Trip Highlights - Week #4/Part 2

Leaving Copenhagen early tomorrow morning so unless something amazing happens tonight, this will be my second and last post from Denmark and will take the form of various musings about more things I have observed.

The Marriott is certainly a nice enough hotel – more upscale than most US Marriott properties, it is regarded as one of the best in town. Unfortunately, it is still very American. This was demonstrated by the room service menu (club sandwich, burgers, pizza, almost nothing particularly Danish) and breakfast which is also largely American in its offerings. I had the opportunity to try the room service menu after I went down to try to get into the election night party again (see my first post from Copenhagen). There were still several hundred people waiting to get in, and since I had to get up early to speak at the conference the next morning, I just bagged it. I couldn't stay up to watch the returns anyway as the very first ones on the East Coast wouldn't come in until 2AM local time at the earliest.

Most of the taxis are Mercedes, as is the case in much of Europe, but it’s still nice to ride in style.

There is an office building being built across the street. The billboards advertise it as Copenhagen’s premiere location for business. At the bottom, it reads “For mere information, call . . .” I guess that either they mispelled "more" or they just want to give you a little more information, but not too much.

Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the MIT Media Lab and author of the bestselling Being Digital was one of the keynote speakers at the conference. He spoke about his One Laptop Per Child initiative which, although it has received some critical press, is still a pretty cool idea. Watch for the “give a laptop, get a laptop” campaign starting November 17th - just in time for the holidays.

When I first shaved my head about 8 years ago, I drew a lot of looks because I was one of the first. Today, that look is so ubiquitous, I just blend-in in the States, but not here. Not a lot of shiny heads in Copenhagen so I am, again, drawing looks.

Saw an Automatic External Defibrillator at the airport – the ones that are appearing in more and more public places. In the US, they are designated with a sign reading “AED”. Here, the sign says “Heartstarter.” Quite apt.

Cars pull over and stop about 3 blocks ahead of emergency vehicles here, even if there is no one else on a 3-lane road. That’s cool.

Went shopping here today, and every single salesperson in every store (they are very solicitous and I never had to go find someone) spoke to me in Danish at first. On top of that, many people have stopped me to ask for directions, including in French. Happily, I’ve been able to help many of them. I guess I blend in with the locals.

Tried another typical Danish treat – a Fledbolle. Think a gigantic Mallomar with a thinner base crust, fluffier marshmallow, and covered in dark chocolate with a selection of added flavors including pistachio, coconut, mocha, and caramel.

That’s about it. Considering taking the train to Malmo, Sweden for dinner just because I can (about a 30 minute ride) and to say that I was in another country, but have to check the return schedules – I have to wake up early tomorrow to catch my flight.