In Copenhagen, I have been living with a team mate, Meredith Miller and her husband Dr Benjamin. They live in a street called Aggersborggade, best pronounced by half swallowing your tongue and then trying not to pronounce any of the letter G’s.  I don’t think I will ever master some of the back of the throat noises which just sound like the Dane’s are gaging!!  Ben and Meredith live on the 5th floor of their apartment complex and so after 10 flights of stairs at least a couple of times a day, I am easily able to gauge how my legs feel after a training session.

Denmark is a country of many islands with Copenhagen situated against the shoreline facing Sweden and Germany.  In fact, Sweden is very close and can be reached in 20 minutes via an underground train or by ferry.  Germany is a little further from Copenhagen, 160km by car to the edge of Denmark and then 40 minutes by ferry.  It is quite amusing that the Swedish folk head to Denmark to buy what they assume to be cheap liquor, while the Dane’s go to Germany for theirs. I watched in fascination last week as a whole ferry load of Swedes

Copenhagen is a small city built for bikes.  I would estimate that only 30% of the city population actually own a car which is largely due to the 100% car tax which makes a small car ridiculously expensive.  The city is built for bikes.  Nearly every street is built with an 8ft bike lane on either side of the road.  Most people ride commuter bikes to buy their groceries, to travel to work and to generally get about.  It is a constant source of amusement and amazement to watch women dressed in skirts and high heels riding their bikes to work.  Many bikes have baskets mounted on the front for groceries and bags.  Bikes are parked everywhere – in bike racks, against shop fronts or whereever you can find a space.  I have been using Ben’s commuter bike and although the back brake doesn’t work, the seat points towards heaven and I can’t change gears, I am grateful that it gets me from A to B without walking.

I never thought I would do my grocery shopping by bike but every 3 or 4 days, Meredith and I make the journey to the local supermarket in Osterbro.  You may wonder why we go to shopping so frequently – and no, it isn’t because we eat constantly.  Space is a big problem in Europe, and with small fridges and freezers there isn’t room to buy enough food for more than a few days.  We are also limited by quantity as we have to transport our groceries by either foot or bike and haul them up 10 flights of stairs so we are always discouraged from buying anything in bulk.

The Dane’s are certainly environmentally conscious with customers having to buy plastic shopping bags, if required.  We just use a backpack and bring our own bags with us.

The daylight hours in summer Copenhagen are amazing.  In the middle of Denmark’s summer, the sun comes up a little after 4am and goes down around 10.30pm. The long daylight hours initially made sleeping difficult but since dragging out the qantas mask I have managed to get my 8 hours of sleep each night.  It is hard to know how late it is though and I have never gone to bed before 11pm since getting here, which is late for me.

I have been trying to learn Danish, although the Dane’s all speak excellent English so I am never forced to speak a word of Danish. So far I have a vocabulary of about 50 words and am proud to say that I can count from 1 to 20, and have picked up some necessary cycling expressions such as stopping, turn left, turn right, car up, car back and puncture.  I know I have a strong aussie accent and certainly amuse people with my attempts at pronouncing some of the difficult words.

And yes, for those who are wondering, my dog bowl made it to Copenhagen.  For those that are not familiar with my bowl, it is one of my most treasured traveling possessions.  The dog bowl comes from San Anselmo, California and was given to me as a gift for dog sitting, Kariba, a Rohesian ridgeback.  This bowl is perfect for a cyclist sized meal.  It has travelled across America and Canadia over the past two years and is now discovering Europe. I hope it lasts a few thousand more meals before the enamel finally wears off.

Denmark is a very fertile and green country. And although there aren’t any mountains to be found, there are rolling hills in the northern part of Zealand, the island that most of Copenhagen is situated on.  I have ridden to the top of this island with Meredith and Trine which is 60km from the city.  We rode up the middle of the island through some forests and past a few lakes.  We took the coastal road home, past Helsingǿr where there is a really cool castle. Closer towards Copenhagen, the coastal road is a little similar to Beach road in Melbourne.  The major difference is that everyone rides their commuter bikes to the beach and the grassy areas near the beach, look like triathlon transition areas with literally hundreds of bikes parked everywhere.

I have been told that the weather has been unusally warm in Copenhagen and with the kids on school holidays the beaches have been crowded.  Most Scandanavians love the sun and spend hours basking in its rays. The tanning salons are also well used with the Danish riders not boasting the very uncool cycling tan that I have managed to obtain.

Well, I hope I have given you a little insight into life in Copenhagen.  It is a very easy city to live in and well worth a visit for those who have not yet ventured to Denmark.