Land of Bikes

[jducoeur]

So... we're in Copenhagen.

For this year's big vacation, we decided to return to Italy. We first went for our honeymoon in 2013, and had been clear that we wanted to go back; COVID delayed that by a few years, but we figured this was the year.

When trying to figure out the flights, Kate found that the best option to get to Bologna seemed to be SAS. Which connects via Copenhagen. Which has always been on her bucket list.

So... four days in Copenhagen.

As usual for my vacations, my posts on the subject will be more impressionistic than chronological, talking about subjects that caught my eye. And that being the case, we'll talk about the more distinctively obvious thing about the city...

Bicycles.

All the bicycles.

So many bicycles.

Somerville likes to talk about turning itself into a bike-friendly town, and I never really understood what that might look like until now.

The tourist destinations here sometimes say that the best way to get somewhere is the way the locals do, on a bike. They're not kidding -- everybody bikes here, it seems.

At least in these parts (we've mostly been in the areas within a mile or two of the city center, in various directions), nearly every street has a dedicated bike lane (frequently one in each direction), often quite busy. It feels almost a little weird being pedestrians here. (Kate can't really bike, due to the problems with her arms.)

Most dramatically, there are surprisingly few cars in the city. I was really struck by rush hour, where, yes, there are significantly more cars than the rest of the day -- but far fewer than you see at home at a quiet time of day. And at pretty much any hour, there appear to be 3-10 times as many bikes on the road as there are cars.

An amusing twist: many people, instead of riding a conventional bicycle, pedal a trike: one wheel in the back, two in front, with a big optionally-covered compartment in the front. My best guess is that these were originally intended for kids or groceries, but I've seen a surprisingly large number of couples, one of them pedaling and the other in the seat up front, with their knees pulled up so they will fit. (I actually think I've seen that more than I've seen kids in them: these are considerably larger than the bike add-ons for kids you sometimes see back home.)

Overall, I quite approve, although it does have its drawbacks. In particular, people need to park all those bikes, and there are nowhere near enough bike racks in many locations. So in practice, there are a lot of places where the sidewalk has been turned into a semi-formal bike rack -- leaving nowhere for us pedestrians to walk.

(Not really a crisis, mind -- we wind up stepping into the bike lane to get around the parked bikes. But it's a bit of a nuisance.)

Anyway: if you like to bicycle, this is a city for you. It's relatively flat, enormously bike-centric, and about the right size to get around on bike, with the various attractions typically a couple of miles from each other. By the same light, it's not quite as trivially walkable as some places (Kate and I have been walking 10-15 miles a day), but I suspect it would be pretty straightforward if we just swallowed our pride and used the Metro more.

Comments

[danabren]

I haven't been to Copenhagen for over 40 years, I am confident it's changed a bit and I don't remember much anyway. Heh.

How lovely, enjoy!