Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen ..... and Stockholm ......and Helsinki

Let me tell you about The Scottish Pub in Copenhagen.  His Grumpiness and I visited Copenhagen in the winter of 2007.  We arrived by train one December evening hungry and ready to explore the city a little.  It took us a while to find our accommodation, The Cab Inn, a very classy establishment I can tell you. By time we had checked in were famished and went in search of food - none of those fancy restaurant thingys at The Cab Inn.  We wondered past the famous Tivoli Gardens - we might come back for a closer look after visiting a restaurant.  We walked into the main square where some kind of Marilyn Manson rock celebration and march was going on.  Highly amusing but still no food.  Across the square we spied The Scottish Pub - they were bound to serve pub grub if not traditional Danish food.  We entered and ordered a pint of Carlsberg, according to their marketing possibly the best beer in the world but alas no food.  We agreed that we would finish our beer and then go on a further search.  The beer was very tasty and a bloke with a guitar started playing some of our favourite songs.  One beer turned into two, then three, then four and so on.  I was one of those fabulous nights when the beers go down easy, the entertainment is just right and the conversation is meaningful, witty and insightful, there are laughs aplenty.  We left The Scottish Pub and staggered back to our accommodation, foodless, sometime after midnight.  We woke early to catch the morning train to Stockholm with a couple of monster hangovers.  We managed to get the train with the assistance of cold showers, purging, painkillers and lots of water.

So we returned The Scottish Pub.  The atmosphere was as cheery and comfortable as I remembered.  We grabbed a couple of Carlsbergs and settled back to listen to a fellow called Dambro sing and play guitar. He started with some blues and quickly moved on to some covers - John Mayer, Tracy Chapman, Mark Cohen, Van Morrison, John Legend.  Callum from Nottingham played during one of the breaks.  He had some pretty good originals but a terrible moustache.  His song about Mr J, his high school PE teacher, and the torture endured in the interests of health education was particularly amusing.  A great night and perhaps with the previous trip in mind we limited our Carlsberg intake despite the relaxed atmosphere.  Serious hangovers safely avoided - phew.

Stockholm is s beautiful city and the old town on the island of Gamla Stan is particularly notable.  We visited a few bars but the best was Stampen.  They have live music most every night and on the night we were fortunate enough to visit a very cool blues band was playing.  Leather vests and ZZ Top beards were a feature. The lead singer had a voice and reminiscent of Ian Moss and his guitar playing was nearly a good.  The bar was a little crowded but it was great fun.  The banter in Swedish was a little weird though.

Finland, the spiritual home of weird metal music.  Helsinki is an unusual place not Scandinavian but not Russian either.  It is worth going just for the strangeness of it all.  

We went to a bar called the Boot Hill Rock Bar and it sure had atmosphere.  There was a fellow randomly yelling out rhyming couplets and claiming that he was from the south in an American accent.  Uni students in leis and orange pants playing pool and others who were constructing Lego and singing "You Are My Shunshine" in Finish accents.  There was an over supply of long beards and pony tails, earrings, head scarves, vintage leather jackets and groovy hats.

It just happened to be jam night at Boot Hill. First up was blues band followed by a band full of young folk.  Both band got the room really rocking.  The saxophone solos were particularly good.  There were no Death Metal bands to be seen but a great night just the same.

Wow, what a trip.  From the enormous juggernaut that is Ed Sheeran, to the magnificence of The Who, to the busker in Leicester Square we have seen all types of live acts all around the world.  It has been an experience that I will never forget.  But we are exhausted and are keen to get home.  I am looking forward to getting back to a city where I understand where to find live arts experiences.  Hobo Fopo is just a week or so away, my 30 year high school reunion and a southern summer is on the way.  Who knows what adventures await on my journey to become Patron of the Arts.