although i love living in østerbro, the consensus among my more copenhagen-savvy (i have only been living here since may) peers is near-unanimous: østerbro isn't that cool.
cool, they tell me, is to be found in vesterbro, in nørrebro. there are even some people who have ventured that amager is cool (they are not correct), but nobody thinks østerbro is cool.
instead, østerbro is derided as boring, even as kind of foo-foo. in new york terms, we are park slope if not the upper east side. in montreal terms, we are lower westmount. among the many elements of østerbro life that are commonly mocked are our supposed over-reliance on organic food, our ostensible love of yoga and our affinity for parenthood and all its expensive, multi-wheeled, sidewalk-blocking accoutrements.
i think it's a bit unfair, honestly. first of all, though østerbro is sometimes classified as some sort of la-di-da upper middle-ish wasteland, this is a fairly egalitarian city. more precisely, i know a lot of people in 'edgy' vesterbro and nørrebro whose rent is the same or more than mine per square meter. secondly, although it is true that we have relatively few bars (and only one that is open past 3 a.m.), you only need one good neighborhood bar and i have it: kitjn, on århusgade. for the rest, i take the bus, train or my bike (drunken cycling is a fun copenhagen thing).
thirdly, i never leave my home to find that someone has either pissed or vomited on my door. my friend in vesterbro cannot say the same.
so here it is: the sedate, the ornate, the relatively unpissed-upon østerbro. i think it's just fine. it's even kind of
hyggelig.
the MIGHTY S-TOG approaches østerport station. østerbro is served by two train stations, with this being the larger of the two (two metro stations are currently under construction). from østerport you can get on the city lines (the s-tog) or take trains to sweden, other parts of denmark or to the airport.
østerbrogade is the main commercial street in østerbro.
at trianglen, østerbrogade meets the secondary commercial street of nordre frihavnsgade as well as blegdamsvej (which leads to sankt hans torv and nørrebro).
i am posting a few photos of trianglen because trianglen is a big deal if you live in østerbro.
nordre frihavnsgade (full østerbro disclosure: i went to yoga on this street once but it was because my girlfriend got a free pass and plus i was a tiny bit in the doghouse that weekend):
sankt jakobs plads (they are setting up a christmas tree market here, which is useful since i was wondering where i was going to get one):
these little houses are tucked behind trianglen and back onto the giant fælledparken, where all of us østerbro people run around like pointless, spandex-clad, fitbit-chained chickens if you are to believe our detractors.
the lakes are the remnants of inner copenhagen's old moat system. the construction site here is related to the metro, but i don't believe its going to be a station. its some sort of maintenance tunnel or something, and it provides our otherwise view-gifted friends with a series of loud explosions every morning.
the lakes are about four feet deep but i guess maybe you can fish? i have never seen this attempted before.
these little houses are to be found on the border of østerbro and the inner city to our southwest. these were built in the 1600s to house sailors in the navy, and many of their residents still have ties to the danish military.
now we head down store kongensgade (great king street) into central copenhagen. unlike many cities, copenhagen's inner residential neighborhoods are often built at a slightly larger scale than its center as the center is much older, featuring small lots and old houses from when copenhagen was a walled city.
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