Feeling rotten about Denmark...
Greetings from Copenhagen-
The Lord and Master and I arrived late yesterday evening from Dublin after a long delay at Heathrow. Security issues delayed our flight - some discrepancy with the bags according to the airline agent. It's hard to understand why a trip of 1000 miles would take all day long and then some, but there you are. Welcome to the post 9/11 world.
Copenhagen is a beautiful city, a very interesting blend of the modern and the old world, quaint yet trendy at the same time. The weather has been sucky - chilly and drizzling pretty much all day. People have been friendly, by and large, but I haven't seen any marked signs of Danish pride or any evidence of the citizenry looking like they are ready to take their country back. It's been kind of weird to tell you the truth. I guess I expected more from people. More outrage, more Danish pride, more patriotism. Something. I have read that the Danes loved their flag but there's not much evidence of it. I'm wearing my Remember 9-11 lapel pin on my coat and have only gotten one comment from a merchant in one of the stores we visited. The woman was very nice, very friendly and quite chic. She read the pin and we made eye contact. "Ahh - American," she said. "It is so important that we remember those who perished." I nodded in return and said, "It is also important that we never let those who advocate Islamic law take over our countries." Our eyes met again and hers were kind of tearing up - I went on to tell her that we had come to visit Denmark to support them after the cartoon controversy. For sammenhold. She nodded and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze. This was all done in soft voices and furtive movements, so as not to attract notice. It was weird but it felt good to know that there was someone here that had an opinion one way or the other.
Regarding the Muslim presence here, so far it's been limited to a surly cabdriver and random groups of swarthy males wearing the keffiyah wrapped around their necks seen strolling about the Stroget. The women are all wearing headscarves and also travel in small groups but the Stroget seems to be pretty much the Fisherman's Wharf of Denmark, in other words a tourist ghetto. I did see some posters for some kind of Muslim rap concert, featuring the 'Turban' and 'Mandingo'. Lots of old hippies rambling around and we haven't even made it to Christiansted yet. Needless to say, I would feel VERY uncomfortable waving around my Mohammed in his exploding turban t-shirt here. Now what does that tell you?
In addition, technical problems have abounded. I have attempted three posts and all of them have gotten zapped because of a power surge or problem with my converter. In addition, my camera's transformer got zapped and is no longer working, therefore my camera is dead in the water as well. Oh well.
The good news - the Carlsberg pilsener is excellent.
Keeping this short to avoid being zapped again. OAN there is an Arla Foods facility across the street from my hotel and I see Jylands-Posten billboards everywhere I go. The English weekly, The Copenhagen Post is the source for news. Europe is crying out for FOX News or some facsimile thereof. Just saying.
I also wanted to post a slick image but was restricted from accessing Google Image. It might contain harmful images - dang talk about a nanny state. I'm over it....
