A Day at the Beach and a Day in May

A Day at the Beach

Over Easter Weekend it was so lovely and warm (22C) and sunny here in Copenhagen that I just felt compelled to go find a beach.

A quick check on Google told me that the best one to go to is called Amager which is on the Metro line towards the airport. As a side note, apparently most beaches around Copenhagen are man-made.

Amager (pronounced Aamarg) has gorgeous white sand and is really long. It faces the Oresund so there were no waves to speak of. I would describe it as a Lake Beach as opposed to an Ocean Beach.

It was absolutely gorgeous, I got quite a nice tan out of it and while there, discovered that Danes are big fans of the all-over body tan. There were a number of topless sunbathers towards the quieter end of the beach. My roommate went a few days ago and said he saw an old man stark raving... All his bits on show, in full view of anyone who cared to look.

Also, in what seems to be a standard for Denmark, there was an offshore wind farm not far from the shoreline.

A Day in May

Two days ago it was May Day. In Europe, May Day celebrates Worker's Rights and and all the Unions and Labour Rights movements etc get together and organise big events.

Here in Copenhagen there was a big event at one of the larger parks in town. All the Unions were out in force with tents and sales pitches; the left-wing parties in Denmark were all out in full show as well. Families had picnics and lots of people were drinking beer and getting drunk. Suffice to say, the hedges didn't need watering. There was also a guy handing out weed to anyone who wanted some.

There was lots of food stalls and arcade game things like you find at a Fairground. What was really weird though, was that the prizes at the arcades were all fake flowers like red roses and stuff. I don't know about you but I'd take a giant stuffed bear before I take a fake flower.

They had a big stage as well with bands all day. Well I'm assuming so, I got there later in the afternoon and there was a band playing in front of a communist flag. The irony of it though, was that this band sang a variation on F*** the Police, despite the fact that Communist countries tend to have ridiculously powerful police forces that tend not to care about your human rights (maybe I am just stereotyping but... KGB anyone?)

Final observation: lesbians everywhere. And I mean Everywhere. You didn't have to walk far to see one, or two making out.

Side story: a friend of mine went and on his way home encountered some neo-nazis at a bus stop. Apparently they told some black girls to walk into the traffic, harassed an Eastern European woman then seigheiled (not sure of spelling) in unison. I have a feeling they were at May Day just to cause trouble.

Driverless Subway




I just thought I would add a photo taken from the front seat of the driverless subway trains that they have here in Copenhagen. I really like them, and I think that if NZ ever actually considered decent investment in public transport in our largest cities, then something like this would be super awesome.