Apparently bikes fall or are thrown into the canals all the time. Once a year, the police fish them out, notify owners (each Danish bike has a sort of VIN number), and put the unclaimed up for auction. Here’s what a fairly new bike looks at the bottom of the canal, along with a close-up:
I’m told that if the police ever have reason to pull you over on your bike (no lights after dark, for example) the first thing they’ll do is check a national list of stolen bikes. Bike theft is a problem — my friends had two of their bikes stolen this weekend.
So there are bikes in the canals, but what’s more visible is the abandoned bikes. This is a common sight:
Here’s a less common sight:
On a more serious note, these are moorings near the canal that are used to keep occasionally huge boats from drifting off. Notice that I placed cigarette butts next to them to provide a sense of scale. In retrospect it probably wasn’t necessary to smoke so many:
I love this sign. It makes it seem like driving your car into the canal is the right thing to do, and is maybe even kind of fun:
And finally, a box of Danish corn flakes:
Get on the Metro if you want to see more pictures of Copenhagen:
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