Coping with quirks and delights in Copenhagen

Lovely Copenhagen.
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Well as you might have guessed, I did head to Scandinavia after Iceland -- Copenhagen, to be exact. And Copenhagen is a delightful city!! For one thing, it was WARM and sunny. I was able to wander around without a jacket and still be warm at 10pm. Ah, a lovely change.

have i mentioned how light it stays over here? The light-til-late was most extreme in Iceland. At one point I asked Betsey what time it was. She said "it's only 11:30 -- can't you tell? it's still light out." And we laughed because it was so true! same thing here in Scandinavia. In Norway I thought nothing of starting a hike at 9pm. Plenty of daylight left! It's really quite an amazing difference. It makes it hard to go to bed at an early hour when there's still plenty of daylight to do stuff outside!

Luckily, the hippies have lawyers. ;)

No city is complete without a palace.
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So in Copenhagen I made fast friends with various folks including a woman a couple of years older than me from Australia named Priscilla. She was definitely full of interesting contrasts and quirks and was fun to hang around with. Priscilla had invited me on a walking tour the first day. That was a lot of fun, stolling the long pedestrian streets, along the docks on the waterfront, and all over for that matter.

The second day we found some free Copenhagen bikes on a rack and proceeded to ride about the town for a while. Well it's actually free USE of the bikes, as you insert a 20 kroner coin and get it back when you return the bike to a rack. You have to watch out for people taking your bike, though --either to use it or to get the 20 kroner coin. Priscilla and I might have used a few covert methods to keep someone from stealing our free bikes, though I deny everything. hehehe

Beautiful church and setting.
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Copenhagen is well set up for bikeriding with bike lanes and signals, and is a delight to ride around in! Another good thing about bikeriding is that it not only uses different muscles than walking, but it saves feet from another day of pounding. Anyway, lots of amazing and cool buildings and parks and water and nature to see in Copenhagen. In fact, it was gorgeous and different pretty much everywhere we looked. We checked out the national museum and lots of other stuff. Sorry, readers of my online journal have to get the edited, less-interesting version of my time in Copenhagen. :)

Windmill on the ramparts.
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So let me quote you a few lines from my guidebook on Copenhagen. Ya think it might be of interest to me? "Denmark is one of the most environmentally-conscious European contries." Then it goes on to describe one section of Copenhagen, Christiania, as "an ultra-human mishmash of idealists, hippies, potheads, non-materialists, and happy people (600 adults, 200 kids, 200 cats, 200 dogs, 2 parrots, and 17 horses)....a fascinating, ramshackle world of moats and earthen ramparts, alterntive housing, cozy tea houses, carpeter shos, hipie vills, children's playgrounds, peaceful lanes, and people who believe that 'to be normal is to be in a straight-jacket.'" hmmmmm....whaddya think? I had possibly found my new home and had to go check it out!!

Wikked groovy park.
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And indeed, Christiania was very interesting to visit. It had started as a squatters community and many of the buildings were painted with interesting graffiti. They used to have pot/hash stands on the main drag but disbanded them a couple of years ago in an effort to keep their community safe from overzealous officials. Of course it's said that you can still easily find some here, or so the guidebooks tell me and confirmed by Priscilla's experience. :) Just follow the wafts of smoke. It's also easy to find gangs of police officers marching through town, too, which seems a bit ridiculous to me. But hey, I guess they need something to do.

Typically nice everywhere you look.
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The community is only pot/hash smokers -- the hard drug users were kicked out years ago. Despite this, the conservative Danish government is hoping to "normalize" Christiania, and maybe build luxury condos. Luckily, the hippies have lawyers. ;)

All and all, it was a very interesting place. And again, you will have to see photos to understand how the residents have managed to recycle everything into building their community. Reminds me of the Netherlands trash house, my workcamp in August. None of the people own the land or the houses, though, as it's an old military base. In order for a new person to get in, they have to wait until someone leaves and then the community decides who should move in. So whaddya think? I could go for an idealistic community like this. Walking/riding through it, though, it didn't grab me immediately as the perfect place for me. I'd have to get to know the residents better, though, to understand the community philosophy and some of their personal philosophies. There's more to a home than the freedoms, you know! Ah, Christiania...a place to consider...

Sunset and boats on the water...every photographer's dream.
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So anyway, before I took the overnight train to Oslo, I checked out Tivoli, Copenhagen's amusement park. That was fun! I guess I have fun wandering and taking pictures and enjoying the sites, whereas others would think "an amusement park by yourself...how boring!" So lots of adventures in Copenhagen....made friends, rode our bikes around, gorgeous, interesting city, checked stuff out...

And lucky me, I was taking the train to Malmo, Sweden from Copenhagen to catch my overnight train. And so this drunk guy (smelled like beer, slurred) sat across from me and tried to carry on a conversation through the trainride (which did stop for a delay and seemed soooooo long). I wouldn't tell him exactly where I was going, though, "somewhere near Malmo." And of course, once I get onto the overnight train, I find he is in the sleeping car next to mine! and of course he sees me! argh! oh well, maybe he got the hint. But I didn't actually let him see which car was mine -- good thing since I was in the 6-compartment car all by myself. (so you see, all the people who find it necessary to always warn me to be careful, I AM careful! rest assured you can find something else to worry about, or even better, don't worry, be happy:)

Dig the contrasts.
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So that's enough of an update for now. I decided against calling Bill because the more I considered it, the more I became suspicious of his intentions, despite the fact that I'd met him on the airport bus and he seemed like a nice guy who just wanted to show off his city and buy me a cup of coffee (he actually was born in America but fled when he was young). Yet, there's something about the way he asked and acted...this despite the fact that he's quite the older gentleman, with white hair and a beard, reminds me of the rugged skinny Kenny Rogers type.

The free tourist bikes -- and some person in the foreground but I am not allowed to tell you who. ;)
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Men....hmmmmmm....they are a mystery. Why can't we just be friends? Why must there be secret hopes and intentions that us women have to think and worry about? I have plenty of guy friends in the States...is there something about foreign men that think that American women are easy, or desperate, or something? Do they think we need a mate to be happy? I can only wonder.

I could wear a fake wedding band, but even mention of my fictitious boyfriend or husband doesn't stop some guys from continuing to try. I am not a cure for all the lonely men in the world, though I do seem to attract them in droves. And there are sooo many (mind goes off onto Beatles song...) And yes, there's more fuel and stories behind this line of thinking of mine, but you will have to wait for my Norweigan update... ;) But for now, enjoy!