July 9
Today we started bright and early at 9 AM with a meeting at Gehl Architects. The firm is a global leader in urban design and apparently renowned by architects across the world. Karolina’s presentation for the first hour gave us more insight into the history of Copenhagen’s streets and their evolution from car-oriented to bike-oriented. I also learned that Gehl is working in Eugene on a redesign of the intersection of 13th and University. Judging by their previous work, I’m hoping they can complete that redesign sooner rather than later. Next, we went out on a walk with Andreas, exploring Copenhagen’s infrastructure alongside his valuable historic insights. Andreas explained many of the political complications behind implementing the city’s bike lanes. Bike infrastructure is not implemented in one fell swoop; removing car infrastructure (parking, lanes, etc) remains just as unpopular here as it is back in the states. Sometimes placing new infrastructure is a battle. Occasionally infrastructure is opted against. Andreas showed us a street which used traffic calming measures instead of the standard cycle track or bicycle lanes. Though prominent officials wanted a cycle track on the street, the city opted against it, determining that it would adversely effect the character of the street.
This was both surprising and expected; surprising that Copenhagen would elect not to build cycling infrastructure, yet expected that the city would make the most pragmatic decision. Along the way, Andreas also pointed out a number of interesting historical and cultural factoids. We saw what is colloquially referred to as a “fixer house,” where serious drug addicts are provided with clean needles and a space to use. The goal is to keep these users off of the street and to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
While projects like these are ambitious, they aren’t curbing all of Copenhagen’s drug issues. We saw several empty nitrous oxide canisters, which are inhaled to deoxygenize the brain and produce a high. These canisters are popular among the city’s party scene. Such sights, along with Andreas’ commentary, debunked our prevailing theory that Copenhagen is a cycling utopia.
Following our tour with Andreas, myself and some fellow classmates headed out on a ride across town with no destination in particular. We ended up at the former Royal Gardens, now a sprawling city park with man-made canals meandering through a former king’s displays of opulence. The park is beautiful (and filled with birds!) and many locals and tourists were seen relaxing among its grassy plains. 
After a long walk through the park, Dylan and I headed back, wandering through the streets of Fredericksburg and stumbling upon some single-family housing and neighborhoods. It was a nice discrepancy from the multi-use housing present throughout much of central Copenhagen. Eventually we made it back to the hostel through rush hour bicycle traffic and got ready for dinner at Puk. The restaurant is the third oldest restaurant in the city according to the host Phillip, who put on a show for us all. As it happened, the show included free shots of schnapps, so Phillip quickly became a popular guy. I would give it five stars on Yelp and return for dinner tomorrow if I could. Oh, and the food was delicious. If you’re ever in Copenhagen, give Phillip a visit and ask for some schnapps (or a trivia question).