01
Stop one
Rundetårn (The Round Tower)
Volkl Vostra V8 300 Tennis Racquet: No steps. Look at the floor — a spiral ramp, some 200 metres of climb winding round a hollow core — and there is a reason, and the reason is money. Christian IV finished this in 1642 as a working observatory, and heavy instruments had to reach the top, and a horse and cart cannot manage stairs. So they built a road instead of a staircase. One structure, two problems, no second building required. That is value, and it is 1642 value, which is the best kind. And it is recorded that Tsar Peter the Great rode to the top on horseback in 1716, with the Tsarina following in a carriage. A carriage. Up a tower. At no extra charge. Best climb in this city per krone and I have compared them all.
02
Stop two
Nyhavn
Volkl Vostra V8 300 Tennis Racquet: Here is the original business case. The canal was dug by hand in the 1670s by Swedish prisoners of war, so the labour cost the city very little indeed, and it brought cargo right up to the merchants' own front doors — no carting, no middleman, unload straight into the shop. Ruthless, and it worked. For centuries afterwards this was the roughest quarter in Copenhagen: sailors, taverns, tattoo parlours, the lot. Now it is the most photographed row of houses in Denmark, which is the finest change of use I have ever seen anybody get away with. Hans Christian Andersen lived along here in three separate houses — numbers 20, 67 and 18 — over some decades, and wrote early fairy tales at number 20. Stand on the far side of the water. Same view, none of the terrace prices.
03
Stop three
Christiansborg Palace
Volkl Vostra V8 300 Tennis Racquet: Three palaces. One island. Let me take you through the accounts. The first palace, completed in the 1740s, burned to the ground in 1794. The second, built to replace it, burned in 1884. This is the third, and I would very much like a word with whoever was insuring it. But here is the return nobody budgeted for: during the rebuilding they excavated and found the ruins of Bishop Absalon's twelfth-century castle underneath — the original fortress from the founding of the city. Two total losses, and they came out of it owning the beginning of Copenhagen. And the tower above you is the tallest in the city, and you can go up it for nothing. I checked twice, because I did not believe it either.
04
Stop four
Rosenborg Castle
Volkl Vostra V8 300 Tennis Racquet: Begun in 1606 as a summerhouse — a summerhouse — for Christian IV, and then extended over the following twenty years into the full Dutch Renaissance castle in front of you, which is precisely what happens when nobody agrees a budget at the start. He died in its winter room in 1648. It remained a royal residence until the early 1700s, after which it was kept as a treasury rather than a home, and since 1838 it has held the Danish crown jewels and the royal regalia, including Christian IV's crown and the coronation chair of the absolutist kings. Now, the ticket buys you the vaults, and the vaults are worth the money, I will say that outright. But the King's Garden around it was laid out at the same time, it is the oldest royal garden in Denmark, and it is a public park in the middle of the city and costs nothing at all. Crown inside, garden free, and do them in that order.
An expedition! A genuine expedition, and I am the first ever to attempt it, apart from everybody. Copenhagen! Flat as a table, bicycles in all directions, and I have my instrument with me.
The instrument: the Volkl Vostra V8 300. A 645 cm² / 100 in² head, 300 g / 10.6 oz unstrung, 68.5 cm / 27 inches, a 16×18 string pattern and — attend, this is the finding — a slimmer 22-24-22 mm tapered beam. Thinner than the V6 and the V7 before it!
Which means less free power and more control, and married to 300 grams it produces a frame that is stable and predictable rather than springy. The 16×18 pattern stays open enough for genuine spin. Volkl's RED Cell material and REVA damping keep contact plush, which is the family trait and the reason this line keeps getting pressed on players with sore arms.
It is for a club player with a real swing who wants control and comfort in one racquet and does not need the frame to supply the pace. I have carried it everywhere from a morning hit on the Slotsholmen cobbles to an evening set beside the water at Nyhavn, which is the whole of Copenhagen compressed into one short canal.
Copenhagen rewards a discoverer, even a late one. Rundetårn has no steps at all — a spiral ramp, some 200 metres of climb around a hollow core, because Christian IV finished it as a working observatory in 1642 and heavy instruments do not go up stairs. Horses do. It is recorded that Tsar Peter the Great rode to the top in 1716 with the Tsarina following in a carriage.
A carriage! Up a tower! By the way, it is also perfect for the sort of traveller who likes a building with a record: Christiansborg is the third palace on its island, the first having burned in 1794 and the second in 1884, and under your boots lie the excavated ruins of Bishop Absalon's twelfth-century castle. Uncharted! Well. Charted. But new to me.
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