Lucia Odoom -Podcast host at Politikens Poptillæg, Editor-in-Chief at Poppel, freelance journalist.
My favourite place in Copenhagen is without a doubt the Botanical Garden (Botanisk Have).
Visiting the garden is pure meditation for me. You meet the nature’s entire range of emotions in Botanisk Have. Flowers and plants bloom and wither. Sometimes Botanisk Have is a total showoff with loads of colors, sometimes it’s just a withering, quite depressing place; and in that way it reflects my minds quite well.
I have to visit Palmehuset a few times every winter to avoid winter depression. It’s a kind of light and heat therapy, and my dilapidated skin cells love the climate in there.
The first time I was in Botanisk Have was 10 years ago on a rather terrible date. That’s another story, but I found out that Botanisk Have was an open park and not a place like Zoo with admission tickets. Since then I’ve lived in different apartments but always between Botanisk Have and Ørstedsparken, and Botanisk Have has just turned into my own backyard.
I keep an eye on two tortoises every time i visit. They chill on a stone in the sun along a small path just by Palmehuset. Surrounded by bamboo in a small clearing it’s the perfect spot for reading. The tortoises have become my totem animals.
I struck up a conversation with a former freelance journalist who quit her work to open a coffee wagon in Botanisk Have. She just didn’t want to deal with deadlines and juggling tons of jobs no more, so now she found great satisfaction in making coffee, smoking cigarettes and looking at plants all day long. Being a freelance journalist myself, I somehow feel great comfort in knowing that there’s always a safety net if I drown in things. I can always become a barista in Botanisk Have if everything else fails.
Listen to Lucia's podcast HERE.
