Walking the City of Roskilde, Denmark

We began our second day in country with a walking tour of the City of Roskilde. It quickly became evident that the Danish walk everywhere which is a sharp contrast to our American culture of driving everywhere. Our tour guide was Kirsten Graversen and she did a marvelous job orienting us to the city. She walked fast also so our group had to hustle to keep up!

We began our tour with a discussion on Denmark’s bicycle culture. She discussed the Danes’ love of bicycling and discussed the efficiency of this past time. She said it has cut down tremendously on traffic congestion because many people bike to work and school. We observed many places around the city where people could safely store their bicycles while they were working, shopping and dining.

There were many bicycle storage places like this around the city. — There were many bicycle storage places like one this around the city.

Rabalder Park was the next stop on the tour and was located close to RBC. Due to recent climate changes, Roskilde has had a problem with storm water and flash flooding. We have a similar problem in Cincinnati, although not to the extent that the Danish experience in Roskilde. In response to this problem, architects and engineers from a Danish firm, Nordach, developed a storm water harvesting system that has the ability to collect up to 23,000 cubic meters within 3 basins which equates to the amount of water that 10 standard swimming pools can hold. In addition to its practical function, the park serves as an outdoor entertainment complex with a skate park, trampolines, swings, jogging and cycling trails. The complex even won an international design award in 2013 for its innovation and creativity!

Our group toured Ribalder Park. What an innovative solution! — Our group toured Ribalder Park. What an innovative solution to a long standing problem!

Two applications - stormwater management and skatepark/entertainment complex. Brilliant! — Two applications – storm water management and skate park/entertainment complex. Brilliant!

The skate park and recreational areas are part of a larger complex called “Musicon”. Serving as a creative district or complex of sorts, Musicon is a new hot spot of growth for Roskilde. In all my travels throughout the U.S. and internationally, I have not seen this type of culture and business incubator. Musicon is situated in a former concrete factory that covers a very large area and 39 organizations are currently located on the complex. The long term goal for the area is to develop housing and workplaces which will result in a vibrant, thriving creative community.

Musicon is intended to be the center of innovation and creativity in the future.

After our walk through the innovation park and swinging on the swings, we proceeded to walk through some beautiful, quaint neighborhoods on the route to downtown Roskilde.

The houses were set charming and the neighborhood was idyllic. — The houses were charming and the neighborhood was idyllic.

Our tour guide discussed the upcoming EU elections and pointed out the election signage. We encountered a significant amount of political propaganda throughout our tour of the city. The European Union elections were scheduled for Sunday, May 25th and there was heated discussion about whether Denmark should remain part of the EU.

There were political signs on just about every street corner.

Walking, walking and more walking. We arrived at the Roskilde Kloster.

The Kloster was originally built in 1200's and changed ownership over the years. It has a special place in Roskilde history. — The Kloster was originally built in 1200’s and changed ownership over the years. It has a special place in Roskilde history.

We stopped at a local restaurant and had a nice Danish meal together, family style. The Danish like to include candles at mealtimes, so we frequently had candles at our tables. It was interesting to note that the Danish regard dining events as a time for social gathering and they focused on making dining a memorable event, This was a nice contrast to our dining experience here in the U.S. In our country, dining often tends to serve a utilitarian function in our dine-and-dash culture.