Yeah, I'm not sure but I thought it was pretty great to just have this swan hanging out on the bike path as if to say ...
"It's Denmark, I'm a swan, I own this place"
Well it turns out that all I need to do to escape the buzz of Copenhagen and the looming group projects is to take a quick bike ride around my little suburb. The last two days I've been enjoying time at my house while my host parents are away at the summer house. I didn't want to let myself stay inside all day working (or watching gilmore girls) so I took the bicycle out for a spin. There are bike paths that lead everywhere through Denmark, really I think I could take a bike path all the way to Germany if I was so inclined. Ok, well I'm saving Germany for another adventure ... but I did stumble upon some pretty beautiful landscapes, farmland, and some of the bigger hills I've seen in Denmark (there are no hills, it's entirely flat).
It was such a peaceful way to spend my morning and a great bit of exercise as well. Considering my only exercise of late is running to make sure I don't miss the train nearly every morning ... I was really glad to get back on a bicycle and enjoy a bit of nature. This summer I'll hopefully get a bike right away and get back into the routine of cycling around town and to various jobs : )
I also feel particularly Danish when I'm riding around. I read somewhere that something like 80% of Danes ride a bike every day. Ok, well that may be a smidgen too high ... but they really like their bikes! They are also particularly good at multi-tasking while on the bikes. In the city you see people on their cell phones, sending text messages, smoking cigarettes and even holding hands! I nearly managed to crash just trying to put my gloves on! Well, a bit more practice and I'll be doing all sorts of tricks in no time. I'm really just hoping for no repeat of the hitting a tree on my way downtown incident from last summer... If I haven't shared this story with you, well it involved bad DC sidewalks, things flying out of my bicycle's basket and laughs had by many pedestrians.
I also wanted to post about one of the most exciting things to have just happened in Denmark, THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY! Well, it was quite exciting and the Royal family came out to wave and everything. Of course when I asked my host brother and sister if they knew it was her birthday they said no .... Regardless, it was quite the holiday there were even flags on the busses!
What is really exciting though is that Tivoli has just opened as well! Tivoli is an amusement park in the center of the city full of rides, theaters, cafes and all things wonderfully Danish. Every year it opens to the public the day after the Queen's birthday. I think perhaps that the Queen gets her own special party on her birthday but it is pure speculation : )
Walking down the pedestrian street, Stroget, I walked right into a marching band leading the way to Tivoli! How ceremonious! I definitely plan on spending a day there, hopefully take a break from exam prep and get a bit of sun one of these weekends.
Here is a link to read more about Tivoli Gardens... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoli_Gardens
1 comment:
This post had me weeping with laughter...you don't even understand. When I read the part about you almost crashing your bike from putting on gloves I was giggling mess for the next five minutes. In fact, I'm still laughing just thinking about it. Thank you for that.
P.S. I love your new haircut. Your hair has gotten so long!!!!
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