Barbara recommends:
Do you have a favourite place in Copenhagen?
"I live in the Vesterbro district in the heart of Copenhagen. Often, I cycle around both during my working hours and in my free time. Copenhagen is a medieval city with many cultural offerings. The Danish Architecture Centre (DAC) is a museum located in the BLOX building near the Royal Library. DAC features changing exhibitions about the city's architecture, you can learn about modern as well as older architecture in Copenhagen at the museum. The staff are architects and offer guided tours in both Danish and English. At the top of the building, there is a lovely restaurant where you can enjoy the view of the city's towers and have a Danish lunch."

What Copenhagen cinemas do you like?
"Copenhagen has cinemas that offer mainstream films and cinemas that offer niche films. Mainstream films can be found at Cinemaxx, Palads, and Imperial, which all have impressive sound systems. Personally, I prefer niche films, such as European films, Nordic noir or French films. Grand Teatret on Mikkel Bryggers Gade 8 offers this type of film. The cinema is located on a side street to Strøget, and there is also a café where you can have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and enjoy a meal while having a good time. Cinemateket is located near Kongens Have on Gothersgade. Here, you have the opportunity to see the film of the month, typically with a different theme each month. Many of the niche films shown at Cinemateket are in English and without subtitles. The restaurant SULT offers delicious food."

Do you have a favourite place outside of Copenhagen?
"When I leave the city to experience nature, I enjoy kayaking. You can, for example, rent kayaks at the kayak hotel or near Mølleå north of Copenhagen. It's a good idea to check the weather before heading out. In winter, I bathe in Isefjorden. I am a winter bather and a member of a winter bathing club in Hundested in North Zealand. When winter bathing, you go to the sauna afterward. It's the best medicine against the winter blues."

Benedicte recommends:
What is your favorite place in Copenhagen?
”One of my absolute favorite places in Copenhagen is Amager Strandpark. I love the spiritual and physical nourishment that a walk by the sea gives me – looking out over the Øresund, listening to the gentle gurgling of the waves and jumping into the water all year round. I’ve become quite fond of the ‘cold shock’ that a dip in the sea provides. I also experience it when I go ice bathing at Plug In, followed by a sauna typically accompanied by meditative electronic music, which reboots me in the best way.”

What kind of cultural events do you like?
”Sustainability is something that occupies me more and more. How do we create a meaningful life in balance, with respect for each other and for nature, and how can we use hope as a tool to build a better future – socially, economically, climate-wise, physically and mentally? I try to learn more about this through reading, lectures, podcasts and by attending educational festivals.

Take Bloom, for example, which takes place in Søndermarken, close to Vesterbro, every year in May. Here you can lie on a blanket in the shade of the trees and listen to the latest research in natural sciences, presentations on philosophy etc., and thereby gain greater insight into the world around us and into ourselves.

A little later in the year – at the beginning of September – the Himmelblå festival is held at Vartov by the City Hall Square. Inspired by the Danish thinker N.F.S. Grundtvig, it opens its doors to days filled with debates, concerts, communal dinners, dancing, group singing and other good things. And I’d especially like to give praise to group singing; it creates a wonderful feeling of togetherness when you sing songs about history, the passing seasons or dreams for the future together with several hundred other people – and it also provides hope that we are stronger when we stand together. At the same time, singing is a wonderful and different way to learn about language and culture.”