Constructions in Copenhagen

Unfortunately, I didn’t get into Copenhagen to enjoy the city: I usually try to get one night at Tivoli gardens and visit a restaurant along the inner harbor, at a minimum.  The Gardens are a wonderful blend of music, flowers, rides, and food, especially good on midsummers night when the witches are burned as traditional songs are sung at midnight (I had a sheet of Danish lyrics shoved into my hands to participate as the flames rose over the ponds).

I usually have a beer and tackle the Tower, a clanking, hissing pole that hoists you far above the city before dropping you, free-fall, back to earth.  It’s absolutely terrifying, and I do it every time I visit.

However, the conference was held at Bela Center, out near the airport and a good 20-minute metro ride from the city.  This is an area that is rapidly being developed with striking contemporary  buildings, offices and apartments, wind farms and shopping malls.  I usually think that Dutch architecture is aggressively futuristic, but some of this is right out of Blade Runner.