DAY 1

20th June 2022
Generator Hostel,
Copenhagen, Denmark

Our kick-off meeting was at 15:30 in the hostel lobby. We were given our bike keys and our official assignment was to follow a local and observe their biking manners and behaviors. Be subtle about it, they said. We were given maps and were asked to locate a park with an airplane symbol in the Nørrebro neighborhood and be there by 18:00 for a pizza dinner. The rush hour had just started and I was caught in it. I followed someone and lost track of them somewhere over a bridge. I picked someone else and followed them to another major intersection. It was hard to keep up! There were a lot of people getting out of work and going home! The crowd just kept getting bigger and bigger! The bike lanes and bike infrastructure were designed so well that I could just follow my person and not worry about getting hit by a car! (Well, other than keeping to the right and letting other people rush past, of course!) It was a pure test of my strength and mental fortitude in keeping up with the biking culture and locals in a rush to get places. I saw so many bikes in that short period than in my entire lifetime! And different bikes at that! There were parents biking with their children (in cargos in front of their bikes), people getting their groceries, people biking home after work, and people going places. It was overwhelming to keep up and not know all the nuances of biking in a big city. There were a few locals who were frustrated with me going too slow for their liking and they rang their bells consistently to let me know that as well. They also rang their bells to let me know they were passing me.

View from my hostel room

Our bike ride after the pizza party took us through a cemetery in the middle of the city. It was lined with trees and hedges making it cool to ride through.

Apartment with a cooling tower in the stairwell! This was such an unexpected find! The brickwork was charming and comforting at the same time. I could almost hear the air rushing through the tower from the street.

Streets without cars or motorbikes!

Pretty neighborhood overlooking the canal

It was quite the adventure following someone not knowing where to go or where I’ll end up and having to find the street names on buildings (there are no poles with street names in Copenhagen – all the street names are on buildings to save space on the road and save material on making those poles) and looking it up on a map that’s not in English and having to mentally draw and map routes to get to where you actually want to go. 

Phew! What a day!

This was my view when I went to bed at 23:00.

Got a little taste of the midnight sun.