Cufflinks - le collezioni

Observe: The latest additions to the collection. I thought the monkey ones were particularly a propos, n'est pas? :) I used one of the collar stays to raise them.

Purchased at Neiman Marcus. On sale of course :)
Note the back. BANANA !




















Regardez, les renards.
Look , the foxes.












I fell in love with these at the Thomas Pink Store. Aren't they the cutest? :)

Bike purchase - take 2

Left with an unpleasant aftertaste from my first mail order bike experience, I re-read all the previous research done so far on the subject of folding bikes and came across the following review.

I was smitten. How could I have missed this? Clicking through to the company site, I settled on the Donwtube FS in orange.

The bike arrived this past Monday, and unlike my previous disaster was completely assembled, although also came in a big box.

Today I finally picked it up from Revolution Bicycle who were kind enough to give it a full tune up and adjustment. I safely biked from South Station to home in under 15 minutes. Pure joy!

Let the good times roll!

Mail order bike ... or how to have a headache and live to tell about it

OK. So European adventure over (for now), I've been focusing on my other life altering decision: biking! As I was packing to go to Europe, I was browsing multiple sites to get an opinion on various types of bikes. I wanted something I would have no problems storing in my 1 bedroom unit and can still bike around town without being marginalized by the big boys on their big mountain bikes or the serious peddlers on their speed bikes. So a folding bike made sense.

I came across a great site, the Folding Cyclist that gave me the information necessary to chose a folding bike suitable for my needs and budget. It would appear that 75% of all folders out there are made by Dahon and sold in a number of stores including REI, LL Bean just to name a few. Upon further research, it would appear that not surprisingly, majority is mass produced in Asia (read China). Dahon by no means sells anything revolutionary so I didn't understand why pay extra. I noticed that there was a bike company out there making big PR, called Citizen Bike.
Citizen's claim to fame is cost. They market their top model for under $300. ($274 to be precise)
Seemed like a no-brainer. I took the bait and placed an order.

A week went by, and on a fine summer evening I came home to find a huge package waiting at my door. It was the bike. It finally arrived. Oh joy! I was beside myself in excitement. I opened that box faster than you can say "Christmas came early!" (... and I don't even celebrate Christmas, but I digress. :) Oh how quick the excitement was over when I discovered what waited for me inside the giant box. A folded over mess.

The box was clearly damaged in shipping. By the looks of it, it has been dropped several times and the Styrofoam did little to cushion the blow. The rear wheel was clearly bent. Take a deep breath, I told myself. Let's see if this can be fixed once put together. Another 45 minutes later, sweat pouring down my back, I finally managed to assemble this beast together. Unable to test it's function with flat tires, I gave up and decided to wait till the weekend to test it out.

The following weekend, anxious to finish all the errands before leaving for Hamburg the following Friday, I rushed to my local petrol station to get some air into the tires and do some tweaking with the seat and handlebar height. My god, was the seat uncomfortable... I could barely sit on it.. The whole thing felt cheap. I hate to admit it, you get what you paid for. I still managed to straighten out the wheel bend, and take the sucker for a ride along the Charles.. Let's just say my pelvis did not thank me the following morning. Decision has been made: return the beast!

After a number of calls to Citizen's 800 number, I finally managed to get a pre-paid return label and ordered a pick up from FedEx the following day. As I write this, almost 2 weeks later, I am still waiting for a refund. Verbally, Citizen confirmed receipt and is "processing" the refund.

Denmark Day trips

This past wednesday, July 9th, I set off on 1 of 2 planned day trips out of Copenhagen, to get a better flavor for my surroundings.

Destination: Helsingborg, Sweden.

Logic: Would be a nice scenic ride along the coast to a ferry that takes you across to Sweden, where I would drive south through the countryside to Malmo, just across the border from Denmark, and go across Öresund Bridge back to Copenhagen

Check out the video I found on youtube :)

and this one. Did i mention it was like $40 to cross it? And I thought i was being ripped off by MassPike... sheesh.



Was a great trip. Check out the photos of Malmo:
















On the ferry to Helsingborg.

København

København or Copenhaven is the capital of the Danish Kingdom. Being the largest city in Scandinavia - Copenhagen is considered as a centre of culture and arts with plenty of sightseeing and entertainment activities to offer visitors, together with multitude of shopping facilities and the longest pedestrian street system in the world.

And let's not forget: "2008 – Copenhagen no. 1 in the world. Copenhagen is ranked as the best city in the world that offers its residents – THE HIGHEST QUALITY OF LIFE – by the British Magazine Monocle and furthermore the Monocle announces that Copenhagen is also the BEST DESIGN CITY in the world amongst the world’s top 25 cities for quality life.











The editor of Copenhagen-Portal assures that every Copenhagener is surprisingly proud of the title and status their city has obtained by a prominent overseas Magazine." quote courtesy of Copenhagen portal.

Biking: Denmark and Copenhagen especially, has a HUGE biking culture. Everyone is on one. Danish cycling tradition contributes to the nation's happiness. Cycling is a good way to slow down from the stress of daily life. It's environmentally friendly, social and a bike won't kill you if it hits you. Quite some young people in Copenhagen do not even care about obtaining a driver's license. Beside all the psychological advantages, cycling is simply the quickest way to get across the city.

Here is an amusing photo archive of cycle culture in Copenhagen.

OK, down to the logistics. I did all the hotel and like planning back in the States.

Flights: Vayama.com (see link in my links list). Cimber Air (SAS/Lufthansa codeshare) flies CRJs aka regional jets between Hamburg and Copenhagen as well as Stockholm. To my surprise, on a small jet you will find no less that 3 (!) classes of service: Business, Economy Plus and Economy. Across all three, the only difference is free or paid food and beverage service that's not complimentary to Economy only. I was "upgraded" to economy plus and to my surprise for a 40 min flight was offered a meal and choice of beverages. To even greater surprise, the food was better than Lufhansa business class. Gotta love Scandinavian Airlines

Hotels: I've stayed at 2 properties.
First, Bertrams Hotel Guldsmeden was where I spent my first 2 nights in the city. According to Frommer's "This is the newer and more elegant twin of the also-recommended Carlton Hotel Guldsmeden." I would describe the place more of an inn as opposed to a hotel. The rooms have a clear Bali/Asian influence, and that's made clear from the owner's own falling in love with Bali and building a property out there. That is not to say that they forget their Danish roots. The standard room was adequate, but by no means spacious. The queen size bed was quite comfortable and the down duvet was more than amply warm, especially for the Scandinavian summer, where you never know if you are getting sun or rain. I thought the room was a bit stuffy even when left open to air. A note to all American readers, there is no air conditioning, unless you stay at a lux property (think chains Marriott, Radisson, etc) .

Breakfast was not included in my almost US200 per night rate. Not to go on a rant, but I dread the fall of the dollar. Everything from water to hotels is expensive. Almost everywhere you look, the country is comfortable with paying high taxes for the benefit of greater good. Another words, if you want free medical care and cradle to grave support, be prepared to pay US10 for a club sandwich because 25% of that is tax.

Copenhagen is thankfully an easy walking/biking city and heavily encourages everyone to do so. If you do choose to drive, prepare to pay heavily for the priveledge. That's everything from petrol to parking fees, which can easily range from US40+ for an overnight spot. I made my best to pound the pavement, and relied on my car rental from Avis for day trips. Note: as most guides advise, make your booking from the States. Local car rental agencies, including american subsidiaries do not have access to the same rates and you can avoid the dreaded taxes by prepaying for your rental.

In hind sight, I wish I avoided the rental and just did organized tours through rail and bus. As much fun as a car is, navigating in a foreign city with all it's quirks is no fun. And the cost of gas and parking hassles are just too much.

The second property where I spent an additional 2 nights, was a Scandic Webers. This property is not recommended. The sister Scandic tower competes with Radisson SAS down the street. I got a pretty decent rate though of DKK695 inclusive of taxes and breakfast. That's pretty cheap for Copenhagen. Cheap for a 4 star property, which after my stay I can confidently say that it's not.