My Map Pins (20): Nyhavn, Copenhagen (Tattoo Ole's) (Posted March 2021)

 

Sometimes you come across a place in a novel and you really want to visit. There’s a tattoo parlour that features in John Irving’s novel, ‘Until I Find You,’ called Tattoo Ole’s. It might help to know that the novel unfolds within the rather curious subculture of European nautical tattoo shops, and Tattoo Ole’s is one of these. (Great novel by the way – although it is 824 pages long and I did regret taking it on holiday; it was like carrying around a brick.) Irving describes the location of the tattoo shop in Nyhavn, Copenhagen, and I was left wondering if this was a place Irving had invented (perfectly allowable) or if, perhaps, it was real. Well it turns out that Irving does his research. Tattoo Ole’s is said to be the oldest tattoo shop in the world. I wasn’t even looking for it, I was just mooching (again – see my map pins no.18) but when I discovered it here on the waterfront. I was strangely delighted. What’s more it was exactly how I’d imagined it. Books can do that.

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Please check out my website to learn more about my books:  https://www.johnironmonger.com