Comparisons

I just returned from a trip to Copenhagen. A very nice small city. I spent a lot of time walking there, sometimes by myself, sometimes with my husband. I have never lived in a city. The closest I've come to urban dwelling were my two years in an off campus apartment (well, really 3 different apartments in those 2 years) and less than a year around the time I got married when we rented a house in Frankfort, Indiana (home of the Hot Dogs). In fact, other than those two times, my longest urban existence was abroad when we lived for 6 months in an apartment in Warnemunde Germany. The point being, I am no expert on urban life. I have no desire to be an expert on urban life.

As we walked around the city we were always observing things--quiet streets, noisy streets, pedestrians, bikers, autos, and buses. We started saying things like, "You'd never see that in an American city!" Then I realized that I had very little idea of what I would see in an American city. I've spent a day or two in DC, NYC, Boston, San Francisco, etc. I worked in downtown Indianapolis for 4 years, but would I really recognize an ordinary street scene in an American city? I'm not sure. Certainly Copenhagen is a lot older than most American cities, but there are old churches and buildings in most cities. At dinner one night our waitress asked how Copenhagen compared to NYC. I said that things in Denmark were much older. She suggested we travel to Sweden for a day..."everything is modern there!" I guess she saw my comment as a criticism, rather than as a compliment.