Several years ago I spent five weeks hanging out with friends who lived in the friendly environment of Copenhagen’s Freetown, Christiania. A former military base, Christiania is a self-governing borough set on 85 acres of mainly lush forested grounds, surrounding a lake. It is a beautiful and idyllic location where 850 residents have built their own idiosyncratic constructions in which to live and play. While I was there, I watched local bands play in the coffee-house, helped paint a psychedelic mural on the wall of one of the military bunkers, smoked some legal marijuana bought from street sellers, and jumped off a homemade tree-swing into the freezing cold lake. Sadly, in recent years the Danish government has cracked down on the pot sellers and attempted to ‘normalise’ the legal status of the community. I hope they leave the place as it was. Staying in Christiania for that brief amount of time was such an amazing experience, and it would be a shame if the unique nature of the Freetown was lost.

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