Last Day in Copenhagen (July 12th)

July 12

Our last day in Copenhagen was a relatively calm one. A 10:30 class meeting allowed us all to sleep in after (for some) a long night out on a Danish house boat. (Side note: Danish people are really open and friendly. I can’t imagine being randomly invited onto someones house boat in the US.) After the meeting, we had about an hour of free time before our meeting with BIG, one of the world’s most venerable architecture firms. BIG has designed buildings such as VIA 57 West in New York City and the Lego Museum in Billund, Denmark. They are also the current project designers for Two World Trade Center, Washington Redskins’ new stadium, and Google’s Mountain View California campus. The presentation with BIG was… interesting. No doubt their projects were impressive and grand, with a strong focus on sustainability and livability. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were trying to impress us in some way, as if to say: “Look at all the massive things we’ve built around the world. You would be so lucky to work for this company.” It felt very similar to other large corporations I’ve toured in the past; there remained an underlying feeling of superiority and grandeur that felt rather off-putting.

After the meeting and a brief siesta, I headed out to the water with Kyra and Kelsey. Copenhagen’s harbor has a number of swimming spots, some of which are constructed pools staffed with lifeguards to protect swimmers. These are similar to public pools in the US, except they are built directly into the harbor’s ocean water, which is “clean enough to bathe in” according to many locals and officials. Think of them like public pools if they were constructed directly in your local river (presuming that river were exceptionally clean). The pool we went to had a large jumping platform, which people of all ages used to perform small stunts and daring feats. One guy dove in after walking to the edge on his hands. (I think the lifeguards here are a bit relaxed on the rules.) The platform, as it turned out, was also designed by BIG, so go figure. I too jumped off the high jump, with less than stellar results:

It’s much higher from up there than it looks, okay?

Tomorrow we bike to Helsingor, approximately 35 miles in one day. That’s the longest single day ride I’ve ever done, so I’m carbo-loading this evening by eating cheap but excessive amounts of pesto pasta. Here’s to burning all those calories off by tomorrow evening.