Popsicles Strictly Forbidden

Interesting place, Copenhagen.  This is the first time I’ve been here when it hasn’t been wintertime, which means basically that this is my first time to actually see the city (because you can really only see so much between the hours of 10 and 3).  So far I like it, but it keeps surprising me with odd little touches.  For example, I noticed on the bus ride home today that they have added something to the typical “no food or drink” pictures of a coke and a pizza slice with a slash through the middle:  a popsicle.  So, for those of you who find yourselves enjoying such a treat as the bus arrives, and think, “hm, well it’s not technically a food, and it’s not technically a drink,” you may not take your popsicle on the Copenhagen buses.

Yesterday my sister and I were enjoying a hot chocolate in a lively square, discussing how Danish culture had changed in the last 20 years, and how remarkable it was that European cultures, for being so close together, varied so widely, when the subject of the Dutch “soft ice” came up.  I explained what it was, and how I found it rather unappetizing, and she said that, in fact, the Danes had “soft ice” as well.  She said that, while she hadn’t had it in a quite a while, it sounded very similar to what I had described.  Worried that this trend was not simply a Dutch oddity but was in fact pan-European (or at least threatening to be), I decided to investigate.  So this afternoon, on my walk through tourist central (which has some unpronounceable name that looks like Fredericksburg) I tried it.  Good news!  First of all, you can have it completely dunked in either cocoa powder or little chocolate bits, which would, in my opinion, make even the Dutch soft ice bearable.  Second of all (and most importantly) it is not frozen whipped cream.  It’s not really soft serve either, so I’m not really sure what the heck it is, but it’s not bad.  Especially if you get it in the chocolate-dipped cone.  So tonight I will sleep, worry-free.

I’m trying to figure out what’s different about Copenhagen.  I’ve been to several European capitals and major cities, and for some reason this one strikes me as different… but I cannot for the life of me put my finger on why.  First I thought it was because I hadn’t seen any tourists.  But today I was in tourist central and something still felt different.  I thought perhaps it was quieter than other cities, but again, today nipped that theory in the bud.  People are outside, sitting at cafes, riding bikes, enduring the hordes of tourists, just like any other city.  Are the Danes just quieter, and I’m accustomed to louder cultures?  No, the French are pretty soft-spoken (in general, I mean).  But something sets Copenhagen apart, for me at least, and I have 3 days left to figure out what it is.