Denmark - Beautiful People Everywhere

(Note: In my efforts to economize in packing, I neglected to bring along the loading dock for my little digi-cam, so all the pics I'd intended to accompany this and future entries will have to wait. All prose I'm afraid, or images I lift from elsewhere.)

After a mere 11 days “home” I hit the road again. Though my clothing for this trip is heavier, I am packing lighter. The tour leader for the second leg has said we can only have one check-on. Also, I’ll be taking quite a few trains, so I don’t want to be burdened over-much. I got in at 46 lbs. However, my backpack feels like it must be 40. Ugh. Serendipitously, I happened to be in the Atlanta airport at the same time as my mother. We had a little family reunion in Concourse E.

I arrived in Copenhagen at 9am. I had originally planned for the rest of the day to be open, but due to last minute changes I now had my first school visit at noon. Therefore, rather than figure out how public transportation could get me from the airport to the city center, as I like to do, I hopped in a cab. The Radisson people kindly allowed me to check-in early so that I could shower and dump my luggage. The S-train station was only a block away, so I took it and followed the direction’s I’d been given of how to find the Copenhagen International School. No problem. I arrived early and set up a table in the hallway to catch the students during lunch break. Afterwards I visited a classroom. I was practically their sub, as their teacher was not present, his house being flooded the night before.

After my school visit I returned to my hotel via the S-train, dropped my backpack in my room, and headed out for a citywalk. First I headed north to check out the Strøget, an area that claims to be the longest continuous pedestrian zone in Europe. This is a great place to just stroll and people-watch. It is here that I realized how full of beautiful people Denmark is. They are everywhere! Women and men (not that I'm gay [not that there's anything wrong with that])!

I left the pedestrian area and walked northwest, across the “lakes” to a more bohemian area. The physics teacher at CIS advised that for dinner I check out a place called Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus. With a name like that, how could I not? They had a bar where I could sit, thereby not breaking my rule of not eating alone at a table (unless in an airport). My neighbors were having a deep discussion, in English, about the nature of love. It was quite interesting to eavesdrop while eating my pasta and mushrooms. Actually, listening in was the only thing keeping me from falling asleep, as I was fighting a losing battle against jet-lag.

I made it back to my hotel with the intent to have a pint or two at a nearby Irish pub, but I made the mistake of putting my head down “just for a moment” and woke up four hours later. Well, I knew I would not be able to sleep through the night, so I made a belated visit to that Irish pub. I knew that I’d made the right choice when as soon as my Guinness was served, the band returned to the stage and played a great Celtic version of Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind.” I stayed until they finished playing, about two hours later. In that time they also hit some Johnny Cash, and the Irish perennials, “Whiskey in the Jar” and “Wild Rover,” which evokes especially fond memories for a couple of reasons. At that point the smoke was getting thick, and I’d had enough stout that my mind was wandering from the final pages of Atlas Shrugged that I was trying to read, so I decided to leave.

I grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor on the way back to the hotel, and stood in the doorway of a building to get out of the light drizzle. As I was stuffing my face, a young “ruffian” approached me, slurring something in what I assumed was Danish. I told him that I did not speak Danish. He then told me, in English, that in that case he did not want to talk to me. I was crushed. Don’t let Europeans fool you. They sometimes act all sophisticated, but at 2:30 am on Saturday morning, the Danes at least can do great drunk frat-boy impersonations.

I still wasn’t feeling quite sleepy enough for bed, so I watched the first episode of the second season of Lost. Good stuff. I’ve missed Evangeline Lilly.

I slept in until about 9am, then got ready for the fair. It was held in the hotel conference room and ran from 11am to 5pm. I saw a lot of good students. Afterwards, all the various reps had dinner together and a group of us later went out to a pub. It was quite fun being the lone yankee.

Now I am at day two of the fair, trying not to stare at the girl who looks just like Naomi Watts...