Sunshine

It seems like I comment a lot on the weather and the light patterns here. I think there's a strong biological and psychological link to the amount of sunlight we get. Now the days are lengthening at their fastest rate, about 4 1/2 minutes of daylight added each day, so we've rapidly moved from mostly dark to pleasantly light soon to go to the manic summer days of excessive daylight. It's nice to come full circle from our arrival last year. I've posted the next week's weather forecast from Denmark's weather service. It was such a nice change to see those suns and the forecast warm(er) temperatures after months of clouds and rain.

Tomorrow we're planning to go to Møns Klint to get out of town and enjoy the nice weather. We also want to scout it our for our guests visiting this spring.

In other news, The Olsen Band is being produced as a musical. Hopefully we can learn enough Danish to enjoy it when it hits the stage. Otherwise we can watch more of the old films.

More fun in Copenhagen

This week's excitement came in the form of a new cycling route to and from work. Since September, I've been going by the most direct route, along one of the main streets out of the city center. It was nice enough, but I had to wait at lights at two major intersections along with breathing car exhaust which in my mind counteracts some of the health benefits of riding in the first place. The new route follows the harbor front in front of Kastellet and past the Little Mermaid before crossing over the railroad tracks and heading into Østerbro where we live. Although it is a little farther, there are no lights, almost no traffic, and what might be called a hill which gives me a bit more exercise for my trouble.

Today we took a walking tour, following the new cycle route into town (past the Little Mermaid and Kastellet) then to the palace where we arrived there just in time for the noon-time changing of the guard and military band concert. The funniest thing was that the band marched out onto the square to the tune of Sousa's Liberty Bell March, better known as the theme to "Monty Python's Flying Circus." I like to think that they had a hard time keeping a straight face through the whole thing, but of course they did. After continuing to Nyhavn and along Strøget we walked past Rosenborg Slot where the crocuses were blooming as they were in April when I visited Copenhagen for my interview. It was a long winter last year, so the crocuses bloomed month later than this year. After the crocuses we stopped into the art museum (Statens Museum for Kunst) for lunch and a view of some of the Danish artwork we enjoyed a couple of years ago during our visit to Skagen. As I've mentioned before, museum cafes in Denmark are very nice with good food at reasonable (for Denmark) prices.

Ice cream season

Things in Denmark happen on a schedule. Recent examples include the onset of ice cream season and the release of the Easter beer (yes, Easter beer, a.k.a. Påske Øl). We stopped at an ice cream shop on our bike ride home from Charlottenlund Fort. Today was one of the first warmish, sunny days of (not-quite) spring, and the Danes were out in force strolling along the coast and soaking up the sun. Crocuses were blooming, so after a long winter it looks like spring is really on its way.


For the second year in a row, Denmark has made its way into the international news. Last year it was the Mohammed cartoons, this year it is Undgomshuset, "The Youth House." Some pictures here of the riots, tearing down the house, and some of the more peaceful protests. Being a recent arrival here, I can't speak much about the events surrounding this building, but everyone here has an opinion and most that I've heard have been sympathetic to the youth, though not supportive of the violence. On Saturday we took a ride through the neighborhood on our way to our weekly Danish class. We saw graffiti and remnants of fires set in the street to block traffic. We also saw about seven vans of policemen driving through the area, so tensions were still a bit high.

With the improving weather we're riding our bikes more. It's nice to get some exercise while saving time and money that would have been spent on the metro or trains. One weekly trip is to our Danish class, a 25 minute ride at a relaxed pace. On Tuesday we plan to ride to choir practice which is held not far south of our Danish class location. The Danish course is okay, but we realize we were spoiled to have the private tutor for so long. It is nice to meet some other people, though, and learn about what brings them to Copenhagen.

... but what do you do when you get there?

It is said that, "All roads lead to Rome." Our road took us to Rome last week. The trip had ups and downs. I won't go into a description of the sights - other sites can do that better than I. We stayed four nights, enough time to hit the highlights: the Colosseum, Pantheon, Roman Forum, and St. Peter's Basilica. We missed the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel because lines were very long and opening times were very short. Instead we went to the Doria Pamphilj Gallery. It was nice because it was not crowded - everyone else must have been waiting in the Vatican Museums line. The weather was pleasant, 55-60 deg. F, partly cloudy most days, and far better than the snow that was accumulating in Denmark.

We had a funny exchange at the hotel. Upon leaving to go touring the second day, the desk clerk asked us to leave our key. We hadn't done that on previous trips, I guess because we just left without passing by the desk. We did as requested after another guest confirmed that was normal. Upon returning and asking for the key to room 501, the response was "Impossible! Impossible!" (pronounced: eem poss EE blay). Not knowing our Italian numbers, I think he must have thought we were asking for the key to room 51, which does not exist. This was funny because we had only dropped off the key (to the same person) a couple of hours before and the hotel was rather small with few guests in the low season of February.

A second source of the giggles was when, after a large hotel breakfast (with tea, coffee, juice) we took a long walk to the Pantheon. By the time we got there, nature was calling to the extent that we said, "There's the Pantheon . . . . THERE'S McDONALD'S!" McDonald's . . . restroom for the world.

One not-so-funny event was getting pickpocketed on the Metro. I write this only as a bit of catharsis, but I prefer not to talk about it because it brings back the frustration of knowing I'd been targeted and taken advantage of by the seedier elements below street level. I was aware of the risk, keeping tight hold on my wallet and passport, but didn't think anyone would be interested in my two-year old digital camera.

In summary, Rome for me falls into the same category as what used to be New Orleans - a nice place to visit, but wouldn't want to live there. Like New Orleans, there are some rough edges in Rome that diminish the experience a bit, but the amazing sites make it worth a visit.