Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Merchant's Harbor


September 7, 2012

The Bella Sky Hotel
The view from my hotel room
An apartment building in Orestad
The fall travel season has begun, and I find myself in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, for my first trip to this beautiful country. Copenhagen means approximately “The Merchant’s Harbor,” which acknowledges its long history as a commercial port. Copenhagen dates to at least the 11th century, but I stayed in the very modern and ecologic suburb of Orestad.  A few years ago, this area was developed to include a state of the art “green” conference center, a futuristic hotel, and affordable housing, all within a few meters of a subway stop. The hotel (called the Bella Sky) has won many architectural awards for its futuristic design. As a conference “VIP” speaker I was given a room on the top (23rd) floor that included  a spectacular view of the surrounding park lands, the Copenhagen skyline, the ocean, and the coast of nearby Sweden.

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