just john

Where was I? Oh yeah, Copenhagen. I took off Thursday and Friday to go see what Copenhagen was about.

It was mostly about cold. I know 5 degrees C seems almost balmy to most of you but for some reason it seemed especially cold up there. About an hour of exposure seemed to be my limit. The locals didn't seem to mind it so much, most of them weren't even wearing hats and I picked up that that gives you some idea of how cold the natives really think it is. Either that or the Danes have a serious aversion to hats. Lots of fair-skinned, blue-eyed people there. For some reason, I never really felt out of place in the crowd. Also home of the most bestesist, fluentist English I've heard so far in Europe. Small wonder, as I could pick out a lot of German in their language, see some of the Latin roots, and make almost no sense of what came out of their mouths otherwise.

I was out and about in the city during two heavy traffic periods; four in the afternoon and eight in the morning. For a large  city, what struck me was the lack of cars available to do such a thing. Traffic was beyond light. I never saw a traffic signal interrupt a line of cars through an intersection. There just weren't enough cars on the road. What I did have trouble getting through during the rush were the bike lanes. About 5 feet wide, between the road and sidewalk, and covering the entire city. More bike traffic than car. The air was pretty clean so I guess they decided to compensate by continuing to smoke inside. That was the first impression.

I basically just did the walking tour of Copenhagen to see the sites and that was accomplished on a three hour round of the main city. We should be envious of their cycling ethic. They manage year round including freezing weather while we Americans start the car to check the mail at the end of the driveway. I felt like I was in a much more modern city than most others I've visited in Europe. Lots of plazas, wide open streets, and modern mixed with classic architecture. Now that I think about it, Copenhagen really is more like a city I would choose to live in rather than visit, except for the cold weather.

Oh, I also spent about five hours getting a new tattoo...