Who Has Seen the Sun?

Am I missing the news? Can someone tell me if there has been a massive meteorite strike the earth and cast a permanent darkness with dust and ash? The clouds are so thick here that you almost need a flashlight at high noon. Even the Danes are telling me this is extraordinary, but I'm not sure I can trust anyone who tells me Akvavit is a tasty shot of spirits.

Couple of Danes disposing of a body under the cover of midday

November has been very tough. I am no longer a 90 day tourist nor has my resident application been accepted. I am an in-betweener. This means no drivers license, no library card, no jobs, no Danish lessons. Just read books, take runs and wait (for my CPR number, for some sun, for supper, for the kids to come home?).  The only thing keeping me sane is going to workouts with Steen at "Average Joe's Gym" (reference to movie 'Dodgeball', not the actual name of our gym).

Here's an example of my state of mind: today I took a special bike trip to the local EuroSpar grocery store just to pick up 6 litres of milk that was on sale! Once I was an industry baron, COO, CFO, CEO, OREO; with reversed coordinates I could direct a drilling rig to dig into Olympic Plaza in downtown Calgary, with an un-erased pencil mark I could have some Korean fabricating plant devising a method to connect a HydroCracker to a CatCracker, with some imaginative calculations I could send hundreds of young engineers to their death or industrial humiliation.  Now I scan the weekly flyers for a discount on rough grain oatmeal. Oh Schadenfraude!

Christmas will be a bright interlude into winter. There are Christmas markets starting up in Copenhagen so the artificial LED lighting will be good for the vitamin D. And….look who else dropped by to make things a little more interesting:

The local chimney sweep

Just try saying "Chimneysweep" without a jaunty Dick Van Dyke cockney accent!

Halloween Garden Gnomeo

Halloween in Denmark has become very North American. In 1996, the grocery store chain IRMA, sold their first decorative jack-o-lantern type pumpkin. Now they sell thousands and lots of people decorate their houses and really get into the spirit.

The kids dress up and trick or treat, but the schools are not so much involved like they are back in Canada. The treats that people hand out are either home-made baking or individual candies from a bag (but not wrapped individually if you know what I mean).

We went to a party with some friends from town and the kids used that as their base for trick or treating. Very similar to what we do back in the 'hood of Richie Hazeldean.

Have you ever decided to dress like a garden gnome or an old man or a street person or a lumberjack and realize that you don't have to go out and buy any clothes to make your outfit? That's just sad.

Ride the 'Snake' in Copenhagen

After two weeks of steady rain and cloud coupled with an empty bank account, we had a dramatic turnaround last week as money arrived from Canada along with some sunshine. This means "TOGA PARTY!!!", no wait, that was 25 years ago. At my age, a nice meal with my beautiful wife provides the same thrill as a 1980's Sunday night Toga Party at Boomer's with all the Kenosee waitresses and bartenders. (Ok ok, just kidding, I'm not THAT old)
We would have to organize a Date Night to celebrate but since we have no nights available, a Day Date would have to do. And a day date means a trip to Copenhagen! The best way to do Copenhagen is by joining the thousands of other cyclists on the bike trail system.

We took our bikes on to the train but got off at a park outside of greater Copenhagen. This park happens to have an amusement park in the middle of it but it was shut down for the winter. Amusement parks are very eerie places when there are no people around. (Wait…is that the wind or the sound of demons from another world complaining about the ridiculous price of a soda pop?)

You can walk right into the closed amusement park to do battle with zombies.

We rode the trails and paths through parkland, lakes, residential suburban areas and eventually right into downtown Copenhagen.

Beautiful parkland with fall colors.

At no point in the 15 km towards downtown were we ever in traffic and you can come into CPH from any direction and expect the same cycling experience. In fact, in some parts of the city the cycle traffic is so thick it has become a congestion problem on the pathways!

One of the main goals of the day was to ride across the new bike bridge called the "Cykelslangen" or bicycle snake. This bridge was built by the city to bring cyclists past a heavily congested route that included some stairs. It has a very gradual incline and carries the riders out over the canal and away from the crowded pedestrian area below. 

The Cykelslangen allows bikers to avoid pedestrians and fast moving boats.

We biked into the south island near Christiania and found a great place for lunch called Cafe Wilder. It's a small little restaurant with tight tables and lots of activity. Hell, after a thirst quenching beer followed by open face sandwiches with a shot of schnapps and then a wine and cheese dessert, it was WAY better than a Toga Party!

Executive (boozy) lunch at Cafe Wilder

The real beauty of biking in CPH is that the route home is simply to the nearest train station where they give you and your bike a ride home. Now, that's what I call a date!