Saturday, In the Park, Doing it Under the Blanket

I got a chance to feel like a Copenhager yesterday when I got out on a bicycle to tour the city. The flood of bikes is unceasing, and the first thing you hear upon exiting a taxi is 'watch out for the bikes!' After dodging the three and two wheelers who come flying at you every time you look to the right, it was my turn to become one of them.

At our hotel, the cozy Betrams on Vesterbrogade, they have bikes available for guests. I picked up my steed, it was the typical city bike. Big fenders, a rack, padded seat, three gears and curious-looking lights on either wheel. These are powered by magnetic energy, little metal pieces rotate with the tires and power flashing red and white lights in front and back...ingenious!

Pictured here is a City Bike, these are public bikes that you can pop a 20 Kroner coin into to unlock and use, and then you leave it locked for the next fellow and get your 20 Kr back. there are 1500 of them on the streets, about 20 percent get stolen each year.

I set out and pedaled with the flow, trying to get to a woman's clothing store to find a purse that our guide had that I thought would be a great birthday present for my daughter. Drat, they were closed, so I pedaled on to the city's main square. Eventually I circled back and rode into a lovely green park, with long stretches of green. On one of the hills a couple was atop one another under a blanket. I noticed a curious rhythm to their movements, the up and down motion clearly indicated that this was one hot blanket scene. Even with the kids and moms right down the hill, their sex continued unabated. Then she emerged topless to sit and scan the scene, they both bore contented smiles.

I kept on pedaling, past picnickers who were enjoying the unseasonably warm temperatures, some with soccer balls, others with bottles of wine, and most with bikes that had taken them into the park. I vowed to have our own picnic, and relax next Sunday afternoon, as this park and this bike inspired me.

Wonderful Copenhagen: How to Eat Herring

Our friendly and outgoing guide Henrik Thierlein told us that herring is the Scandinavian sushi. And that the proper way to eat herring was on a piece of buttered whole grain brown bread, with a fork.

We toured this lovely city filled with canals how else? By boat. There are even boat bus stops, and the canals wind their way in and out of the old city. We passed by the house once lived in by Hans Christian Anderson. We had lunch at 'The Black Diamond,' an architectural gem in modern black glass and angles that make you seasick.

We passed the famous symbol of Copenhagen: The little Mermaid statue. It was surrounded by Japanese tourists, snapping photos. Our ferry boat guide told us that the head had been sawed off twice. But she looks fine today. Henrik took us through the Tivoli Gardens, another icon of this place, it is so much more than gardens. It is towering amusement rides, swinging chairs a few hundred feet up in the air, it is a gracious towering theater, and it is a paper facade that shows where a new gigantic emporium will be built soon. Today the facade marks the exact shape of things to come.

After a rest in the cozy Hotel Bertrams I am recharged. And ready to join my fellow writers Jenny, Lisa, Heather, our guide from NYC, and my favorite shooter, Paul, at a Danish dinner at Tina Baungaard Jenson's home.