Copenhagen: From Bikes to Business

Last week I spent a few days in Copenhagen. The last time I was in that city was 1972, when I was 10, travelling through Germany, Denmark and Sweden with my family, visiting various foreign exchange students who had spent time in our home in the US. What I remembered about Denmark was Tivoli Garden and the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, and Legoland, found in Billund, Jutland, on the mainland of Denmark.

Rather than a tourist visit, my shuttle to the island city on the Bering Sea was to spend some time at a business conference, Financial Information Summit 2009, sponsored by Inside Market Data and Inside Reference Data, two industry magazines targeting the financial services industry. It was also an opportunity to meet a member of the European Central Bank, who is presently working on the bank's response to the global financial crisis, and a potential employer for me.

In between conference sessions, I got a chance to take a quick walk downtown to reconnect with the memories of my youth. I put on my hat and gloves (glad I remembered them) and headed out in the biting wind with a map in hand. I found Tivoli Garden quite easily, it is an outdoors amusement garden in the center of town, but, no surprise, it was not open. It opens on April 4 (as Legoland will, according to its website). I took a few pictures, and then followed my map, to see the Town Hall, wander down a pedestrian way filled with the typical tourist stores, and then to the canals, to see the Parliament building, and the Bourse (Stock Market).

I found some churches (Kirke) along the way, and saw plenty of bicyclists on the streets. Despite the biting wind, many riders were gloveless and hatless - it must feel like spring to them! The sun was out, although there were snow squalls later in the afternoon. I found a coffee store along the way to enjoy a latte (spending 36 Danish Krone on it! I don't want to know how much that was.), but didn't see any Starbucks downtown (there was one in the airport - paid 40 DK for that latte). A curiousity for me was the number of hot dog carts downtown; clearly a common take away lunch for the natives. The desk clerk at the hotel told me that a typical Danish dessert was ice cream in a waffle - but we have those in the States too, so I demurred.

As I headed back to the hotel, I got a little lost on a small piece of land surrounded by canals, called Christianshavn, presumably after Hans Christian Anderson, but following my map, I discovered the small park across from the hotel (which would have been a great place to run outside; I had worked out in the hotel fitness center). I never made it to see the Little Mermaid, but having seen it once, figured that it would live on in my memory. Besides, my nephew, Nathan, had visited Copenhagen with my parents on an Elderhostel Grandparents/Grandkids tour several years ago, and had brought me back a souvenir of his visit, the Little Mermaid in a bottle. She lives on.

The conference itself was a wonderful opportunity to get back into the mode of networking and talking business - something I've been a little out of in the past few months. And I put on a suit! It's been a while since I did that too. I met several folks from London with whom I will keep in touch, and hope to continue conversations with the ECB, in hopes of giving them a hand with their project too.

In my previous post, I mused on the fact that it seems my adventure has morphed into my real life. That is certainly true about my move to France, and living and creating a life in Nice. But I have a new adventure, that of deciding what the next chapter of my work life will be. It started in January with writing an article on the financial crisis, and the conference in Copenhagen was an outgrowth of that project. I have other irons in the fire; I'm keeping an eye out for opportunities, and will continue to pursue them. Where will I land? I have no idea at this moment, but this adventure is just beginning.