Denmark is a beautiful but pretty cold country. My mom was saying that this year in particular they had to wear a light jacket through out the year … even in summer months. When we visited Denmark in mid-september – the weather was cold n windy. We couldn’t see much in Copenhagen … well not because we stayed there for 4 days (4 days are quite enough to see a place as a tourist)  – but actually we were visiting our parents and so most of the time we’re chatting – watching movies –  did cooking or went shopping … mom’s fridge was packed with “tiger prawns” – salmon fish – fresh fruit blended yogurt – ice cream – pudding – pasta and so many countless things – couldn’t even taste them all !! i thought she had them esp. for us but later came to know that her fridge is always packed with all these food. If i had stayed there long – i would have bust due to weight gain … but off course my parents are there for over 3 years now but they have not gain any weight … they eat as much as they like n do their workout by going for long walks – that is the secret i guess !

This is a nearby park … where my parents goes for their normal walk. i gues when they feel lazy or the weather is not so fine or they have little time -they come to this park. There is a big pond – there they fed the ducks n swans. My mom wanted me to see the fountain (which is in the middle of the pond) as in winter the huge pond freeze and so the fountain doesn’t work. Mostly people come to this park for walking – jogging or to feed the ducks … and off course some are like me – who goes there to enjoy the nature ! There is a stadium next to the park … n when there is any game at the stadium – more people can be seen in the park.

i liked the texture created by the fallen yellow n brown leaves on the green grass.

The structure n architacture of the building is different and unique in Denmark. i have been to Rome – Norway – Switzerland – France … but haven’t seen this sort of architecture – in France i had seen something similar. i will try to explain the design in words : a block of buildings (mostly 3/4 storey buildings) will be arranged or joint together to form a cubical complex – there would be one or two passage to enter the cubical – which is suppose to be the entrance gate for the building complex. As you enters the cubical – you will find a huge open area with bicycle  parking and a park like area where children can play and the adults can have their little outing or get together or little bar-be-que !! And car parking would be benath this area. My  parents stays  in Osterbro and most of the building are of this fashion. There’re normal buildings but very few … and you can recognise it as they will be 8/10 storey high buildings. The benefit of the cubical building complex : good ventilation and each room gets good sun light … even at night these rooms get enough light (from the street lamp) that one can comfortablely sit and chat or do few kitchen stuff. Their street light are different too … can be seen in the photo below – they seem to be hanging in the air – off course with the help of wire.

This is the entrance to the cubical complex. There were two similar entrance at the complex where my parents stay.

 

This is the open area where children n adults can have fun. There’re swings for the children n behind the fence there is place for bar-be-que n benches … where you can have your get together.

 

This is the entrance for the building in which my parents apartment is.

 

These were few buildings … that i captured while going to the semi- lake.

 

The design n architecture of the buildings are  so different yet has a european feeling.

The pic below is the semi-lake ( semi-lake because i guess it’s man-made).  It was getting dark by the time we reached there. It quite far from my parents house. It took us atleast 40 mins.  by foot and my mom walks very fast  …. and i mean very fast. It would have been a huge lake if it had not been divided in to 3 parts. They are divided by the roads. In winter the lakes  freeze … my mom was saying that they walk on that frozen lake and the locals  ice skate on it.

my mom

Not only their building but their choice of transportation is unique too. People of Denmark use bicycle to go from one place to another … if they’re going to office – to school – for shopping  or going to another state or neighbouring country. Their bus – metro – train or ship (ferry) have the facility to take bicycle on  board  …. so it’s easy for the people to carry it with them to any other place – suppose they want to go to Sweden – they’ll ride their bicycle to the ship port … carry it in the ferry – then get down at Sweden with their bicycle – roam around – park it at the hotel (there’re cycle parking normally everwhere) and then roam around the next day and get back when they finish their tour. Almost 90% of the Denmark people use bicycle as transportation. They have special lanes only for bicycles along the car lanes – in winter they’ll remove ice from bicycle lane first and then clear the car lane – their priotrity are the bicycle users.

They’ve every facilities that are necessary for the bicycle users – even at the lake they have slides for the cycles and steps for the normal people to climb.

Another thing that was surprising was … that if you cross a road from zebra-crossing – you do not have to see your left and right for cars.  Off course you have to watch out for the cycle riders – they’re on the first lane from the footpath …  otherwise you can cross the street without thinking twice – even it the car is coming at 90 km/hr … the car will stop for you. Yes, the people of Denmark are sensible too, they don’t cross road just to have fun !! But be careful – this doesn’t happen where there are street light.

Another thing that was more sad than surprising  was that most of the people have apple trees or pear trees or chreey trees or blueberry bushes at their garden. This is not the sad part – off course … the sad part is that they don’t eat the fruits … they fall on the ground and rot !  They won’t sell neither they’ll eat. i have seen this in Rome too – our landlady had a orange tree …  she didn’t  pluck the orange neither any one else did. So it’s just wasted. In Denmark too it is wasted … no body pluck or eat them – not even those that are fallen on the ground. The above pic. is from the garden at my father’s office !

Visiting a country for few days are not enough to know it or to see it … but the things we saw and learnt was memorious – i meam memorable! We really had a good time – off course meeting our parents was the best thing 🙂