Copenhagen is our city. This is where we come from and where we feel the most at home.
Since I was a child in the city, a lot has happened, not all of it to my liking. Much of the investment in the city focused on office buildings, banks, and big business. The new extension of the library came about, and the city grew with new areas and investments in housing options. The new opera house was built.
I am kind of conservative.
I like my Copenhagen of mixed cultures, open minds, freethinkers and space, the art scene, the LGTB+ culture, the grassroots movements, the initiatives, and the drive.
I like the Copenhagen Christian the Fourth built, the cobblestone, and the green color of the cobber roofs. It is a beautiful city. I like the old working-class apartment buildings, the trees, and the open spaces, the vibe.
So, we went for this walk to see the other Copenhagen.
The one we do not know, the one we see as new.
We passed the hotels and the office buildings. We walked through areas of new apartments by the water, moved on through the outskirts of the harbor area, crossed the harbor lock, and walked in the green area still protected from big investments where the small gardens still hold their land, into another new area of apartment buildings and back.
We passed the hip area just across one of the main bridges connecting the two islands Copenhagen unfold over and felt at home again.
The city has many new access points to the water itself.
You can jump into the many swimming areas or sail a boat or a kayak if you own or rent one—this element I find quite successful.
I have also to admit the architects behind the new buildings are talented, and I like the Scandinavian style.
It is modern, yet beautiful, and supplements the city very well.
Do I like it? I am not sure.
If I were ever to move back to my hometown, I would not choose the new areas. I would stick to my conservatism, be me. And hope to find some of the wild lives, some of the extreme kind of thinking, and some of the raw and untamed non-matrix lives I have always loved in my city.
Love and light
Cecilie Conrad
# 151 of my 2023 writing challenge - Read them all here
More images from the day
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