september 2009.pdf - CBS OBSERVER

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4 2 As a student at CBS, you won’t be able to escape cyclists. They are everywhere around town and especially around Campus, where no one seems to know how to park them considerately. There are good reasons for that – good enough to rather join them than beat them as they speed their crazy, anarchistic way through Copenhagen’s traffic. North to Nørrebro This city is for cyclists. One of the city’s most used cycle-routes, a part of Copenhagen’s and Frederiksberg’s 40 kilometres of green cycle routes, even runs right through CBS’ Campus. The only thing you have to decide is whether to go north or south from Solbjerg Plads. If you go past the Frederiksberg Center and cross Falkoner Allé at the traffic lights, you are on your way on the northern part of an inner green cycle route. If you are really not used to cycling, as little as five minutes on your bike later you will find your first opportunity to take a break in the beautiful park and greenhouse café of LIFE, the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Life Sciences on the right of the bike lane. If this is too soon for you to pause, continue and you will not only pass a small mid-city farm on your right after you have crossed Rolighedsvej but also i n - h o u s e n e w s p a p e r f o r co p e n h a g e n b u s i n e s s s c h o o l How to go green all over Copenhagen Welcome to CBS. Welcome to Copenhagen. If you thought this article was about where to go and drink yourself sick, you were wrong. Now – go buy a bike! Autumn may be windy and wet, winter may be dark and cold and public transport may be easy and almost affoardable, but still. Even if you haven’t cycled since you were five: get a bike! Here’s why p e d a l p o w e r By Alexandra Bode Photos: Lajka Hollesen There are many ways to experience the waterfront of Copenhagen, be it on foot or bicycle, in a kayak or a touring boat or – as here - a rented boat. Hans Christian Andersen’s grave in Assistens Kirkegaard (Nørrebro’s cemetery cum local park) – if you make a small detour and turn right at Jagtvej, that is. Bike on and enjoy Nørrebroparken with its sunbathers, ball players and spontaneous barbecues. When you arrive at Tagensvej, turn left and cross the bridge to turn right just after it. Here the green cycle route continues through parks and residential areas and leads you right up to Ryparken S-train station. Alternatively you can bike up the hill to the huge yellow brick church, Grundtvigskirken. From there you can turn right and, if you’re really good, find a not yet official green cycle route first running downhill through a number of stiles and then following a small canal through a variety of residential areas, ending up just short of Ikea on Lyngbyvejen. South to Søndermarken The other half of this green cycle route runs across CBS’ Solbjerg Plads Campus, passing Kilen and one of the city’s first bike counters. While the route basically just continues down to Danshøj S-train station, a worthwhile detour is to stop and visit Frederiksberg Have, the Zoo and Søndermarken, which is a bit more fields and woodsy than Frederiksberg Have’s very park-like park. Biking the waterfront Sightseeing by bike might seem an One of your detours could be Nyhavn, where CBS OBSERVERs reporter (picture left) has made a pit stop. inconvenient and frequent mapconsulting kind of thing, especially when there are boats taking you to most of the major sights. However, there is one route that is so easy you shouldn’t miss out on it. Starting at Copenhagen’s most famous landmark, the statue of The Little Mermaid, it leads you past Copenhagen’s oldest and newest bits – all you have to do cycle south along the waterfront and enjoy. After waving at The Little Mermaid your next encounter will be nearby Gefion, depicted in the fountain of the same name – the goddess Gefion transformed her four sons into oxen and then ploughed up earth into the sea between the Danish isle of Funen and Sweden, creating Zealand, the island on which Copenhagen is There is no excuse. If you want to experience Copenhagen you must get a bike. located. The route then goes through the harbor toll-house gates, and on your waterfront way to the royal residences, you will meet someone you thought lived in Florence: In front of the Royal Cast Collection, which holds casts of some of the most important sculptures in the world, stands a bronze replica of Michelangelo’s David. And then you get to Amalienborg Palace with the Marble Church on one side and the Royal Opera House on the other side of the harbor on one visual axis. The next stage on your tour goes around Copenhagen’s new Royal Playhouse, overlooking the harbor and just around the corner from buzzing Nyhavn. Here, the little detour you have to take in order to get over the bridge is well worth it
c b s o b s e r v e r 6 s e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 9 4 3 The waterfront has many sights – some more unexpected than others. and gives you an insight into one of Copenhagen’s oldest residential areas and most visited summer night spots. Good spot for a beer-break. Continuing along the waterfront, bike under the bridge and notice the redbrick building with its with its tail-winding four dragon steeple, holding the three crowns of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. That’s the Royal Exchange, and yes, behind it is Christiansborg that houses the Danish parliament, the Royal Stables and behind them... In many parts of Copenhagen, the shift from old royal insignia to ultramodern architecture is not far, and in fact the next stop incorporates both in one building: The Royal National Library (Det Kongelige Bibliotek) consists of a modern waterfront building with a stunning view and a black polished facade (hence its nickname The Black Diamond) and the old Royal Library-building with Harry Potterlike reading areas. Take a break at the library’s café and sip your coffee in the sunshine in one of the deckchairs at the waterfront. Living at the waterfront has always been important for Copenhageners and so if you bike on past the long row of modern, five storey glass front buildings you end up at Fisketorvet, central Copenhagen’s largest shopping mall, and you will find a small swimming pool complete with a diving board built into the harbor basin, closely followed by one of Copenhagen’s newest residential development projects at Havneholmen. The modern apartment blocks are still in the process of forming a new neighbourhood that just keeps on changing and developing. Harbor beach life Are we tired yet? Okay, but we’ll have to speed things up a little. If you cross the small bridge for bikers and pedestrians to the island of Amager, you get to Islands Brygge with a great view of just how much architects gone wild can get out of old harbor warehouses and storage silos. Turn left and If you want to go swimming, you don’t have to go further than “Havnebadet” in the harbor basin. you’ll get to see how the inhabitants of Copenhagen go about turning more than a kilometre of old harbor waterfront into a beach. If you keep pedalling you run out of traversable waterfront, but the reward is biking along the small canals through Christianshavns old merchant quarter. If you keep going you’ll hit Freetown Christiania, a selfproclaimed autonomous neighborhood that has somehow managed to squat on an abandoned military area since 1971. The main thoroughfare here’s called Pusher Street – that should give you an idea. If you’re up for more, you can bike on through, and if you hold to the left you’ll get back to the waterfront and the still fairly new Copenhagen Opera House. Further on from there you find Holmen, all of which was once a naval base – and at the old naval headquarters you can even get shown around a decommissioned submarine and frigate. If you’re really stubborn you can then bike on out to Halvandet – the waterfront’s outermost venue, where you will truly appreciate sinking into one of the chill-loungebeach-bar mattresses with a cold drink pressed to your saddle-sores. Vivid Vesterbro Should you feel like seeing some more everyday city life, cycle down Vesterbrogade to Pile Allé and turn left … and left again in the curve. If you do you get to cycle through the Carlsberg brewery with its giant elephants and the Buddhist swastikas that make every German tourist wince at first sight. From there, make your way to Enghave Plads and up Istedgade with the smallest coffeebar in Copenhagen on your right, Lenin’s apartment in 1912 on your left at number 112 and further down a very special park: Skydebanehaven hides behind what looks like a giant fortress or castle wall, but was built to offer Copenhagen’s citizens a place to practise their shooting skills. For a bit more exhibition of craftsmanship, leave Istedgade before it turns into Copenhagen’s red light strip and turn right at Absalonsgade. Following Sønder Boulevard and you will soon notice an industrial area with a strangely displaced supermarket at the back – this is where Copenhagen’s cool crowd gathers for gallery openings, drinks and dance. The meatpacking district attracted so many creatives with its low rents and morbid charm of gambrels hanging from the ceiling that the original patrons are now shorthanded and pressed for space.. Out in the boondocks Still adventurous and ready for more? Put on your bicycle clips and head for the yellow brick church on the top of the hill on Tagensvej again. Continue on by way of Frederiksborgvej until you get to a marshy lake area called Utterslev Mose. It’s nice there – reeds, trees, waterfowl and bicyclists aplenty. If you start out around the path on the side away from the city centre, you have just started out on the outer green cycle route following the old ring fortification system It’s time to chill when you reach Halvandet, the outermost venue of the Copenhagen waterfront. around Copenhagen’s suburbs for miles and miles. You’re in for a very long and varied bike ride following not only ramparts, canals and ditches but also the Ring 3 Freeway until you actually hit the coast. In around the lakes Exhausted from all the cycling or excited by all the sights, you can either stroll or continue biking around Copenhagen’s most central area of recreation – the lakes. From the fancy Østerbro end with cafés, the University of Copenhagen and wealthy residences down past Nørrrebro to Søpavillonen (a white wood seaside resort type building hosting a forties+ discotheque) to the slightly rundown Vesterbro-end with the Tycho Brahe planetarium, you will encounter all sorts of Copenhageners jogging, talking, walking their dog, sunbathing and discovering the odd bike that has somehow unfortunately been thrown in one of the lakes. Hopefully yours will never end up like that. By now it should be your best friend ever… and ready to take part in the daily CBS bike parking orgy. 1 Christianshavn used to be the home of the Copenhagen Naval Base, which now is part of the Copenhagen waterfront. c b s o b s e r v e r Next deadline: September 17th Unsolicited contributions: max. 1 A4 page Mail to: red.observer@cbs.dk 1
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