Valentines' Day in Copenhagen

Valentines' Day is just around the corner, and though it is no a major celebratory day in Denmark, there will be some romantic events on the day. Here's a couple of them:

Nationalmuseet

The National Museum will be running a museum-walk with romance theme this week. Take your date on a guided (by a piece of paper) tour to see various objects that relates to romance from the exhibitions. The guide will also include some questions, you can ask each other to get to know each other! It's free! Tuesday-sunday (only in February).

Saturday and sunday there will be a romantic brunch in the café! (The brunch is 225 kroner, book a table on the webpage: http://www.restaurantjulian.com/) 

Romantic tour on Christiansborg Castle

Throughout its history, Christiansborg Castle has seen its fair share of royal romances! Bring your date to a special tour on and around the castle to hear about some of the Danish' historys most famous royal mistresses!

Meet by the Royal gate (Kongeporten). Thursday, Feb. 14th at 11, 14 and 17. Price: 55-110 kroner.

Romantic tapas in a bag

Cofoco is one of the fastest growing restaurant concepts in Copenhagen! On Valentines day, you can buy a bag with romantic tapas and champagne - enough for two. The menu consists of smoked salmon, Moroccan chicken salat, vegetable crudité with Karl Johan mayo plus New Yorker cheesecake with blueberry puré!

Order until Feb. 13th 23:45 on www.madbillet.dk, pick up on thursday between 17 and 21!

Under the starry skies!

Better hope for no clouds on the night of Valentines' Day when Rundetårn will be inviting romantic people in for the 10th year in a row to see the swirly path to the top, lit up by candles. The observatory will be open, so you can look at the stars over Copenhagen! There will also be romantic live-music á la Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday.

Feb. 14th, 19.30-22.30 at Rundetårn, price: 75 kroner (275 including a basket with chocolate and champagne). More on www.Rundetaarn.dk.

xx,Nanna

Events this weekend! And fastelavn!

WEEKEND!

Friday

Cheap beer 1

Our very own S-Huset will be running a 5-kroner bar from 11:45-19!
Nothing more to say!

More on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/147968502022226/?fref=ts

Cheap beer 2

ESN probably already informed you about this, but Studenterhuset right next to Rundetårn will be having a semester-start party!

10 hours of happy hour (2 glasses of beer for 35 kroner), 3 stages, 2 floors, 200 free hot dogs and it's all for free (well, except the beer).  Lots and lots of music too. And probably people also. Times: 12-4 in the morning!

More on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/261083597355852/

Music at the Zoological Museum

I wanted to write a feature on the Frost festival, but it seemed from their webpage that most of the cool events were sold out. Well, not this one! Do you want to party in the Darwin-exhibition and dance with animal skeletons (including dinosaur skeletons)? And some stuffed animals too? This is the event for you! It starts at 20:00 and you must buy a ticket in advance (120+a bit for processing). Buy here: http://www.billetnet.dk/event/362607

Austrian Elektro Guzzi will be playing a live-set with hand-played minimal techno (acoustic techno with guitar, bas and drums?). There will also be some musical surprises around the museum during the evening!

More on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/315067821936055/

Saturday

Zombies and vampires in Kødbyen! Sin City will be having a theme party - Zombies and vampires. Dress up and expect scary surprises! (With fastelavnstønde (see bottom of post) in the line, prizes for best costumes in the categories: Zombie, vampire and "regular fastelavn". There will be a band: Hola Ghost (surf and psychobilly) and a bunch of DJ's.

It is 60 kroner in door (cash) including 1 beer and wardrobe. From 22-04.

Sunday

FASTELAVN!

Fastelavn is a Danish carnival, celebrated the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. The day in Denmark is mostly celebrated with dress-up, fun games and "fastelavnsboller" (fastelavn sweet rolls!). 

Another thing is that you outside most churches can "slå katten af tønden" (beat a barrell with a "cat" inside). Back in the days it was an actual cat, and I think the story goes that it was to prevent bad luck (except for the poor cat). Now, it is mostly candy (as in a piñata!) inside the barrels, and when it's not, it's fruit and raisins. The barrel is tied to something so it hangs in the air. Then a lot of people dressed as for Halloween (but not just scary costumes) will take turns to beat the barrel with a wooden baseball bat. Only one hit per person until the line is over and everybody can try again. When the bottom falls out of the barrel (with all the candy!) everybody runs to get the candy. The person to make the bottom fall out will become the "cat queen". Next challenge is to be the one that gets rid of the last tied-up piece of the barrel - this person will become the "cat king"! Both will be crowned with paper crowns! 

In the morning, kids will make "fastelavnsris", a bundle of thin birch brances, decorate them with paper-cats, masks and the like. They will wake up their parents by "hitting" them or their bed with the fastelavnsris, chanting this song (try and see if you can translate it) to make them get up and get fastelavnsboller for them:

"Fastelavn er mit navn
Boller vil jeg have
Hvis jeg ingen boller får
Så laver jeg ballade!"

Kind of like the tradition of "trick or treat" on Halloween, some kids will walk on the streets, knock on doors  for coins, candy or fastelavnsboller - or else there will be trouble! :)

I only have good memories of this holiday, both as a child (one of the best days of the winter!) and as an adult (in my old karate-club, we used to kick the barrel instead of using a bat!). You should try and go to one of the events - it is really a nice way to spend a sunday! Aww, I want to make a fastelavnsris now!




Here are some suggestions for the celebrations of the day:

The different one:

Complete with costumes, barrels and ... winter bathing in the harbor-bath? Sounds different and like a lot of fun! But don't worry if you don't want to freeze - you can still go and see people dressed up jumping in the ice-cold water! And if you want to take a dip - don't worry, there is a sauna! There are prizes for the cat-king and the cat-queen! And it's free!

The harbor bath as it looks in the summer!

Address: Havnebadet, Islands Brygge. From 10-14.

The one in the Zoo:

The money from the tickets, you have to buy to go to this one, will be donated to WWF for protection of endangered species! 

The barrel will be inside the lions' area - but the lions will be indoors. And the prizes for the cat-king and cat-queen will be another trip to the lions' area, to help the zookeeper take care of the lions. :)

Address: Zoo, Roskildevej 32, 2000 Frederiksberg
From 10-13.

The one without kids:

The William Blakes will be playing a fastelavns-concert with a costume theme and a bunch of guest performers including Danish reggae-boy wonder Shaka Loveless, jazz sax-guy Benjamin Koppen, D-A-D guitarist Jacob Binzer, Kresten Osgood and Dreamer's Circus! This is the fifth year in a row! All performers and audience will be in costume and some of the music will be improvised!

The profit from tickets will be donated to the organization Partners in Health, leading the humanitarian help in Haiti.

Address: Amager Bio, Øresundsvej 6, 2300 KBH S
At 20. Buy a ticket at www.amagerbio.dk (price in advance = 140 kroner + handling, in-door 165 kroner)

Or just visit any bakery - they will definitely have fastelavnsboller. The ones with cream are divine!!!







All the best,
Nanna

New on the blog: Danish Music features

Our new friend is called Charlotte/Pølz and she will be posting about Danish music every once in a while and maybe about concerts that's on the program of some of the music venues of Copenhagen. I promise you that she's very nice! Hope you like the new features. :)

Also, Marie, who did some posts last semester, will be back for a short while with some Best-stuff and some recipes for Danish food. Yay!

Best,
Nanna

Bar Spotlight #4 - Ourselves Alone

It's been a long time since the last Bar Spotlight, but here finally comes a new one!

This is about the rather exclusive cocktail bar, Ourselves Alone. Ever been to a secret bar? Well this is not entirely secret, but to enter, you have to ring a doorbell and they will let you in if there is enough space. The reason for this is, that they want to provide their guests the best service and the best cocktails - which is not possible if the bar is blocked by layers and layers of people!

So if you want to really treat yourself with something else than the regular Gulddame, this is really something to look forward to!

The bar opened last year, so it's still fresh and relatively "undiscovered".

The rooms have a retro feel and the drinks selection varies according to season! There's no menu for that reason. But think old-school cocktails (20's-30's mainly). And even the ice in the drinks is something special - not the old regular cubes - it is carved from huge blocks instead! More pricey than most bars you'll find, but I promise that it's really something special.

Open from 16-03 all days! 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ourselves-Alone/494865793876224 (note the amazing recommendations)
Address: Badstuestræde 7, basement, KBH K







Best,
Nanna

Cultural happenings for students

An awesome student advantage programme you should know about is Students Only!

It is the student club of The Black Diamond (The Royal Library) and they host a lot of (free!) cultural arrangements for members! You only need to sign up with name and email (and where you study!)! They send the invites on email and some of them, you should book for in advance (but in that case, it will be specified). The emails are in Danish but run it through Google Translate and all will be fine!

Sign up here!
http://www.kb.dk/da/dia/studentsonly/om/about_english.html

Best,
Nanna

New Arctic area opened in Copenhagen Zoo

The Copenhagen Zoo is an old, proud one (about 150 years old, making it one of Europes' oldest). Last major change, I remember, was when the elephants got a new and better space for living. It was a big deal. So is it when something nice happens to the other animals!

This time, the lucky ones were the polar bears!

A whole new area has been built for them, with plenty of space for running around - and swimming too! For the visitors this means the possibility of standing UNDER a swimming polarbear as the swimming area is made of glass - and there is a tunnel under it! The whole thing was presented to the public yesterday.

One of the zookeepers told a major newspaper that he had not seen the polar bears play like that and be so happy for years! So if you're not sure what to do one of these days, go look at some really happy polar bears!

The Zoo also have many other animals and it's trademark - a black tower right at the entrance, where you can see a lot of Copenhagen from the top!

Webpage: www.zoo.dk
Address: Roskildevej 32, 2000 Frederiksberg
Opening hours: All days 10-16 (however closing time may vary, check the website to be sure)
Prices: Adults: 150 kroner

Cute photos of happy polar bears:






The tower!



Best,
Nanna

Events this weekend

Once again time for one of my favorite features: Events this weekend.

I'm not listing any fashion week parties, as they seem a bit too serious about themselves for their guests to actually have a good time. My opinion, if you want to go to some, check out the Copenhagen Fashion Festival programme on their webpage.

Cool, here we go!

Friday

Mussel samples

Copenhagen Cooking (a month-long food festival) starts today! One of the events this weekend is the focus-days on mussels! In Torvehallerne, right next to Nørreport Station, there will be given away bunches and bunches of samples of delicious mussel-dishes. And if you don't catch it today, there will be plenty of time to do so saturday and sunday. It's free!

Local DJs and atmosphere

Stuen is a nice, a bit dark place. Tonight, two local DJs will be playing awesome tunes and you should go there, have some beer and dance a bit. It'll be fun!

22-05, no entrance fee. Address: Vester Voldgade 10, KBH K.

Saturday

Boogie at Christiania

The popular club night, The Boogie, has specialized in finding DJs with interresting music collections to play for you. Mark Seven will be providing the beats in the form of disco, boogie, funk and house. I am 100 % sure this is the best place to be this saturday if you want to DANCE!

Operaen, Christiania (The one on Pusherstreet, not the big Opera!), 22-04, entrance: 60 kroner. Be there well in advance to avoid having to line up. And remember cash for entrance and drinks! More on: Facebook.

Support party for Vibes Apotek

Vibes Apotek was a previous Bar Spot-feature here on the blog. The place is always good for an awesome party, but unfortunately the neighboors can't sleep through it. Therefore Vibes Apotek is fundraising to afford soundproofing so that the bar can still be there and not bother the neighboors. Entrance is 50 kroner or 200 kroner for a VIP entrance (VIP here meaning "Vælter I Pilsnere" = Rolling In Beer, because 10 beers are included).

Since they have some well known Danish DJs (Kenneth Bager, Jean Von Baden, Waqar, Djek and Wilhelm Tretusind (hehe, Wilhelm 3000)) in their lineup, they have moved out of their rather small usual spaces.

The drinks are guaranteed to be cheap! Go go go!

The party is from 22-09 in the morning. Address: Thorsgade 67, KBH N. More on Facebook.

Best weekend wishes,

Nanna