Sleepy Sunday wanderings (Denmark Day 14)

We had a day to rest and explore Odense on foot or wheel on Sunday. It offered a great opportunity to relax and experience a local event--a weekend flea market in the relatively new harbor neighborhood. To get there, we walked over to the relatively new cycle and pedestrian bridge.
The stairs lead up to the bridge. The elevator didn't seem to be working. People could go up the sloped bike ramp as an alternative. The ramp is the piece to the right that goes out of frame and then looks like a fence at the bottom right of the frame.

Once up on the bridge, it's clear that it has space for people going bike speeds and people going walking speeds. Easily interpreted infrastructure like this made walking feel safer. I didn't worry about a bike swerving around me. I also didn't worry about a car hitting me because cars aren't allowed on the bridge. It's incredibly quiet without car tires making a racket on the pavement. In light of my experiences in Copenhagen, bridges like these feel comfortable for people on bikes, too. It's also faster to be able to use this as the nearest bridge than drive over to one that allows cars.
Once we reached the other side, we noticed the stairs included ramps for strollers (or walking bikes down). This sort of consideration in built design makes me think Odense values the free movement of people taking care of their kids. 
Another example of valuing public space for all ages was this fun set of play ships near the public pool. One ship looked like a little tugboat. One looked like a barge transporting sand. (The public pool is in the background.)
I don't know why they put Hans Christian Andersen in a moat. Maybe it's not Hans. He's the most likely candidate for a famous person statue though.
The flea market sets up on this playground near the harbor pool every Sunday. It's like a block yard sale in that it's a little bit of just about anything that's either handcrafted or used. People seem to value reuse in Denmark as secondhand stores with good options appeared in both Copenhagen and Odense. At this market, gaps in the lines of tables made me think some regulars skipped that week. Maybe the locals knew the weather forecast of no rain was...not accurate. We started back to the hotel as the sky darkened.
A nearby street intersection highlighted a couple more of the projects that Connie had told us about our first day.

Some shoppers could've used this cycle super highway, though this intersection didn't have the markings (++) to designate it as such, it had the separate path, clear bike turn lanes, and a blue painted lane through the intersection to designate the space for bikes.
It also had fun walk/wait signs with top hats.
(Yeah, it's a longshot to see the wait sign. I didn't think to photo the nearby one. Oops.)

I spent the rest of the day out and about at cafes and pubs thinking about infrastructure, blogging, and generally kicking it. All in all, it was a great day.

Next up: Yellow van caravan to EuroParc

Random pic of the day: Cool accessibility ramp built into the steps/seats.



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