I found Jesper’s place quite easily following the detailed description of the route he send me. Jesper is a danish student who couchsurfed my place a year ago and we had a really great time and mutual understanding. That’s why I was really looking forward to see him again and also Copenhagen (CPH) – for the first time.
I was standing in front of the student’s dormitory – it looked exactly as in a Google street view what helps to find a right place quite often, and called Jesper.
“Hi, Zane from Latvia here”.
“Hi, nice, how are You?”
“You know, I’m totally lost,” was trying to joke.
“Ou, no, really?”
“No, I’m standing in front of Your house”.
“Hmm, didn’t you said you’re going to meet your friend during the day?”
Fcuk. Only now I recognized I have called Peter – my host I had to meet in the evening. Both phone numbers were on the same page and I managed to make a mistake somehow. I couldn’t think about better solution than truth and told Peter I mixed up the phone numbers. Luckily, seems that everything is ok with Peter’s sense of humor and humanity, so after a short conversation we agreed to meet at the evening – after eight.
Then I called a real Jesper. And here he comes – I was not only standing next to the right building, I was even at the right doors. After hugs and hellos, he brings me to his room – cozy student flat. Jesper kindly offered to stay here, too, but in this case he has to move out himself, what doesn’t sound as a nice thing to me. Student’s dorm has also nice shared areas to rest, cook and study. “But I think on of the best things living here is a roof terrace,” Jesper says and we go there for a beer and some views.
While enjoying sun and beer, Jesper gives me short intro about the CPH. There is a map on the table in which each region of the city has a different color – Norrebro, where we are right now, is mainly for students and immigrants, Osterbro – good for family with kids, Fredriksberg is a luxury area, Vesterbro is for hipsters and Cristianshavn – for hippies. Islands Brygge, where I’m going to overnight, is a calm area, also good for families and peace-lovers. City center has many churches, museums, tourists and a mermaid – symbol of the CPH.
Jesper’s girlfriend Anne is so kind and lends me her bicycle. CPH is not a big city so you don’t need a public transportation to travel everywhere but for exploration on foot it’s a bit too spread out. So, bicycle sounds like the best option. There we go – riding the streets of CPH, eating small lunch in one out of many eastern food places, saying hello to Mermaid and her “father’s” grave, crossing many bridges and arriving in Christiania. This is a special hippie place which has become a bit touristic now. You can freely buy weed there and you smell it everywhere you go. We prefer a beer and after buying one just sat down and enjoyed sun. It’s a first day off Jesper has after some while. So, it feels good for him to do nothing for a change, but I’m a professional in doing nothing.
After biking trip we leave bicycles at the dormitory and going for a dinner and then – to bar called “The barking dog”. This is a place Juan works. Juan and Elena is a Spanish couple who couchsurfed at my place at the same time Jesper did. At that time they were just traveling but now both has settled down in CPH for a while – Juan works as a bartender but Elena has a job in a hostel.
Juan meets us and advices some beers and cocktails with and without beer – they are trying out some new recipes – some are good and some are even better. It is a happy and strange feeling to sit here and watch those wonderful people again – I could never imagined to see them again – and together. It’s a Saturday night and bar becomes more and more packed. It’s good to be here but it’s time to leave – I don’t want to show up at my new hosts place to late. Jesper brings me to the right bus station, gives a ticket and we say goodby for now.
A bit after 10 p.m. I’m ringing at Peter’s doors. Even he is tired after a long day of massage courses, he is not angry about my late arrival and me being a bit drunk. We talk a lot (ok, mostly me) and then it’s a bed time. Peter’s flat is a very light and calm place, it even has a small balcony. “What a good host again,” I think to myself falling asleep. “The only thing he lacks to be a perfect host is offering a towel.” Of course, I have one with me, but it’s a small one and sometimes it’s not drying as fast as I’d like to. When I wake up in the morning there is an sms at my phone: “Good morning, Zane. I left a towel for You on the piano. Have a nice day.” Ok, I have a perfect host.
