Anonymous in Copenhagen

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Ravinder at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen

Suddenly I am traveling again. Something about entering an airplane and flying around the world gives a sense of freedom and anonymity. When I land in Copenhagen, on the direct flight from San Francisco, I don’t know anyone and the people dissipate into the airport. I had a rather long layover, of 7 hours, so it was the perfect opportunity to re-explore this fun, wonderful city. Since I am traveling alone, I can disappear for a while, offline, for a little excursion.

I have been to Copenhagen many times, so I know how to get to the central station from the airport. I know how to walk to the museum, and then take buses to the less touristic parts of the city. On a warm sunny day, people are out sunning themselves, and going about their day. Millions of people ride bikes in Copenhagen, and there are traffic jams of bikes instead of cars. The buses have a hard time turning right, because of the constant streams of bicycles in the right lanes. These are not the expensive trendy bicycles that people ride in San Francisco. These are normal people riding normal bikes, getting to work, and doing their errands. I hope this is the future of major cities; full of bikes instead of combustion engines.

I stopped at one of my favorite museums, Ny Carlbergs Glyptotek, with its tropical courtyard and paintings of Gaugin and Danish impressionists. It is so close to the central station, and a nice quiet place to breathe after a long flight. Then I got hungry, and I wanted some vegan Ethiopian food, so I took bus 66 to Ma’eb restaurant in a more ethnically diverse neighborhood. I chose this instead of going to Christiania, which in my mind has become mainstream “alternative”.

I love walking around the canals and seeing the boats. I walk by a café called “Slice of San Francisco” run by a San Francisco woman married to a Dane. They sell burritos and sandwiches. Then it is time to go back to the airport, and I get a little nervous because the trains are running late. Now that passports are required to enter Sweden, as a mechanism to stem the immigrants, trains between Denmark and Sweden are delayed. Luckily the security line at the airport is short, and I make it easily for my flight to Vilnius. How refreshing to be in a country where the security lines are short, where trains go right into the terminal, and people happily ride bicycles in the city. This is happy Denmark on a sunny day.

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Gedimino Pilis in the morning in Vilnius

 

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The Controversial abandoned Soviet-era Sports Palace sits in the center of the old Jewish cemetery. Now it is used as strange soviet movie set.

Now I am in Vilnius at home. I immediately see friends and family and re-enter my life here. There is work to do, and people to see. This will be another summer of research and travel. I will update the blog regularly.

 

 

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