[Music: “Sit Around the Fire” by Jon Hopkins, Ram Dass, & East Forest]
4 times. During the span of a one week trip, I went to Kastellet 4 times. That’s how enamored I was with Kastellet. On a map, it’s stunning – what a piece of art to design a military fort in this star shape. But that’s just in 2 dimensions. It’s really seeing it in 3D that makes this space so special.
The tough part about traveling is finding things to do in the odd hours when jet lag is in play- whether it’s being up late or early, abiding by the typical business hours can be a challenge. What to do with kids at 10pm when everyone is wide awake? In my case, I wanted to get in a couple runs and with everyone sleeping in a bit later, I thought it a reasonable advance exercise to see whether Kastellet was worth adding to our list of places to check out before everyone is up. Kastellet is open quite early.
I get to Kastellet and realize you can run ON TOP of the grass covered defensive wall- my mind is completely blown. In the process of trying to find the path up the hill of the wall, I cross one too few bridges across moats and end up in the park surrounding the wall (also star shape) so hilariously I’m running around it, not on top of it. Eventually half way, I sort it all out and of all the runs I’ve done- this is really the one I’ve enjoyed the most.
I’ve lucked out with exceptional weather and the views are stunning. The days being so long, the sun hovers just above the horizon for quite some time so I score some great long shadow shots. The color of the military barracks once inside the walls is so vibrant even on the cloudy days. It feels more of a park, and a great one at that, than a military site but it still is operational.
3 of my 4 visits to Kastellet were in the morning hours, where the place is empty, say for a couple of runners and a few armed guards. One of the times, I was returning from the club Culture Box (CPH Deep: Rachel Raw) and wanted some time to kill. I found one of many benches, warmed by the sun and welcomed by the sky, and sat for the meditation “Sit Around the Fire” by Jon Hopkins, Ram Dass, & East Forest. There’s something about losing oneself in order to find it and after a night of dancing where humans ascend to a more conscious level of their spirit and being, it was wonderful to emerge from those depths into the light of Kastellet and take a moment to pay respect to connectedness between us all.
Address: Gl. Hovedvagt, Kastellet 1, 2100 København, Denmark
Website: Great Runs: Kastellet
ofallthespaces 