"There are rules about everything, about changing the windows of a building, about everything," said a man named Wanda ("only Wanda," he said), who is the director of the kindergarten and has been in Christiania since the "glory days" of 1971. "Sometimes it's just too much."
Peter Post, a Christiania elder, sits in his den, which overlooks a picture-perfect canal surrounded by wildflowers and ducks. "We talk and talk and talk and talk," he said. "If you can't reach consensus, you have another meeting and another meeting and another meeting."
Christianians have built a village, fueled by tourist dollars, that they seldom need to leave: There are day-care centers and a kindergarten for the children, a health center, a small food market, a hardware store, a cinema and countless restaurants, bars and music venues.
After years of debate, residents decided not to start their own elementary school. Or, more accurately, they could not agree on how best to run the school, so children go outside to do their book learning. But inside, the children enjoy an old-fashioned sense of freedom: Neighbors know them and no cars threaten them in this urban oasis.
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