WHO RUN THE WORLD

Many women who shaped the culture and history of the world were left out of history books. On a tour rife with discoveries in Copenhagen and Skåne, RASHIMA NAGPAL turns the tide and reckons with a force that is female.

- RASHIMA NAGPAL

Scandinavian countries—Denmark, Sweden, and Norway—repeatedly top the list of the most women-friendly nations in the world. So, when an invite for an all-women trip to Copenhagen and the south of Sweden crops up, I take it as an opportunity to test the waters.

The golden hour gleams on the wing of our 787 Dreamliner as we land in Copenhagen. Soon after, our girl gang—five journalists and a nonchalant host, Anita de Canaga—set out into the city. Night falls by the time we arrive in the heart of the Danish capital, in the atmospheric Latin Quarters, where Skt Petri is our home for the night. With an unassuming entrance around the corner on the Krystalgade, and boutique cafes on either side, it doesn’t wear the garb of a conventional hotel. One has to take a tour to believe it houses 288 rooms. I head straight to my room to get some shut-eye. But once I draw the curtains and stand in the balcony of the cosy studio-apartment-like room, my jaw drops. I’m on the top floor of the hotel. The 180°-view in front of me is dotted with dozens of sloping red-tiled roofs and mint-green steeples aglow with the soft light of the full moon rising in the distance. As the blissful quietude of the moment envelops me, it feels like I’ve travelled back in time. The 500-year-old facade of the University of Copenhagen across the street only adds to the feeling. It’s hard to call it a night now, but I must. The next morning, I wake up to a tintinnabulation of bells coming from St Peter’s Church—the oldest church in the city. And just like that, Room 718 at Skt Petri sets the tone for the rest of my trip.