Day 3: 7/24/24

 Day 3: 7/24/24 - Copenhagen

After the first full day, we often wake up in the middle of the night because our bodies are still on EDT. While that was the case for both Mike and me, we managed to get back to sleep and I was pretty groggy even after eight pretty solid hours of sleep.

Here's the view out our 6th floor window. Besides the ample bike parking, notice the riders in the bike lane dutifully waiting for the light to turn.

Breakfast was in a rooftop restaurant at the hotel, and before opening at 7:00, there was already a line of Chinese tourists. Here's one of them hovering by the buffet.

Besides the usual stuff, there was rye bread, pickled herring, and the biggest jar of Nutella you've ever seen.

I'm all for trying the local specialties, but pickled herring just didn't really appeal.

The Danish pasteries were delicious although they don't really qualifies as health food.

We walked to the start of the city bike tour.

On the way, we saw some examples that the Danish are a little more aware of social justice. 

This one was particularly heart-wrenching for anyone who was a parent. (Read the sign on the side.)

Here's the outside of the shop, just one side. There were more bikes around the corner.

Here's what they looked like up close.

They had a coaster brake and a front hand brake on the left side of the handlebar. They had internal three-speed gearing and we rarely went fast enough to take it out of the easiest of three gears. 

They were actually hard to control. The front wheel was smaller than the rear wheel and because the only hand brake was on the left side, we either had to signal with the right hand or remember to use the coaster brake. That was a recipe for going over the handlebars, but fortunately, we rarely went fast enough for that to happen. I was constantly looking for a brake lever with my right hand. It was all pretty confusing.

We wore helmets from their bin of used helmets. Most of the others didn't.

Walter had trouble finding a helmet that fit. He settled on this one that looked a little like he should be riding a horse.

We assembled at the end of the street by the canal. This was the only time I tried to do anything else while riding.

There were about 25 of us. We split into two groups and it was still too many people.

Here's our guide, Olivia. She was from France and had been in Denmark for only a couple of years.

At our next stop, we could look across the canal at some of the modern buildings of downtown. 

She never fell backwards into the water but I did wonder.

(Lara: this is for you! This building was made with black granite and the wall facing the water is at an angle so that the morning sun would reflect off the water onto the wall. Or the sun would reflect off the wall onto the water. One of those statements is correct but we don't remember which one.)

Here's another. The Blox is the building for the Architectural Association.

This next building is a trash incinerator. There is grass on the roof of the building and you can ski down the surface. "Grass ski", I guess.

We rode across a dedicated pedestrian/bicycle bridge that I thought looked pretty cool.

She showed us a number of buildings and gardens created by and for the royals (King Christian IV because all the building built by previous Kings burned down). They didn't really interest me: more examples of consolidating wealth at the expense of the common people.

I was especially disinterested in seeing the crown jewels: gold and jewels plundered from countries that they had colonized.     

On our walk back to the hotel, we saw this guy, so we stopped to talk to him. I was especially interested since Denmark has a very high tax rate and extensive social services system.

He said that despite the government's efforts to help people on the margins, many still fell through the cracks or needed additional assistance. Earlier, our tour guide told us that homeless people were in a registry so that they could be tracked, and like in the US, many prefer not to use shelters.

We had an obligatory stop to see the Little Mermaid. Yes, the same mermaid and the same story line as the Disney movie.

Apparently, she is the number one tourist attraction in Copenhagen. The place was mobbed with multiple bike tour groups and a few tour busses. It was hard to get a picture or her without some kids jumping up and down in front of her.

She has had a few mishaps. Twice, she was beheaded. They never found the first head. They found the second one and reattached it. Someone tried to cut off one of her arms. 

We started walking back to the hotel and stopped for lunch at one of the plazas that reminded me of the Las Ramblas in Barcelona. The plaza was filled with back-to-back tables covered by tents and while there were coolers with drinks and beer on tap, the food was cooked in one of the brick and mortar restaurants nearby. 

We settled on a place that served Thai food in addition to the usual touristy Danish specials, Wok On. The servers were South Asian, possibly Thai, and the cooks were some variety of brown. The food was great.

  

The goal in the afternoon was to get to Christiania, an intentional community that grew on an abandoned military base in the 1970s. It is an alternative community that has survived within and tolerated by the Copenhagen and Danish governments, and because it is unusual, has become a tourist attraction.

The main entrance sports this sign:

The back of the sign says:

And then there was this:

Here are the rules on which Christiania is built:

They argue that it is a community with no rules which is obviously not true. It reminded me of libertarians who basically argue in favor of no government. My rules, not your rules.

Our tour guide, Nina (more below) said that decisions are made in regular meetings and they don't vote (tyranny of the majority) but instead by consensus. They have a LOT of meetings. Sounds like the never-ending department meeting from hell.

I was particularly interested in finding Christiania Cycling since seeing a number of their cargo bikes around town. 

Unfortunately, they were not in the tourist business, so no jerseys or t-shirts, just expensive bikes and a repair shop.

We were eager to hie a tour guide but found out that the tours assemble at 3:00 and so the daily tour was long gone. We asked if we could hire a private guide and one of the guides who did not do a tour that day was available. It cost us more, but it was a private tour for the three of us and gave us more opportunities to ask questions.

Her name was Nina and she rode her cargo bike around the campus while giving us the tour.

Here she is in front of part of the map of Christiania.

Nina worked with ceramics. Here's a nameplate that she produced for someone else's house.

While Christiania is a tourist attraction, it's also a neighborhood and some people aren't excited about having strangers taking pictures. I got turned down once and after that, stuck places like this.

This reminded me of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

We had a light dinner on a picnic bench at the "food court" where there were lots of options to choose from.

On our way home, we saw a statue of Hans Christian Andersen in the plaza across the street from our hotel. Like the Little Mermaid, it is a tourist attraction and his knees are worn from tourists sitting on him.

We were pretty tired, so we turned in at around 7:00pm. Walter said he was more tired than he realized. I am sorry I didn't get a picture of him sleeping with his phone in his hand.

Here are the stats from Walter's Garmin: https://www.strava.com/activities/11970784482 

He forgot to turn it on, so it is only part of the ride.