Copenhagen, Denmark

COPENHAGEN! Unlike Sweden, Denmark seemed a little edgier and less...IKEA. The Danes were a little more radical in thought. The Swedes were about home and hearth and being cozy and making your home really Merimekko and inviting for tons of fika and quality bonding time... the Danish just want to fng DESIGN! and ride their bikes fast! throughout town. (with to-go cups!)

Mood board: snowflake, space shuttle, glacier, killer whale, icicle, monolith.

One of the highlights of Denmark started with our hotel, the Bella Sky. We were retardedly lost en route to finding our hotel but once we saw it looming ominously against the sky like some spaceship, all angst was erased immediately. I despise the word epic but that's what it was.

Once inside we kind of couldn't believe our luck at booking the equivalent of what Art Center would look like if it branded a hotel–in the future. But for the Danes the Future is Now! Rad!

It was pristine, precious, and pretentious in all the right ways. Nothing was arbitrary, you could tell every choice made was probably considered half a dozen times before even making it to Round 1. From the light fixtures to the impeccable furniture to the signage to the weird and unexpected color choices throughout all the way down to the tiniest thing like the shape of the lights for the elevators (diamonds!). Everything made us freak out. It was truly a brain blow experience to be able to stay at a place that was super into design. Which leads to the next point...

Inside HAY! The most incredible store we've ever seen.

Copenhagen ended up being an industrial designer's dream come true. There was a paragraph in Cindy's book that explained Denmark as a nation "obsessed with design", and it was clear from the moment we landed at the Copenhagen Airport.

There's a lot of whimsy in their aesthetics. Their use of color especially interested me because more often than not it was really playful and sort of quirky and random.

Also everything we ever knew about the term Danish Modern was blown out the window. 'Mid-century modern' is really trendy in Silverlake...but the Danes have moved the hell on from that shit and iconic pieces from that era were found only at the Dansk Design Center which showcased historical pieces of importance.

I guess the best way to describe what I mean is...everything in Copenhagen looked 'mid-century modern' but it wasn't. It was all new, and the only reason it was reminiscent of that style was because... well that IS the Danish style period. The standards for good design* was so high there that their most base design would be considered stellar design here.

Everywhere we went, there were well designed chairs. It got gratuitous after a while.

*Kind of like how no matter what, New York cannot do Mexican food, even the absolute worst Mexican food joint in LA would be considered the best! if eaten in NY, because their shit is that sub par. I believe I heard the words "What is a quesedilla?" uttered in a movie theater in NY once. I think I snapped my neck from turning so fast to see who the fuck didn't know what a quesedilla was.

Anyway, the next topic.. something both coasts have...

The bike lanes were something to be envied.

I'd been told that the Danes were big on bikes but you had to see it to believe it. I'd never seen that many bikes in my life, it was almost ridiculous how many bikes there were.  (The photo doesn't do justice...it was chosen only for aesthetic value but imagine that scene copied and pasted 50 times.) Bikes were more than a beloved hobby, it was a major means of transportation. Everyone rode their bikes, businessmen in suits, hot dads with babies, fashionable girls, children, elderly, cats etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is, bikes weren't just for the tatooed fixie riding ' Bicycle Rights!' agro bike messenger, or 'I'm going to get really drunk tonight so I'll take my bike to Cabo Cantina' resident of Venice Beach...It was for everyone.

Here's the most shocking fact: The majority of these bikes didn't have a lock. okay. *edit in 2017, they DO have locks, hidden in the back wheel portion of the bicycle, so that the wheels lock. They're so inconspicious that I didn't notice them back then. Still, you can just pick up a bike and go off with it here in LA, so it's still pretty awesome that a mere wheel lock counts as a lock there.

That's saying a lot about the city as a whole. It means people are honest. A theory proved when Cindy dropped her nice leather jacket on the ground at one point and after backtracking about ten minutes we found it placed on a nearby fence out of harm's way from the bike lane. Drop a jacket like that in Spain and it's definitely an adios.

Cindy and I rode bikes for an hour one morning and as I attempted to ride single handed, I careened into a field of wildflowers and s-l-owly fell over. Which enabled Cindy to take a snapshot. Betch!

Tall boys and bikes. Just sayin. (And if you look closely, Mariash--a Frenchie!)