First Day in Copenhagen

5/16/11

On my flight from Newark to Copenhagen I sat next to a woman who is moving from Copenhagen to Washington D.C. When I told her that I was studying planning she started to share topics of interest for an aspiring planner. She explained Copenhagen as five fingers extending from a center point. Some of the fingers are better connected to than others. The city is currently split as to whether or not there should be a tax on automobiles entering the city center. There is a new opera house. I think she said that the land was gifted to the city and transportation to the site is a challenge. I think she also said that the city is currently working to add another ring to the metro system. She said that along part of the waterfront there is a row of buildings that prevents access to the water. Further down, a section of the waterfront that has been revitalized allows access to the water.

I arrived at my Eva's house just in time for her to give me some maps and suggested activities before she had to leave for her meeting. I followed her advice and started out by climbing to the top of the church tower. An external spiral staircase takes you to the top of the spire. I enjoyed watching streams of bicycles below and noticed the pattern of blocks of housing with internal courtyards. I scoped out a running route on the path that Eva suggested along the canal.

When I descended to the path I noticed that there were actually 3 rings of paths along the canal in some places. This was a great use of terracing to make use of the space. There were staircases made of logs pressed into the sand-packed trail.  I was surprised to see residences along the canals. They weren’t luxury condos. Each was a unique Bohemian-looking cottage.  At one point I had to wait at a signal to cross a busy street. The cycle track had separate signals that stopped the cyclists as well to allow pedestrians to cross. I noticed a road work vehicle stopped in the bus lane rather than the cycle track which was raised and had a brick edge.

After showering and stretching, I walked down to a café to have lunch outside along the canal. I replenished my carbs with tasty fried fish filets and hearty brown bread. The modal split on the street included automobiles, buses, bicycles, pedestrians, a horse drawn carriage, tour boats, and kayaks. A woman rode by with a baby sleeping soundly in her classy front-load cargo bike. The female cyclists here have sexy swaying shoulders. Maybe they have to put their upper bodies into pedaling their heavy upright bikes.

In the evening Eva and I visited the Danish Center for Architecture. There were models of current buildings and some that are planned for construction. There are plans to build a trash incinerator that will be used as a ski slope. Then we biked along the waterfront and checked out some of the buildings in full-scale. We scoped out the design of new apartment buildings and their inner courtyards.

 

For more pictures from the day go to my Picasa Web Album