The bikes of Copenhagen

Ted. I have heard about bicycle cultures around the world but have never “lived” with bikes as we are doing here in Copenhagen. Judy and I are surrounded by them and I guess I have become a bit obsessed with the bikes. 

This is a very, very flat city so biking is a breeze. Also, parking and owning a car in the city is a hassle and expensive. I should add that we have not seen as many bikes in the suburbs and smaller towns; cars abound there. Also, the weather has been fantastic which probably brings more bikers out. 

So, here are a few observations. Bike paths are everywhere! Naturally there are many through the parks, but most major streets seem to have a bike lane in each direction that is nearly as wide as a car lane. Also, they do not need to be protected with a curb because car drivers watch out for bikes. 

Very importantly to me, bikers follow the rules! Something I never see in Athens. They stay in the bike lanes, stop at stop signs and red lights and dismount on sidewalks. They even use hand signals when turning. I would say about half of the adults (and all kids) wear helmets. 

It’s cool to see such a wide variety of bikes. The engineer in me comes out when I try to figure out the purpose of each bike. Here are a few.

Note the seatbelts for the kids!

Mom's bringing kids to an ice cream shop

I have no idea what this is!

Slow-Go

 Judy. When we talked about the Slow-Go years, I don't think we had any idea how quickly they would hit us, or in what forms. The pinched nerve really scared us, but with an injection from my spine specialist, and rest time on the ship, I was up and running in no time. I think I used Ruby the Transport Chair twice on shore excursions, and twice on the ship, but was quickly able to get by either walking alone or with my hiking poles. Two miles a day became an ordinary day, and, in Reykyavík, I walked six miles with no problem (although I slept well that night!). I am so very deeply grateful for that.

The day we flew to Copenhagen, I felt pretty crummy, like I was coming down with a cold. BLAM! I woke the next day with my first case of Covid. Fortunately I just had one awful day, and my fever broke that night. Still, we decided to play it safe and hang out in our neighborhood and away from people. So that changed our big fancy plans for this city we've so been looking forward to visiting.

 The coffee house at the lake near our apartment

By Friday (we arrived on Monday), we were able to accept an invitation to visit Lene and Kim. We met Lene ten years ago when she played the flute at our nephew Chris's wedding, and we hit it off. I was also able to connect her with an American host for her son to study in the US.

Lene and Kim and LUNCH

Lene met us downtown and drove us to her gorgeous home in another part of Copenhagen. She and her husband Kim fed us a beautiful smørrebørd--do not even try to compare it to what we in the US call a smorgasboard! This beautiful tray held all kinds of Danish treats as open faced sandwiches. 

Smørrebørd to die for

After we were stuffed with beautiful food and great conversation, we went for a walk. In ten minutes we had moved from the suburbs to open fields, lakes and woods. 

Open fields and lake

Abandoned hunters lodge

We walked off some of lunch, so that, upon returning, we could enjoy Danish desserts and coffee. 

Kim and Ringo and dessert

But wait! There's more! The Danish Royal Symphony, where Lena is flautist, had a concert that night, and she had secured us tickets! The Opera House, where they played, is stunning, sitting on the Inner Harbor and across from Amalienborg (Royal palace) and Frederik's Church. Opened in 2005, it cost over $300,000,000. And it is gorgeous, with acoustics to die for! Led by Artistic Conductor Marie Jacquot, Strauss and Mozart were on the menu, with a guest violinist whose name I missed, but who was brilliant.

View from the Opera House

The Danish Royal Opera House

The orchestra warming up

As she drove us home, Lene took us by Christiania (freewheeling, free living area), Tivoli Gardens, and through the beautiful downtown area. We finished up the day with pizza and wine at the joint across the street from our apartment, Lene in her elegant black dress!

Yes, things are going well, if slower for us. We won't see all of Copenhagen or the other areas we'd planned to visit. But I'm in great shape. And I stop when I need to.

Best news? After attending church Sunday at the Flintholm Kirke, we donated Ruby the Transport Chair to them today.

Flintholm Kirke

Iceland's Golden Circle

Ted. A very popular drive in Iceland is the 150 mile loop to the east of Reykjavík, dubbed the Golden Circle. It is easy to do it in a day if you just make a few stops. 

Rather than rent a car, Judy and I joined a small group organized by a tour company called Gateway to Iceland. Our driver/guide, Starri, teaches history at a local university and, like lots of Icelanders, has a part-time gig in the tourism industry. Multiple streams of revenue are increasingly necessary for families to cover the rapidly rising cost of housing which now takes over 50% of one's income. 

During our drive, we enjoyed the ever changing landscape and wonderful stories about life in old Iceland and the 21st century. One fun fact we learned is that JR Tolkien was fascinated with the culture and language of Iceland and actually hired an Icelandic au pair at one time. Many of the ideas and words found in his novels have Icelandic origins.  

Here are a few highlights of our tour. 

Thingvellir National Park 

Our first stop was at this UNESCO World Heritage Site. The geology here is fascinating because this is the area where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates collide to create a rift valley.

The North America plate on the right and the Eurasian plate

At one point, the river Öxará drops into the rift creating a famous waterfall called Öxaráfoss. 

The largest natural lake in Iceland, Thingvallavatn straddles the rift. 

The rift is in the foreground

Thingvellir is the area where the Allthingi began to meet in the year 930. An annual gathering of chieftains, it can be thought of as an early parliament making this a very special place to all Icelanders.

Gullfoss 

The Hvítá (White) River flows out of the Hvítárvatn glacier and drops over a gorge to create Iceland’s second largest waterfall, Gullfoss (Golden Falls). 

You can just make out the distant glacier

The name comes from the rainbows that often appear

Geysir 

The Great Geysir from which we get the word "geyser" spouts off every 4 - 6 minutes in a very geologically active part of the Haukadalur valley. 

Secret Lagoon 

I didn’t risk taking my phone into the water so just downloaded a photo from the internet. The air was around 55 degrees F and the water around 110-150 F, providing a soothing end to a lovely day.

An introduction to Iceland

Ted. Leaving Greenland, we sailed east for two days, even crossing the Arctic Circle for a moment, to reach Iceland, a place of legends. 

From the 1,200 year old Icelandic Sagas to the stories we’ve heard from folks who visit Iceland, again and again, people just can’t stop talking about the place. It was finally time for us to get our own sense of the Land of Fire and Ice. 

Our ship’s first port of call was Akureyri, “the Capital of North Iceland.” The weather was in the mid 50’s and sunny so we set out on foot. The Akureyri Museum was interesting as was the lovely botanical garden. Lunch was at a backpackers cafe where we met our buddies Mike and Nancy for relatively inexpensive fish sandwiches and beer. 

The next morning we arrived at Isafjordur in a region called the the Westfiords. While the fjord was majestic, the weather was bleak. I was recovering from a Greenlandic cold so I didn’t even get off the ship. Judy opted to explore a wee bit as her back was continuing to heal. 

On day 13 of our cruise, we arrived at our final destination - the capital city of Reykjavík. Coincidentally, Mike and Nancy had booked the same hotel as us so, after dropping off our bags, the four of us explored the town. 

A former student of Judy's, named Terrence, has an Icelandic friend who arranged for us to attend a popular entertainment call “The Lava Show.” We learned a lot about volcanos (there are 130 in Iceland!) and got to watch a fascinating live lava flow. 

This was all very nice but, so far, we had only seen the coastline and three towns in Iceland. While they were each interesting, it is the countryside that most people talk about. But that rates a post of its own…

A glimpse of Greenland

Ted. Two days after leaving St John’s, Newfoundland we sailed into the harbor of Qaqortoq, Greenland. With a population of just over 3,000, this fishing village is one of the largest towns in the country (total population 56,000). 

We only had nine hours in port but, since we had chosen not to take any excursions, we had plenty of time to explore on foot. Since it was around 50 degrees Fahrenheit and drizzly, that would require ducking inside someplace to warm up every hour. 

As our tender pulled up to the city pier, we heard church bells ringing which reminded us that this was a Sunday so we walked uphill to attend the morning service at the new Lutheran church (the old one being closed). 

The lady pastor was just wrapping up communion so we figured that we had missed the service. Alas, they had communion first at this church with the Bible readings and sermon afterwards. I don’t know if that was a Greenlandic tradition or they inherited the liturgy from the Danish church. Either was possible as Greenland has been a semi autonomous possession of Denmark since the 19th century. The country has a fascinating history so check it out on Wikipedia one day. 

After church we explored the Qaqortoq Museum and the Norse Museum. At the latter, I asked a staff member (an English speaking Greenlander) if there was much interaction in the 11th century between the Norse (led by Erik the Red) and the indigenous peoples. He told us “We stayed away from those people and they eventually went away.” That was probably wise because the Norse, in those days, did not always make good neighbors. 

After wandering a bit more we enjoyed some hot chocolate at the pier served by shivering crew members, we returned to our ship. Once everyone was back on board, our ship cruised around the local waters for a while, giving everyone great up close views of the dozens of icebergs floating past. 

We ended the day with dinner at a specialty restaurant located at the stern of the ship. Seated along the huge windows, we enjoyed spectacular views of more icebergs floating past while savoring our wonderful food and wine. Like clouds, the shapes were fantastical and we had fun giving them names such as “the plane” or “the whale.” 

With a storm fast approaching, our captain made a wise decision to skip a planned visit to Prince Christian Sound the next day and we made a beeline east towards Iceland. That night we encountered 65 mph winds and 17 foot seas that night but it would have been much worse had we stuck around Greenland. 

It doesn’t happen much anymore but during this brief visit to a vast land, we were able to experience something for the first time. Judy and I now know, firsthand, that icebergs are cool (pun intended).