Your Tips For Copenhagen Fringe Living: Part 1

In case you missed the news, White Line Hotels is at it again with another fantastic opportunity to win a weekend away.

The destination this time?: Copenhagen, the city of refined rebellion.

The catch?: more a little give and take than a catch, all we want is to know where you like to catch up with the local spirit when in Copenhagen.

Let us in on your personal tips and we’ll enter you in our competition to win a weekend at Avenue Hotel — White Line Hotels’ own insider pick. We’ll even throw in a little surprise from our partners at Design By Us. See how rewarding sharing can be?

To get you started hot-wiring your brain and turning over all those Copenhagen memories, here’s some offerings from what we’ve heard from you so far:

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Avenue Hotel’s Tips for Living on the Edge, Copenhagen Style

Along with the tip about Radio being one of Copenhagen’s hottest secrets (for now anyway!), White Line Hotels Edit Avenue Hotel has shared even more ideas on how to take in Copenhagen from the insider’s perspective. While you’re busy scribbling their notes into your little black travel book, why not be generous and share some of your own? We’ll make it worth your while. Go on! Give it a shot!

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Get Mad At Radio

Get mad at radio? No, it’s not a strange instructional product of a game of Telephone.

If you sit down and really think about languages, and words, it gets pretty ridiculous pretty fast. You don’t even have to be playing Telephone to get there. One of the best categories to ponder for this is what they call “false friends”, those sneaky little words that appear identical between two languages, but in reality have completely different meanings. If you get mad in English, of course you’re getting angry. Do the same thing in Denmark, and you might very well be on the way to get a bite to eat (mad is Danish for food).

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Delectably Local: Chez Vrony

There’s much to be said for the Zermatt Summer: rolling green hills framed by permanently snowy peaks, being able to ski any day of the year, going to see the extremely rare Valais battle cows go head-to-head if watching (and/or rare animal sports) is more your thing, and of course world-famous outbreaks of wildflowers. It’s enough to make you sigh and start counting out the weeks until the next spring thaw on your iCal, that is until you start thinking about what Winter in Zermatt has to offer: snow covered hills framed and topped by the magnificent Matterhorn, being able to ski any day of the year (still), and sitting in cozy farm houses dining on produce, milk and meat products raised from the now-snow-covered pastures that surround you. It doesn’t get more local than that.

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The Future Is Still Now: Barcelona’s Flash Flash

1969. Like at every decade’s end, the events of that year either placed a firm period to define what the 60s would be remembered for — Woodstock, for example — or, if the signs were clearly read, they were already lining up a clear trajectory for decade to come: the cover of Led Zeppelin’s debut album seems to say quite clearly that the sound of the 60s was getting ready to go up in flames, the Mason Family threatened the prevailing notion of a subculture full of peace and love, and the first Concorde flight expressed a desire for fast paced internationalism and instant gratification. Throw in the culmination of the Cold War fueled Space Race with the moon landing, and phew, it was quite a year for defining the shape of things to come! It was also the year that architect Alfonso Mila and photographer Leopoldo Pomes dreamed up a collaborative project, a restaurant like no other where Mila’s walls would support Pomes’ photographs.

When the doors opened to the public in 1970, it wasn’t just the interior of Flash Flash that was forward thinking. The restaurant is soundproofed to make conversation easy and comfortable, and while it may not seem particularly revolutionary now, the restaurant is only closed on Christmas day and features bright and pleasant restrooms — both rare in a restaurant in 1970! Still rare in most any restaurant, the 4th condition of Flash Flash’s concept is its service, which looks back to a time when the job of  waiter was a dignified profession.

Flash Flash is a tortilleria, and yes, tortillas are the center of the menu. Don’t confuse these with the flat bread of the same name found in mexican cuisine; these are thick and fluffy Spanish tortillas with more in common to an omelette than their mexican cousins. They even have desert tortillas. If you just can’t face eggs, however, you can order from a large selection of meat and vegetable based dishes.

40 years later Flash Flash has accomplished the nearly impossible task of both encapsulating its era and remaining fresh — this true Barcelona original still draws crowds from international icons to local teenagers. Join the mix next time you find yourself in town.

You’ll find a place every bit as forward thinking, fresh and modern in White Line Hotel’s edit Hotel Omm.

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Contributing Writer: Melissa Frost

Photos courtesy Flash Flash