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Where am I?:^mistymornings-->Cycletouring-->2007-->Scandinavia.-->Day 25

Day 25-2. Copenhagen; sightseeing.

He also confirmed that many styles of bikes, traditionally only available with derailleur gears in the UK or Netherlands were sold here with a hub gear option. We'd already noticed 'racing bikes' with hub gears and some mountain bikes with SRAM 7 speed hubs in the back wheel. In the shop there were also tour/hybrid bikes that used the seven and eight speed hubs and it seems to make sense. In a place where corrosion is a problem, the terrain is flat and you want a full chain guard these hubs make a good choice. Also being able to change gear when stationary is useful and not only in town.

We heard that the Nexus 7 hubs are not liked by the trade in Denmark as these hubs do not like the salt, and there is only one replacement part; the entire internal mechanism as one unit. Seeing as you can buy a supermarket bike for the price of having new internals fitted in your Nexus hub this has lead people to replace their relatively expensive bike bought from a bike shop with a cheap equivalent bought in a supermarket. All parts for the SRAM 7 are available separately so if something does go wrong fixing it is cheaper. The comments about the Nexus 7 hubs were confirmed by someone we know in the trade in the Netherlands so the Danes are not the only ones who find them a bit suspect.

Finally we had had our fill of bikes for the morning, and bidding farewell, having learned something about Danish bikes we headed across the passage to the Estate Coffee cafebar (recommended by the guy in the bike shop). This was a funny little cafe that offered 'real' coffee made and served by 'baristas'. I have to admit to have been ignorant of the specialist coffee cafe world until now, but apparently you can train to be a barista learning among other things, the secrets of how to put the pattern of a leaf on the foam on the top of a cup of coffee. If you get really good at it you can enter international barista competitions to show you art and craft. This cafe was manned by such giants of the barista world and we felt humbled by the craftsmanship that went into every coffee. However this was all well and good, but after gulping down some very ordinary hotel coffee at breakfast, the most important we needed answering was was 'does it taste nice?'.

Well, we took the plunge, both ordering something with lots of milk in it and a piece of cake. Both of the drinks had a nice pattern in the foam just like in the 'Barista Monthly' magazines (or whatever it was called) lying on the tables. So far so good, and then we tried them, and the cake and were pleasantly surprised. The coffee was good as was the cake and the combination made for a very nice mid-morning snack. It was an ideal place to have a good cup of coffee and suitably refreshed we headed out into Copenhagen for our final day of sightseeing.

Our zest for all things bike related was also refreshed by the break and we headed down the road to a small bike shop. This was a bit less interesting than Urania, so we only had a quick look round. Then we realised that it would soon be time for lunch and that the coffee and cake had dented but not cured our hunger. We were feeling a bit lazy so we went for the easy option. Without too much trouble we found another mediterranean restaurant, the sister of the one we had eaten at the day before. It had similar but not identical menu and once again we ate our fill and enjoyed the food.

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