Tuesday I think
Two days in Copenhagen with a fabulous tour guide (Ben) and great company (AC yesterday and today, Maya, Maggie and Martin). Yesterday we walked all over, with selected eating stops (Starbucks equivalent so I could try the frappecino look-alike, La Glace so I could have a decadent Sarah Barnard, lunch so we could justify eating all the other things). Long walk home, so hopefully the calories are balancing a little bit. Today we walked through the citadel park, alongside moats and gardens, past windmills, saw the Marble Church – beautiful and the queen’s palace(s), then to Nyhavn for lunch and to board the canal tour. An hour of guided tour along the waterways, quite narrow at times and with low bridges (you could reach up and touch the bottoms of them), and fascinating – saw the new opera house, the new theatre, the new royal library extension (called the black diamond), and many old and new and recycled buildings and boats. It was a lot of fun. Then a trip on the new subway (impressive!) and another walk home via the supermarket. Got a bit braver at the supermarket today, though couldn’t quite bring myself to pay about $10 for a small block of tofu. Things are quite expensive, though if that means the extensive social services and the lovely city, well, let’s pay! Having gone through Aussie dollars to Thai baht to Euros to kroner on this trip, I just put a handful of local coins in my palm and give it to the cashiers to select out what is needed.
There are so many bikes here, and bikes of all kinds – 2 and 3 wheeled, with children and cargo in front, like an updated Cambodian truck-bike (here they are called christiania bikes). Because there are so many bikes plus good public transport, the car noises are quite minimal on the whole, and I have hardly noticed the traffic. The cars tend to be fairly small and quite new.
Off to work on my talks! Missing you all and sending lots of love! MF
