Pedal to the Past

Lauren and I are sitting at the Copenhagen airport right now, awaiting separate but similarly timed flights home. There’s not a lot to do here once you go through passport control, so here’s a bonus blog about lots of loose ends and observations. It will likely be written from multiple airports throughout the day. It’s going to be a long, long day.

I’m not sure what will happen next with this blog, as we re-enter reality. Lauren will use the content here as a resource for her students, and I may add, edit and tweak in the coming weeks. But it will remain online and hopefully be of value to others. Writing it has been a very helpful way to process what we learned each day.

Ok, some random thoughts:

Danish Design

Everything here is beautiful, efficient, and designed with a balance of form and function and an eye toward sustainability.

With one exception: showers.

For reasons we cannot explain – and neither can the Danes we asked – the showers are designed with nothing to contain the water, so it floods the entire bathroom and you have to squeegee it back to the drain when you’re done. This was true in nearly every hotel and the Air BnB we stayed at. Only on our very last night in Copenhagen did we have a shower built with a little lip on the floor. Seems simple, right?

But so much was designed intentionally to be environmentally responsible. All the toilets have low and high pressure flush options. There are very few disposable containers – shower gel/shampoo are from a dispenser on the wall, we saw very few paper cups or containers, bamboo cutlery if it had to be disposable, and everyone recycled everywhere. This tiny country is a much better steward of resources than the US.

Showers not withstanding.

Bikes

There’s so much to say here. Bikes are an excellent way to travel, and I wouldn’t believe it if we hadn’t done it. We were so flexible – not beholden to train schedules or access, we could go anywhere and talk to anybody and get around surprisingly quickly. Also, by bike you really see the spaces in between destinations. There’s no falling asleep or doing something else while traveling. I paid attention in a different way.

And Denmark is made for biking. First, it’s mostly flat. Not all flat, but the hills are mild. The weather is cool and dry, at least in July, so biking doesn’t leave the biker a sweaty mess. And most of all, the bike lanes.

Most roads have a dedicated lane or lanes for cars, another for bikes and another for pedestrians – on both sides. Each lane has its own traffic lights and signals and everyone respects all three. We rode across a 6 lane highway on bikes because our little bike light turned green, and not a single car moved or showed impatience. It’s not just infrastructure – it’s part of the culture.

Bikes here are an integral mode of transportation. We saw people of all ages in suits and dresses and high heels riding bikes. One of our tour guides mentioned that he recently sold his car and hasn’t missed it at all. Cars and gas are expensive and parking is inconvenient. Biking is an efficient way to get around – for commuting, for travel, and for business deliveries. We saw bikes of all sorts:

Health

Maybe it’s all the biking and generally active lifestyle, but Danes seem to be very healthy. We met several people we were surprised to learn were in their 80s and 90s.

Also, healthcare is free in Denmark, supported by taxes everyone pays. So nobody delays or defers care because of cost, and it shows.

A Covid Surprise

Speaking of health…I haven’t mentioned this because I didn’t want it to distract from the purpose of this blog, but remember that post about waiting and worrying and the pre-departure sore throat and negative Covid test? Well, 36 hours later upon arriving in Copenhagen I had a positive Covid test.

At first we panicked. But nobody else did.

There are no Covid restrictions in Denmark, and nobody even tests anymore. We went to three stores to find masks. We notified everyone we were scheduled to meet for the next 10 days and all but one were unconcerned.

We masked, social distanced, I got my own room for the first 6 nights, we stayed outdoors a lot and ate outside, and we were grateful it was a mild case. Lauren tested 3 times and never caught it.

Phew!

Generosity

We saw this everywhere. Everyone we met was so generous with their time and their stories. They opened homes, offices, archives, museums and hearts to us. More than we ever expected.

Dorrit in Dragor told us the Danes are special, and second to none. She is right.

Libraries

I spent a lot of my career working in and with libraries, and I knew Denmark’s library system is a model for many others, including ours in Charlotte.

We planned to visit Dokk1 in Aarhus, which I knew from former colleagues who’d been there. As expected, it was large, well-resourced and filled with interesting experiences, exhibitions and community gathering opportunities.

What I didn’t expect was how much we’d use libraries in other cities, especially very small ones. The librarian in Gilleleje helped us acquire a book despite currency exchange issues. The one in Helsingor housed an interesting collection on the town’s history, is the local historian’s headquarters, and had public access computers available even before the library opened. A library opposite the Copenhagen synagogue was so cozy and welcoming I thought it was a coffee shop. Yes, they served coffee! In nearly every town we visited, we stopped into the library – knowingly or not – for help with something. Or coffee.

Libraries were beautiful, clean, functional and so naturally embedded into the community. The concept works, and it really worked for us!

Hygge and Coffee

Pronounced hoogah, I think. There is no direct translation but you know it when you see it. It’s a Danish concept of appreciating small things, and general coziness and happiness. Little touches, like a basket of yarn for anyone to use for knitting in our hotel lobby. Food artfully arranged. Shelves of games and books for anyone to use. Or a great coffee shop, which we saw a lot of. My kind of country!

Language

Like hygge, words look nothing like what they sound like. If you watched the interviews you’ll hear names of people and places we can’t even try to spell or pronounce properly. There are a lot of extra letters in Danish!

The good news is that nearly everyone speaks at least a little bit of English, and because the Scandinavian countries are so small and each have their own language English is often the common default.

We learned to recognize a few words, but we were overwhelmingly grateful that Europeans learn English much more readily than Americans learn any other language.

And a Note About Lauren

Lauren and I have been friends for 50 years. As kids, we were constantly together. But for over three decades we’ve lived in different cities and go years without seeing one another. The last time we travelled together we were in college, and I was really looking forward to this time to reconnect.

Anxiety around Covid threw a little bit of a wrench in that togetherness for the first few days. But once we realized it was mild and were both comfortable with safety measures we got into a groove.

I know how lucky we are to have maintained a friendship this long, and although our lifestyles have diverged in many ways there is a trust and an understanding that can only come with time. Our strengths are complementary and we compensate for each other’s weaknesses. Without Lauren’s navigation skills I’d be lost in a forest someplace right now.

We also recognized when we needed some time apart, and took those breaks every few days for a few hours.

I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be with on this kind of trip, and the memories are the best souvenir of all.

Thanks for following along!

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