9 October 1999 Stroget is a pedestrian-only shopping way filled with Danish treasures like Georg Jensen, Royal Copenhagen Porcelain, Royal Copenhagen Crystal, Rosenthal and Illum’s Bolighus. I visited the House of Birger Christensen, a boutique selling Prada, Chanel, Sonia Rykiel, Jill Sander and Donna Karen. Hermes and Gucci have tiny boutiques along Stroget. Several souvenir shops owned and run by Chinese immigrants attract flocks of tourists. I also noticed a Scandinavian sweater store and, of course, McDonalds (two in fact), Burger King, Pizza Hut, several English and Irish pubs and a lone Danish pub.

As we walked we also saw high school students raising money in an annual project – this year for Southern Sudan and we came upon Ocalan supporters rallying on his behalf.

Bicycles swerved around us on the streets. Copenhagen, more than any other city we’ve visited except for those in China, has people relying on bikes to move around this flat area. Copenhagen encourages bikers with special lanes just for them, accessible frequent parking areas and even free bikes (which require a deposit to ensure return).