Travel Tales: Copenhagen Day 3 – Rolling Down The Streets…

Another good day in Copenhagen. I realized that I can start most of my days around 10am since nothing opens before 11am for the most part. I did decide to leave a little early though with the hopes that my wheels would be tucked in the stash spot and sure enough it was! So clean after the rain fall earlier in the day. Since I had my bike still, it only made sense that the first stop be the farthest point I had to go- The Little Mermaid statue. Word is that she is the most photographed individual in the world. The bike started to suck as I think it was slightly broken because it was three times the work of any other bike and people where flying past me like I was cruising in Prospect Park with the Saturday bikers pack.

I made it to the statue in about 10 minutes and sure enough as soon as I pulled up the rain stared falling…correction pouring down on me (that is the dot and marks you see in the photo in the gallery). Thankfully the rain scared away the group of tourists (who were hogging all the good spots) like if they were the Wicked Witch. It is a wonderful site to see the statue set in the water gifted to the city by Carl Jacobsen (same one from yesterday) after seeing the ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale. Next was back on the bike and off to see the a couple other sites as I headed to the changing of the Royal guard.

The changing of the Royal Guard starts at Livgardens Kaserne, where the Gothersgade barracks are located, as the guards march from here to Amalienborg palace yard and arrive promptly at noon. The then fan out and break off into small set with some replacing the guards stationed outside; other guards heading into the palace and the previous guards heading back toward the barracks. The process was very structured and you can see heels clicking and the guards turning on a sharp corner. Aside from the commands and one guard who seemed to have a coughing fit – the entire roughly 30 minute process is absent of voices. The crowd gathers into the center of the palace grounds for the march and after the guards walk in and turn (about 10 minutes), the crowd starts to trickle out. Next stop was to get something to eat as my eating plan is out of wack and I generally go with 2 meals a day.

Back to Det Eksotiske Hjørne for Banana and Chocolate pancakes with shredded coconut – which the waitress described to me as “American Style” – oh bless your soul my love. The two pancakes left something to be desired as the bananas used were not ripe, in my opinion, and they tasted slightly oily. Oh well – you live and you learn. I scarfed them down because I had one of those “did I leave the iron on moments” and rushed back to my hotel. So I parked my wheels outside and ran up to my room to find a peace of mind. Sadly, this would be one of the last moments my bike and I shared.

I looked at my map and realized I covered a lot of ground on my bike despite the absence of comfort. The seat was one of those old school hard spring bottom ones that was so far from comfortable that both were in different time zones. The bike, however, allowed me to cover a lot of ground despite my constant wussing…so back to rolling down the streets. I think my bike got upset with my complaining as it hit my knee very hard and now I walked with a George Jefferson limp. I cruised to the Kings Garden to see what the hype was and also show some love to the King as now one in Europe really gives a hoot about the king. I am not sure who he is but I must commend him for having a great grounds crew and a great sculpture in the garden (see the lion picture below).

After that, I decided to walk my bike and become one of those people. You know and have seen them – where you just look in wonder and perplexity. Another example would be people who stand by payphones to talk on their cell phone..does it give you better reception or something? I digress. So I walked a couple blocks until my legs told me they were ready to roll down the streets of Copenhagen. I zigged and zagged and went against the flow of bike traffic which seemed cray to do but I didn’t feel like crossing over every single street. I eventually parked up my bike out front of Norse Projects and spent two of my most prized and valuable currencies there – time and money. Look for something soon.

I chatted it up with Anton and Tino and really enjoyed the customer service and what they had to talk about. I felt like supporting them due to knowing the people behind the label and store were good. Sadly, when I walked out my bike was audi500! It sucked but I figured we spent some great time together and someone else will enjoy it. I will never forget the enhancement to my trip she provided. So as I walked and reminisced about the good times: first finding her; how she helped me get home and then how I stashed her in the bushes and the level of excitement I had when she was waiting for me in the morning- eventually I came across another one! Then the comparisons started as they tend to almost always happen that way. New bike seemed better than old bike as the ride was smoother but the seat was none the better. I parked her up to sleep outside the hotel again. Let’s hope she will be there in the morning Ledisi style!

I started to plan my dinner attack and figured I would check out the last vegetarian spot on my list. Sadly, they were closed and it was only 6pm! So where as Reykjavik shut down around 9pm it seems that Copenhagen starts to go to sleep around 6pm. I ended up walking in another part of town that was interesting as it seemed to be dense of African and Middle Eastern people, places and restaurants. I decided that my meal was going to be a falafel with french fries. It took some walking to find a spot since most of the places served too many “ethnic” foods as in Pizza, Burgers, Falafels and Sandwiches. This goes against my #1 rule of eating – if you are a jack of all foods then you have mastered none. I picked up some beverage of what I thought was juice or nectar but it turned out to be something like those Goya nectar drinks mixed with Kool Aid Tropical Punch powder mix topped off with my older sister’s addition of sugar (she can be a little heavy handed at times but I still love her). When I drank it, it gave me that startling sweet burn that also resulteed in the common twitch of the neck and a quick “is this crack?” itch in the ear. I tried mixing it with half a liter of water but still no dice. So more walking because my stomach started getting angry. Around this time it became rush hour for the bicycles as the streets were swarming with people riding and rolling their bikes. I finally found a falafel spot but lets say it just did the job of filing me up but wasn’t anything to photograph.

Tomorrow is my last full day of Copenhagen and I am wishing for the best.

Changing of the Guards at Amalienborg palace in Copenhagen Denmark from Fresh Industries on Vimeo.