Copen ♥ hagen

Big preparations over here: we're heading to Hvar island in Croatia on Monday. We rented a flat by the beach and will spend 2 weeks there. Packing sucks, especially for this long. Especially the food part. When will I learn how to be frugal and essential with my clothes? Argh!

I really would like to blog about the second part of my Scandinavia travelogue before I get back with other million pics from Hvar (one of the 10 beautiful islands and therefore photogenic of the world). I wonder if it's possible. In the meanwhile, let me add something about Copenaghen. It really deserves a post of its own.

The thing we liked more about this capital is that we could tour it with bicycles. You rent one for about 90 Kroner per day in any of the renting agencies located everywhere downtown and you can explore everything without getting tired. There are also free City Bikes attached to racks in high-tourist areas. All you need is to insert a 20 Kroner coin and you'll get it back when you return the bike. They run out easily of course, and I'm still in disbelief that the system is free!

The city is totally cyclable, ca va sans dire, for bicycle is a transport there, with special lanes on most streets, and special bike traffic signals at most intersections. Something very visionary for those like me who live in a terrible bike friendly city.

Parked bikes at Copenaghen Central Station

So bicycles become decorative, they're everywhere and perfectly integrated in the urban contest. You can rarely take a bike-free photo while out and about ...

The bikes we rented, by the way :)

It's amazing and terribly interesting to watch, for it's something I don't see everyday. Women on bikes wearing their stilettos, young guys speed-riding while putting a smartphone to their ears, parents pushing attached strollers with babies who are conscious, notice or don't even care. And in between, a mass of distract, unexperienced tourists with a happy smile on their faces, trying to take advantage of this ultimate experience whilst not blocking traffic (me, eventaully, was among them he he).

"The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart." Iris Murdoch

Some famous people weren't new to bicycles, Albert Einstein the scientist to begin with, who said "I thought of that while riding my bike," on his theory of relativity. (credits) 

Einstein riding his bicycle in Santa Barbara

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."  Early in his schooling at Munich University in Germany, he would take bicycle tours with fellow scientists to contemplate the world at large. And during his final years, while at Princeton University during the early 1950s, when the automobile was the mode of transportation du jour, Einstein chose his trusty steed over any other modern engineering marvels. credits

Mark Twain was another fan of bicycles. 

source

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live."
- "Taming the Bicycle"

Here are some other photos of famous people on their bicycles (all taken via ibike) 

Audrey Hepburn

The Beatles

Elvis Presley

Least but not last, here's a shot of mine ready to kick off a biking ride on my own. 

I may not be a celebrity, but I just love riding my mountain bike, I've always had. And I can't wait to ride some more in Hvar in the next coming weeks. Way to go!