Denmark, Copenhagen - Walking through the city where Andersen lived -

In October 2024,
I visited Copenhagen, Denmark✨

I had been reading Andersen's fairy tales since I was a child📚
I learned that Andersen
lived in Copenhagen, Denmark,
a long time ago when my family and I
watched a musical called "Andersen"
by the Gekidan Shiki Theatre Company♪✨
(By the way, I
absolutely love Gekidan Shiki musicals♪♪♪😊)

The song "Wonderful Copenhagen" sung in that play
was so lovely and fun♪✨
Ever since then, I had been thinking that if I ever had the chance,
I would love to visit Copenhagen😊

In Copenhagen,
the place where Andersen lived from his youth until his later years was
the harbor town of Nyhavn in Copenhagen⛵️

This Nyhavn✨
is lined with colorful buildings,
and it was a cute harbor town that looked just like a world from a picture book!😊💕

And the apartment building where Andersen lived
is the red building in the middle of the photo below👇

It is said that Andersen spent
the second half of his life here, from his 30s until his later years✨

Andersen
did not aim to be a fairy tale writer from the beginning;
he came to Copenhagen at the age of 15
to become an opera singer✨

However, that dream did not come true, and after that, he worked as a trainee dancer,
studied philology and philosophy at university,
and went on a journey wandering through Europe.

Then, when he returned to Copenhagen at the age of 30,
he published his first novel, "The Improvisatore," which became a hot topic✨

After that, he published one creative fairy tale after another.

Many of Andersen's early fairy tales,
like "The Little Match Girl,"
have sad endings where the protagonist unfortunately passes away...

It is speculated that because Andersen
was poor and destitute from his childhood through his teens,
he was using the medium of "fairy tales" to continue to protest against
the lamentation for the "poor who have no way to be happy other than to die" and
the "society that continues to feign indifference to that"...

The "Little Mermaid Statue" is located
a little way from the harbor town where Andersen lived...

Andersen's fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" also,
unlike Disney's "The Little Mermaid,"
her feelings for the prince do not come true...
It doesn't have a happy ending, does it...

However, it is said that as Andersen grew older,
he finally began to write about ways to live and be happy
in his fairy tales✨

By the way, it is said that the duck (actually a swan)
in "The Ugly Duckling" was modeled after Andersen himself😊

Since it has a happy ending,
I like to think that Andersen
must have been happy in his later years as well...😊

The city of Copenhagen
was beautiful in places other than
Nyhavn, where Andersen lived😊✨

By the way,
Copenhagen is said to be the birthplace of the "pedestrian paradise,"
and there is a street called Strøget,
the world's first "pedestrian paradise" street😊

In the bookstores along the street,
many of Andersen's various fairy tales
were being sold😊📚

And on this street,
was the flagship store of the pottery brand 'Royal Copenhagen'✨

I realized, 'Oh, I see... the name of the pottery
was named after
the place name Copenhagen.' (Since I hadn't
been very interested in tableware like Royal Copenhagen...)

However, since I had come all the way to the flagship store,
I decided to go inside and take a look anyway😊

Looking at the tableware displayed in the store,
I thought, 'Ah... so this is it... I have definitely seen these before!'😊✨
Copenhagen!✨

A city associated with Andersen✨

This place is, just like the song 'Wonderful Copenhagen' from the Gekidan Shiki musical 'Andersen',
bright and fun♪✨
And the port town where Andersen lived

was colorful and cute❣️✨
It was truly just like a world from a fairy tale!😊✨✨