We Went To Copenhagen and Stayed Awake To Tell About It!

By which I don't really mean to say that Copenhagen is boring--it's just that we arrived here right after Paris, and to say that pretty much anywhere is not quite as exciting as Paris is like saying that the Louvre is a place with lots of pictures. Anyway, it's in Copenhagen that we finally perfected the internationally recognized tourist gesture, which I will explain for the benefit of those of you with future travel plans. The gesture is made by standing on a street corner peering at a map in one hand, while (or better, "whilst") scratching your head with the other. Extra credit is given for holding the map upside down, and even more if it's a map of the wrong country.

Based on our stay here, we have come up with the following conclusions: (a) Copenhagen is very flat (the terrain, that is) which is very helpful for it being (b) the bicycling capital of probably the whole planet. Virtually every street in the city of any consequence is divided into three explicit components: one for driving on, one for walking on, and one for biking on. If you happen to be standing on the biking component (peering at a map, no doubt) you will be met by an immediate chorus of bicycle bell jingles telling you to get out of the way. We could learn a lot from the Danes about their commitment to biking. And while it seems that at any given moment they are all on their bikes going somewhere, it never seems that they are trying to get there FAST. They don't appear to get anywhere fast, and yet they get there. I would sum Danes and Danish society up by noting that they are quietly efficient, and I'm not at all sure that they would care if you notice or not.










Grace, Gloria, and HC Andersen











Original of The Christus by Thorvaldensen.



















Lisa, some sea water, and the Opera House.