Christiania

There is a town in Copenhagen called Christiania. This is a free town, which means that it is independent from the rest of Copenhagen. They basically get all of the perks, like free healthcare and free education for life, with none of the responsibilities. They sell marijuana and all hash products to pay for their livelihoods and have become one of the biggest tourist attractions in Denmark.

Obviously, as a tourist and for educational purposes, I had to investigate. We went on a walking tour of Christiania which meant an old hippie who chain smokes cigarettes, biked ahead of us and told us about the 40 year old town, which he had lived in for the last 35 years. Living in a hash-smoking, revolutionary town, with blurred moral and legal lines, he was a character. He was rocking neon Crocks, need I say more?

This town is like nothing I have ever seen. They forbid pictures because after all, selling pot is still illegal. But imagine a jumble of old German, World War barracks, scattered randomly around near a stream. Now imagine them covered in graffiti and some eccentric artwork. Or stop imagining and just google "Christiania," duh.

The people are all men, who are either too drunk or too high to do anything productive.  So they sit around and listen to reggae music and chain smoke joints. It was awesome, when I wasn't scared.

Among the smelly stoned men, there are groups of Asian tourists getting yelled at for whipping out cameras and a few walking tours of rich older white folks who are glaring at the stoners from afar. And then there was us. A bunch of American kids staring greedily at the piles of marijuana. We may have looked the most touristy of them all.

Last weekend we went to Berlin. Pictures will be up soon.

xoxo,
K