Bikes love Copenhagen.

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i should start by saying that Iceland airport's security may not be up to standard. to illustrate, i was allowed to board a plane that wasn't mine, sat down, and pretty much would have rode the thing all the way to its destination had it not been for someone else who had the same seat showing up a couple minutes before takeoff. now, mind you, the plane was going to the exact same place, only leaving about 10 minutes before my *real* flight, so i might not ever even have known. still. ever had to get off an airplane that you just got on? awkward.

so yesterday i pulled into Copenhagen and eventually got to the hostel. for those uninitiated, there are independent hostels and there are HI (official) hostels. while i cannot stake any claim as to discerning the undercurrents of culture in CPH after a day and a half (as the perspective of a visitor is invariably limited and tainted by expectation), I will however make an indisputable statement on HI Hostel culture based upon multiple experiences in multiple cultural settings:

there will inevitably be a minimum of one (1) grumpy old man "living" in the room you are assigned (meaning, God only knows how long he's been staying there, and as far as anyone can tell this is in fact his day-to-day "home"). This particular one likes to stay in the room most of the day in his underwear and listen to his radio (headphones? what are those?), and would grumble every time a new person entered the room. classic.

on to the fun stuff, though. bike culture in CPH puts Boulder and Ft Collins to shame, which is saying a great deal. every road has dedicated bike lanes that are separated from vehicle traffic, and there actually appear to be more bikes on the road than cars.

yesterday i explored Christiania, which is its own autonomous little city. it's a hippie/homeles autonomous city from Copenhagen, where hippies and homeless have made a little refuge for themselves. they ask you not to take pictures there, which is *crazy* (and maddening) since there's some...interesting....characters that populate this area. but i snuck a few on the outskirts so you could have an idea.

then the National Museum of Art before hitting downtown. the observatory is always on the list, a round tower attached to a medieval church.

time's running short, as I need to catch my train to Sweden! more to come.

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