Brothers Without Borders: Exploring Copenhagen & Its Wonderful Jazz

Greetings from Nick, in the heart of Scandinavia. The pats three days have been a mix of blisters and fantastic music and food.

Rikke wearing Wyatt's badass
American aviators.

Besides exploring the wealth of culture and aged architecture, we've had a couple late nights and listened to some absolutely incredible jazz. By day, we've walked throughout the city, touring the streets and, as Jeff would put it, "just chill out and kick it."

In the morning on the fourth, we packed up and left Uli's apartment. He was nice enough to lend us a transit card that we can use to get around, which we'll reimburse him for before we head to Amsterdam. We rode the train to downtown, and down Amagerbrogade street to our next host, Rikke (pronounced kind of like "reggae").

Rikke is a cool young gal who lives with her cousin, in the same apartment complex as her mum, who decided to start hosting couch surfers out of sheer boredom. Her room is tastefully decorated with vintage posters and white shelving, and herbs out on her 5th-floor porch.

We took the bus to meet her, and while we waited for her to arrive we had a schwarma roll at a Turkish "Mediterranean and Italian food" joint. I guess it makes sense, but I'd never thought of those two types of foods as particularly similar. Schwarma and pizza? OK.

Also, there was this poster on the wall.

CHILDREN CRYING IN TURKEY
SERVE YOU MEDITERRANEAN
FOODS.

As soon as we met Rikke, we went back to her place by foot and dropped off our things, and immediately went out to The Jazz. Rikke traveled by bike, with her mom, and Aryan Wyatt and I took the bus...

And The Jazz was incredible.

The Spirit of New Orleans plays in Copenhagen,
and along miles wide swaths of cobblestone square I spot
two lovebirds still at it.
Their limber spins and wrinkled hands convey echoes
locked in their resonant old bones, and I swear
a hint of that Scandanavian blonde
sneaks back into her hair. Oh, her toothless smile,
like a baby hearing jazz for the first time.
And eyes just as jovial.
And my camera isn't the only one pointed at them,
instead of the band.

More join them, mostly much younger.
Their taut, tan skin reveal such obvious lack of time,
but even they look older than that old couple.
Everyone knows it.

The others get tired and stops with the set,
then the encore starts, and the old couple
keeps on dancing.

So friendly to us, we had
to take a selfie.

We left to head to another venue, when this woman approached us...

"Are you American?" She asked.

Yes, we replied kind of sheepishly, not sure what she wanted.

She didn't say anything for a moment. She seemed a little nervous. As if searching for the right words...

Finally: "Happy Independence Day!"

Thenafter we went to a place called Charlie Scott's to listen to some more wonderful Jazz.

I don't recall the name of this band, but the trumpeter and soprano sax player both took turns singing.
Her voice was silky and serene, and his was reminiscent of Louis Armstrong. And the pianist was
fantastic. Where was Murakami when you needed him to be there?!

Look at him rock that mute!

Aryan went out for a brief excursion, and was very pleased at the sound that greeted
him upon return.

Aryan has some natural talent as a photographer! Rikke and her warm, kind mother.

Another one by Aryan. Capturing the moment.
This is Jazz.

Wyatt made a new (extremely drunk) friend, who seemed to think he was very cute.

Her voice could cool any burn.

...and Aryan really enjoyed it.

And Rikke introduced us to Thatchers, British cider. Delicious! We went home and came back again around midnight for another live jazz session, upstairs. Very hot, and very energetic. We chilled out and watched the many men go through the Danish mating ritual, which Uli succinctly described as "people just hook up when they're drunk and that turns into long-term relationships."

The next day, we explored more of the city before making our way to more Jazz. We entered a private, independent city of hippies called Christiania, which I believe is captured pretty completely in this photo.

Needless to say we didn't spend a long time here, since there wasn't a
whole lot to offer.

After that, we headed to Vor Frelsers Kirke, a beautiful chapel with a spiral staircase climbing to the top of the spire. It was pretty horrifying for anyone scared of heights (especially the last part of the climb, which is around the outside of the spire) but Aryan, Wyatt and I made it to the top.

Check it out!

Overlooking the beautiful city of Copenhagen.

Whoops, graffiti happened! We had nothing to do with it, of course.

Climbing back down the tower, a little shaky from the height, we wandered around the city a bit more...

EVERYTHING has graffiti on it.

Jeff, Aryan and Wyatt, in front of the stock exchange, and the
Danish palace (see the crowns?)

The stock exchange's spire is decorated with four dragons whose tails intertwine. The intent on
using that design was to protect the building from fires. Interestingly, when a great fire struck the
city the stock exchange was the only building whose interior was not destroyed.

After that, we went to a kickin place called Kayak Bar. Believe it or not, at Kayak Bar you can rent Kayaks, ride them around the city's channels, and kayak up to the bar to get drinks! We chilled out there and listened to two fantastic bands play...

Band number one.

Our new friend.

The first was a bunch of random backers and one frontwoman who wrote a bunch of original songs, and also played some classics. The drummer was amazing. Right behind her, the man in plaid is her husband; the bassist, her brother. She seemed to know everyone.

Also, we encountered a cute white dog right underneath the table next to us. He seemed to hang out wherever he wanted, and was friends with everyone!

When some members of the audience, who had brought their own instruments, were moved enough, they
would grab their piece and join the band. This sax player murdered the song, in the best way possible!

This man somehow encapsulates the feel of the night.

After a break of about one hour, the next band started setting up. They wound up not playing in the stage (you can see Aryan, Wyatt, and Jeff sitting there), and instead opted to play right in the middle of everything. Also, their amps were ancient and had massive, twirling fans inside of it for cooling. Watch fullscreen to see them.

After setting up, the band disappeared. Then, after a few minutes, they showed up again...

Dressed in these weird ass clothes.

And they played everything! A mix of classics, and even things like this:

And a few more photos from the night.

Jeff is Islamic, and observes Ramadan. With how long the sun stays
up in Copenhagen, he's hungry by the time the sun sets.

Secondhand information.

Sitting near a fountain, on our way home.

And yesterday, we explored Nyhavn (pronounced New Haven) channel, where many famous pictures of Copenhagen are taken.

On our way to Nyhavn.

Aryan "borrowed" this bike for the photo.

Nyhavn in all its colorful, beautiful glory. You can make out yet another jazz band
playing at the end.

Seen in Nyhavn.

We met Jeff there and ate lunch, listening to still more Jazz. We literally walked into a random quiet nook to sit down, where there were almost no other people, and there was a three-piece jazz band playing.

You can't go anywhere in the city without hearing jazz.

Or interesting people.

This city has everything!

And we're loving it.

After that, we visited Frederiks Kirke and Amalienborg, a massive church and the Danish royal family's winter home, respectively.

We stopped for a photo op (of course).

Outside Frederik's Church.

Jeff and Aryan, being Jeff and Aryan.

Wyatt, who learned up on a sign post for about thirty seconds, was yelled at by a Danish royal guard. Whoops.

Leaving there, we headed down the street to see the Little Mermaid statue. On our way, we randomly stumbled into this...

Then we got there. It's a small, solid copper statue, with a history. Apparently she's had her head stolen a couple times.

The Little Mermaid had graffiti on her chest.

We took a photo of Jeff too. For solidarity!

Jeff @ The Little Mermaid

Satisfied with our travels, we chilled out in a nearby park for a good while, and another park as we made our way back to Rosenborg Castle. On our way, we found someone who seemed to be practicing for a bush-jump. This person repeated this exact action at least ten times before I thought to take a picture. S/he looked very grumpy every time s/he turned around to walk back to his/her starting point, to take another go at it.