Last week Katie and I spent 4 fun days in Copenhagen. What a pleasant trip! Katie had been invited to speak at a small conference organized by the University of Copenhagen. I tagged along and played tourist (a recurring theme this year). While February isn't the optimal time to visit CPH, we lucked out in that it wasn't too cold (thanks to one of the warmest European winters in recent history) and it didn't rain at all. From what I understand, the climate is somewhat like Seattle in that summer is mild while winter is to be avoided (at least for tourists). So though we didn't experience the sidewalk cafés that were pictured in our guidebooks, we did get to stroll around the city in comfort. Here are some of my impressions...
Maybe I was just homesick, but CPH reminded me a lot of Seattle. First of all it was cold (near freezing--okay, cold by Toulouse standards) and gray!!; there is also lots of water (CPH is located on the sea and has several large canals and man-made lakes). For me, it was refreshing to see the ocean and feel the breeze. And like Seattle, there is very little jaywalking. It was bizarre walking back to the hotel and seeing people stopped, waiting to cross a nearly deserted intersection! I even saw a woman on a bike grind to a halt and wait. Crazy yet comforting (perhaps only a Seattleite can appreciate this?).
One of the first things you notice in CPH is just how many bikes there are. The city is very progressive about bikes... nearly every street has dedicated bike lanes, and on larger streets, the parking is actually inside of the bike lane to avoid cars pulling out. What's also neat is that you see all types of people on bikes (students, kids, business people, etc). Granted, it's quite flat in CPH, but it's definitely part of the culture as far as I can tell.
Ah yes, notice how CLEAN the sidewalks are!!! Back here in Toulouse, the Danish sidewalks are but a distant dream for me. Yes, I'm obsessed.
It was somewhat surprising to see how commonplace English is in CPH. While most signs are in Danish, there were still a number of billboards in English and nearly everyone we ran into spoke excellent English. Bilingual menus were also quite common. I suppose when you're a country of 5 million or so, it's a necessity to speak another language to interact with other countries (and these days English is the standard).
Another surprise was our reaction to the more American style of meal service and hello/goodbyes. Dining out in France is very leasurely activity that is not rushed. You're "given" plenty of time to review the menu and then wait for your food to arrive. When you're finished, there's no race on behalf of the server to give you your bill and get you out the door. In Denmark, I felt as though we barely had time to decide and that our food was delivered with lightning speed! It's nice when you actually need to go somewhere, but dinner certainly felt very abrupt. I've heard that the French complain about eating out in America--now I can see why. And in France, whenever you meet someone or say goodbye, you shake hands with the men and kiss every woman at least twice on the cheeks (the women have to kiss both the men and women). In CPH, our hosts (who we had hung out with several times) did the American thing of simply saying "goodbye" or waving a hand from one side of the group to the other. I also have to say that this felt so abrupt! I guess our time in France is having an affect on us.
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