, the phrase HALLO BONN is the stuff of nightmares, I think it's considered somewhat of a middle class backwater.
There was a huge crowd at the beer festival. I was wondering if there could be as many as 100,000 and I saw in the paper this week, there were 100,000. A hundred thousand people drinking beer in a small space and I didn't see any fights or loud arguments...hmmmm. This discussion comes up here sometimes... why do the English and their colonial descendents... Canadians, Americans, Aussies... start fighting when they're drinking. Argue among yourselves.
One of the dozens of little kiosks on the grounds selling beer. I usually just drink kolsch, it's light and the beer that Cologne is known for... it's not considered 'real beer' by people from other parts of Germany.


Many pigs had to die to feed the beer fest crowd.

Alternate G-8

In early June I went up to Rostock for the Alternate G-8 about 20 kilometres from Heiligendam where the G-8 was being held. I had interviewed Siegfried, left, earlier in the month for another story, and he had invited me to come along to Rostock with him and his friends Hans and Birgit. They're in a group called Attac... an anti-globalization organization which is actually fairly mainstream.

We missed the riots by a couple of days and things had quieted down quite a bit when we got there. The workshops had started by then and everybody knows what a fun-killer workshops can be.

We did go out to where young people had blockaded the roads into Heiligendam. About 10,000 of them had marched through the police barricades the day before to set up the blockades, but it was more of a festival atmosphere by the second day. I was impressed by how idealistic a lot of the European young people are, they believe they can make the world a better place and actually try to make a difference... on the other hand there were some young Canadian American protesters on a train took one day..
They were rude and foul mouthed, especially the Canadians, I never thought I would see Canadians act that way overseas.