København

I'm lucky.

While I work hard and put in two solid days of nearly 10 hours of meetings, I also have the good fortune of being able to "play" in some amazing cities.  This week Denmark, next week South Africa.

After two days of board meetings at UNICEF this week for a group I am involved in called People that Deliver (a global partnership aimed at promoting workforce excellence in supply chain management in order to meet tomorrow's health challenges in low- and middle-income countries), I was able to spend Friday night and Saturday in Copenhagen with my friend, colleague, and quasi-Dane, Jane Feinberg.

First, a quick shout out to the work part...I feel privileged to be part of a Board that includes representatives from UNICEF, USAID, RTT- a major South African warehousing and distribution company, Global Fund, Univ. of Canberra, Univ. of Southern California, University of Michigan, Ministries of Health of Indonesia, Namibia, and Liberia, a French NGO, Bioforce, and IntraHealth International. It's such a smart group of hard-working people who really believe in a cause. It was a great two days of face-to-face meetings with the usually virtual group. And, as a bonus, we got a tour of UNICEF's brand new facilities- a gift from the Danish government!  Totally state of the art place that ships over $2.1 billion worth of life-saving immunizations, medicines, "school in a box" kits, and many other supplies around the globe to communities in need. Check out the beautiful and informative annual report of the Supplies Division here! Here are a few pics of our tour of their 6 month old warehouse- enough space for 36,000 pallets and over 25 meters high (82 feet) and nearly all automated (except for the final packing)!

After our meeting ended on Friday evening, I was free to finally see more of this old city (15th century at least!) with my good friend, Jane Feinberg.  Jane's been here a bit over two years- first at a post with JSI at UNFPA and now heading up JSI's one-woman Copenhagen office ;).

Friday night, Jane and her beau Mads (pronounced Mess), met me at my hotel with a rental bike in tow for me.  Nearly 40% of Danes in Copenhagen commute to work on a bikes and something like over 1.2 million kilometers (745,000 miles!) are biked EVERY DAY in Copenhagen!  Who knew!  The city is one of the most bike-friendly in the world with wide bike lanes and special lights even at stoplights. We stopped for a quick beer at dive-y bar popular with the Greenlanders (which who also knew that Greenland used to be a Danish colony up until essentially the early 2000's!).  88% of Greenlanders are of Inuit descent...so think of the three of us being in bar with some Inuit folks who were really enjoying dancing and their beverages- maybe a little too much!

Jane and I were off to dinner in the Meatpacking District at Pate Pate (a former pate factory apparently)- where we did NOT have pate, but did enjoy good food and beers at this buzzing restaurant. Late night bike ride home to the hotel to rest up for a great day of site-seeing on Saturday.

So Saturday morning's weather didn't bode well for a day on the bikes.  However, when in Denmark, do as the Danes- keep riding!  Mads and Jane met me at 10 a.m. here at where you can see the Royal Theater in the distance (the dome).  Kudos to Mads who had been out late the night before (or that morning) and still rallied to hang with two chatty American ladies all day! We headed to a nice indoor/outdoor market area (think a nice Dean & Deluca with fun outdoor farmers' market- which today featured specialties from southern Denmark). We quickly got some delicious coffee, rolls, and two amazing Swedish-style cinnamon rolls with cardamom- amazing!

Overcast but not raining, we headed to Assitens Cemetery where a few Danish notables are laid to rest- Soren Kierkegaarde (did you know Kierkegaarde means church garden?) and Hans Christian Andersen and others.  Was more like a beautiful park with lots of people walking/biking and pretty landscaping.  Apparently in the summer it's a popular place to picnic too.

Then a little shopping, pretty rides by the lakes and canals, a stop under a door frame when the rain really started coming down, and then off to the infamous "Little Mermaid" based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson. In the background you can see a canal tour boat- they come 'round about every 20 minutes full of a new crop of tourists ready with their cameras.

Our lattes and cinnamon rolls were wearing thin in our bellies so we made our way to lunch.  En route we rode through the Royal Palace drive (yes, we rode right around in the circle drive!) by where the Queen and Prince live! In the background of the photo below you'll see the all marble and copper-clad dome of Frederiks Kirke (Frederik’s Church).

And then finally the sun comes out, and we head into "Told & Snaps" (pronounced Tol & Snahps) for an amazing and very typical Danish lunch (maybe on the fancier end though :).  We each had a delicious beer and snaps (not like schnapps that you think of in the U.S.) and two smørrebrøds (an open-faced sandwich). So snaps...a strong alcohol that is sipped during a meal. Many varieties and this restaurant made many of their own. Mine had hits of vanilla and brandy- was delicious and strong!  Warmed you right up!

We each had a smørrebrøds with some kind of herring. Mine was traditional- pickled, served with egg, potato, an aioli, chives and tomato. Deliciousness again :)

Second round of smørrebrøds- Mads and I both ordered a pork loin roast - amazing most yummy cut of meat with the crisp skin still on- with red cabbage and cucumber.  Jane had fish with shrimp- our bellies were full and happy. And a traditional baked apple, cream and cookie dessert to wrap it up- couldn't be happier!

To round out our day, we had a little more biking and sights to see. A trip to Copenhagen wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Christiana enclave/neighborhood. "Freetown Christiana" was formed in 1971 when some free-spirited Danes squatted in an old military area.  Some 800 people live there in a range of housing from shacks to nice houses, and it's got its own laws/regulations and is somewhat independent of the "State" in Denmark. Think hippy, think lots of pot being sold (I guess legally though I guess that's been in debate), no photos allowed, and free living.

Our trio was tiring out and called it a full day! 9 hours of being out and about- and exercise to boot!  I really am grateful for my tour guides, Jane and Mads, and for being lucky enough to travel to this beautiful city for work!  Not a bad gig sometimes :)  Now to pack up head home and off to South Africa next week!