Land of the hidden giants

Post by Ella and Grubb.

We signed up for an AirBnB “experience” today to explore the giants. The artist, Thomas Dambo built 6 giants out of recycled wood, hidden by forests, lakes, and hilltops in selected places to bring the art outside the walls of the museums and into nature in the West of Copenhagen. 

We took the metro to the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen where we were to meet Milad, our hidden giant tour guide, at the YMCA.  We stopped at a worn brick building that Google said was the YMCA but had a sign above the door that said KFUM.  Ella told me to keep my eye out for a woman, but Milad turned out to be a man in his thirties who bore similarities to Ali, our guide in Morocco.  Luckily I haven’t read any Dan DeLillo novels lately, or I would have started to get suspicious.  (An international spy ring of tour guides chatting up traveling Silicon Valley coders—I mean, why not?). 

Milad, it turns out, is not Danish. He is a refugee from Afghanistan who fled with his mother and sister. His father followed later. They settled in the village of Älmhult in Sweden. So happens Ålmhult is where IKEA originated. Milad comes to Copenhagen often to visit friends and also to guide some tours. His dream is to bring outdoor adventure tourism to Afghanistan to help grow the economy.

Milad drove us to the various giant sites in a black Volvo.  The weather was sunny in the mid-fifties with only a mild breeze.  It was a great day to see the rural outskirts of Copenhagen. Each required a walk of moderate distance to reach.