Copenhagen Travels - Part III
A bout to the cemetery the other side of the island is the morning plan.
Sunny day. Buoyant sanguine Spring sunshine that pangs off the canal
Water and sparkles that and sparkles the bikes stacked up in their hundreds
By the streets as you dally. You need a fridge magnet for going back home.
Heading off into the hub of the city centre looking for a souvenir store you
Pass the corporate shops with the famous international names. On broad
Windows are splashed the adverts for cosmetics and perfume with these
Supermodels pouting their pulpy lips. And unfortunately there are the
Fast food branches with their sickly logos, mixed in with the fashion stores,
The shoe shops with their lady leather boots erectile through the screens.
On each restaurant MENU that you pass it’s all either meat or fish.
The coins are a bit confusing in Denmark and when you find a magnet you
Like you give the girl at the counter too much change.
After the store you head into this new park with a little lake inside it
All amazed by the light of the sky in simmering in pure reflections.
Swans and ducks mosey about, about as careless as water birds can be.
You come out of the park and onto the bridge that crosses the main canal
Leading off the island and on the brinks of the bridge are the bloody flags
Of Denmark again. Shortly after the crossing you come upon a basketball
Court. Surrounded by buildings smothered in graffiti. The courts of the
Playing field make you wish you had a ball to bounce there, to throw up
At those orange lurking rings … and you can’t discern much of the graffiti
Letters on the walls, nor understand the artwork spattered between the
Raw inscriptions, but they work in the rash urban zeal of the scene.
The scenery quickly changes into a charming district of florists, bakeries,
Bike hire shops, ice cream parlours. Shame you can’t really appreciate
Any of the cuisine, for personal ethical reasons (ha).
In close time you reach the cemetery.
Hans Christen Andersen is buried there. It is odd how a field full of
Skeletons underneath the soil can attract so many free people a day.
Free of charge you can go and see the tombs of dead folks and maybe
Tingle at the nuance of their bones under the flowers and grass that
Align their patches. Above Hans’ tombstone they’ve put Daffodils
And tulips, looking like any Easter Card decoration. Born in 1805,
Died in 1875. Snow queens, angels, goblins, elves, storks, teapots
And ugly ducklings don’t seem to have anything to do with this pretty
Graveyard. But it gives you a bit of momentum, a bit of inspiration,
To try and have achieved something before you perish yourself.
Maybe try and do something before you die to perhaps have your own
Bones nestle in a similar place somewhere on this sublime continent?
…
You figure you might try a museum next. And there’s a castle along
The way so you can see that too.
Heading along in that direction you come across a bunch of kids
Out playing on the street. Are they high school kids? They play
With basketballs and footballs and they shriek and shout with that inner
Value of youth. It’s a week day after all and so they must be on their
Lunch break from the school. Do you wish you were as young
As them? Not really because you remember the agony of adolescence.
And yet, these days when you look across at the car reflections in Europe
You see your white hair and your tired face and you’re always on your
Own and thus you don’t really feel young anymore: and all the folks
In the hotels you stay in are either way younger than you or far older,
And thus you don’t seem to belong to a particular age bracket.
But, meh, oh well, whatever. You’re still alive and that’s what counts.
On the upper scores of the buildings are random chunks of letters
That resemble steampunk videogames from the 1990s, or graphic novels
From the 1980s: and it’s remarkable how those concepts will have influenced
Such phenomena in modernity, right there, illegally splayed on the roofs
Of the city centre houses. …
You get to the castle. There are spike gates in front of a long meadow
Leading up to the building. In the foreground of the fortress are a band
Of soldiers in boots and fancy hats, playing music. A big brass band.
Pumping out crowd-pleasers with their fat drums, trumpets and blushed faces.
They seem to be performing to nobody in particular save the gabble
Of tourists picking photos from 200 yards outside the gates.
But they still do the music pretty well. Have to hand it to them.
The other side of the street there are a couple of Danish men getting drunk
On one of the benches. They drink from green cans and have sweaty faces
And the bigger man sings something to you as you pass. Not intimidating,
Though: only merry rather than offensive. … …
Okay so here’s the museum. History museum. With a mix of cultural and artistic
Regalia from within Denmark and across Europe and northern Africa.
There are respectable ladies at Reception.
They give you a key to stack your bag, and then you head upstairs, going to
The top floor. As you ascend, the light diminishes and all grows dark, and
As you head unto the showrooms, it’s like being a kid again going on a school
Trip, when you’re in a new environment, and it’s humid and there are these
Glass boxes blooming in the darkness. … Maps, diagrams, histories of warfare,
Ancient coins, ancient knives and pistols. They’re all real and so you wonder
Whether they ever killed anybody.
There’s a whole region dedicated to Islamic history. The empires that ranged across
A mammoth wedge of two continents, that spanned between Spain and Persia.
And so you read the snippets of writing under each display. They all seem to
Acknowledge violence as the cursor for history????????????????????????????????
When you go downstairs you see the other floors. They are filled with Danish
Pottery, in milky whites and blue, these china pots and plates that you would
Fear dropping on the floor if you ever held them. … Whilst you’re walking
About, a woman with a museum uniform on comes and asks you to tie your
Coat around your waste. “Okay, that’s fine,” you say. … You explore the rest
Of the floors. Then you figure to head back to the hotel.
Whence outside of the museum the clouds have overtaken the sky and there
Seems premonition in the grey dyes of them.
Head back to the hotel for just now and perhaps a night walk later on?
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just my personal rambles about how much i love fontaine utc ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა
i’ve literally been bottling up my sheer adoration for this country since we started getting hints at it and teasers; i share a mild connection with france itself as french is my second language and i spent majority of my childhood between marseille and london so i was so excited for a sense of familiarity in fontaine and i was also incredibly excited for the lowkey steampunk aesthetic they gave fontaine )):
so like first things first; the archon quest??? has left me gasping, shaking, bawling, on my knees choking on tears!!! and like the best part about it is that it’s only just begun <3 my favourite thing is that with past countries, we could get a feel where the archon quest plot was going. in inazuma you recognise that ultimately you’re going against the raiden shogun and you’ll fight her before you can ask her about your sibling and in sumeru it becomes obvious that the government is the problem and you need to free the dendro archon but in fontaine? where are we going with this?
what is the prophecy truly? is it from a curse from celestia? what about furina’s status? is she just another helpless archon drowning her sorrows in trials because if she doesn’t live in that moment she’ll remember the prophecy she undoubtedly believes in, knowing her people’s sins will never be washed clean? what about arlecchino? is there actually a good motive behind her or is there going to be a hidden twist when you least expect it? how the hell are we supposed to help fontaine from submerging? and what about childe’s loss of control for his vision? i’m SO EXCITED because i have so many questions and very little answers! (who knows i might update this with more questions after doing 4.1’s archon quest)
then there’s the soundtrack!! i don’t know about yall but i’ve been going idle in absolutely every place possible just listening to the music and the ambience. i’m absolutely in love with the underwater music, i have my favourite underwater song playing in my teapot and i sit in my teapot in awe every time <3 i’m so excited for future regions’ music and how these new locations may differ from what we have now (not to mention the range of orchestra instruments hoyo included in making fontaine’s ost!)
not to mention all the species! i love the clockwork concepts (especially the dogs pfft) but also just the animals in general??? the OTTERS?! the blubberbeasts and even the seahorses, the dogs that wear silly little outfits and birds that look like they came out of pokemon aaaa <3
the flowers !! pluie lotuses that i pick every time i see them because i would kill just to have a vase full in my kitchen window <33 and the rainbow roses that look more like tulips or the lumidouce bells that are like the lovechild of bluebells and lily of the valley ): i can’t wait to see more as an ex-florist who still clings to her relationship with flowers
melusines <33 need i say more? their quest regarding elynas had me sobbing and screaming honestly, i long for more lore about them - not to mention they are such funky little genderless creatures, i aspire to be them hehe - and more quests regarding them; like i physically need melusine content or i’ll be perishing ):
character outfit designs!! everyone just looks so good i’m sorry but there isn’t a single outfit i’ve even remotely disliked yet. everyone looks amazing, hot, baking some damn goods - like we got geo taylor swift and electro lana del ray, an archon with heterochromia, some elf looking ass man who could be a dragon - or an otter, i like otter more - the wolf looking mf who wardens a prison??? magicians in thigh highs, stockings, garters and boots?! with matching bows?! AND FREMINET’S WHOLE DIVER’S HELMET ORDEAL AND COLOUR PALETTE?? i can’t i’m too in love with everyone (and all their english voice actors are fantastic too!!)
the airships being the most fun thing i have ever seen in my whole life, i routinely go on the airship at the west slopes of mont automnequi because you can see almost all of our past locations there! you can see deshret’s masoleum, the divine tree, the jade chamber and (i think) dragonspine. not to mention you get a good ass look at fontaine and some things in areas we haven’t got yet - also you can see how close celestia is to fontaine… i still remember all the theories about celestia and mondstadt (╥ ω ╥)
being able to dive out of water with fontaine characters & hydro traveler (please please please let us dive with wriothesley and neuvillette, just because they’re the first two tall characters we’ve got i’m so curious if we can)
building a relationship with berrypuff ♡(੭´͈ ᐜ `͈)੭ proceeding to cry when we release berrypuffier and then cry again when you run into them in the wild <3 i’ve also grown attached to the dog in the ship graveyard, i go there daily to feed them chicken and i cook dishes while i’m there hehe
the dishes in fontaine!! i still cackle daily about fonta ૮₍ ´ ꒳ `₎ა oh and salsa! she’s so annoying but at the same time i love that kid hehe
i could go on for too long aaaa.. i love fontaine guys. i thought i was sad seeing sumeru finally go but i think i may cry when it’s time to leave fontaine. i’ve never been so excited for a genshin region and plot since inazuma and inazuma has always been my favourite up until now. i think the only things i’ll be excited for after fontaine is meeting the tsaritsa and khaenri’ah <3
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