Kathleen and I spent a couple of days in Copenhagen, Denmark after I left Strasbourg. Denmark pwns and I had a really good time learning about the city, the country, and the (great) Danes. We stayed in a Best Western Hotel located near the train station, which happens to be quite central to everything. Copenhagen is not big at all, and neither is Denmark. The CIA World Fact Book says there are 5,500,510 inhabitants according to a July 2009 survey. This is one of the reasons why they speak such amazing English. Even better than the Germans. Another reason they speak English so well is because of how their Television broadcasting works. At the Nielsen Norman Conference in Berlin, I met a Danish woman who told me that in Denmark, all English language shows are shown in English, with Danish subtitles. In France and Germany, the shows are dubbed in their respective languages. Score 1 Denmark.

The city is pretty; I mean it’s no Vienna, but it’s beautiful in its own way. It has a 17th century harbor, pretty colorful houses lining the streets, some nice older buildings, a huge (very expensive) outdoor pedestrian mall called Strøget, and a nice mix of natural beauty. That famous little mermaid statue is in a beautiful park which looked stunning in the winter, and they also have a royal palace. Another hard to miss site on the Copenhagen landscape is the Tivoli amusement park. At night, this place is lit up like crazy… a lot smaller than Six Flags of course, but it is something to have an amusement park right in the center of your city. Kathleen and I went and rode on this crazy upside down swinging ride, as well as a ride with constant drops, which Konrad would’ve hated :)

Copenhagen is the most expensive city I have ever been in. I remember spending a day in Zürich ages ago and mom and dad complaining about how expensive it was, but this was the first time I ever experienced such expensivesness on my own (bank) account. SERIOUSLY you cannot survive here if you don’t have money. Their bills are called Krones and at the time we were there, 7 Krones = 1 Euro, and 1 Euro = .65 dollars. You are lucky if you can eat a meal for under 150 Krone, and for most meals I was paying between 250 Krone and 300 Krone. In this regard, it is good we were only there 5 days.

So about the food. I had some really good Smørrebrød, which means open sandwich. There is lots of herring here, which I also had some of, and finally, after all these months in France, I was able to satisfy my need for CHEESEBURGERS!!! The Danes love their burgers! I had two during the time here. I also liked their beer. After our first dinner, confronted with the issue of tipping, I asked our waiter what people here normally do. Interestingly enough, he told me that it is not typical in Denmark to tip, so lots of Danes don’t leave one. However, with more and more foreigners coming and with eating out becoming more popular, tipping is becoming more common. Despite this seemingly positive non-tipping idea, using a foreign credit card in Denmark is deadly- they can charge you around 5% EXTRA just because you are using a foreign card. (=go to ATM)

Being in Copenhagen in the winter was quite a challenge, but on the flip side a delight. It was cold, and with the wind, it was difficult to be outside all day. It snowed everyday on and off. And night time? Well it started about 4:00pm, when the sun went away and we were left in darkness. Talk about a short day, but the truth is, it felt amazing to be in Europe in winter! Since I am always here in summer, to be here with snow all around me was really something. By the same token, we had to go back to the hotel everyday before dinner just to warm ourselves up so we had the strength to keep going. And the SLUSH all over the city, which for some reason they refused to salt, was dangerous and made me wonder how anyone older or with a walking disability was able to live here in the winter.

I would like to say that I love the Danes, because they are the happiest Europeans I have ever met. They smile at you, talk to each other… almost like at home! They don’t lock their bikes when they leave them in the streets! I mean yes, some do, but there is a huge portion of unlocked bikes sitting in the streets, which was so opposite to Strasbourg, where leaving your bike unlocked meant it would be gone the next day. That was interesting to see. They also ALWAYS drive with their car headlights on. How about that? And they have the smallest carbon footprint in the world. We were there just days after the Climate Summit, and there were still some signs explaining how to save the earth.

So, conclusion please? In the town of Helsingør, a Swedish/Danish woman told me that people say Danes are the happiest people in the world. When I asked her why, she said, “I think it’s because we have no expectations.” I don’t know what to make of that, but Denmark, I shall return; I still have 110 of your silly currency, and I shall come back, take out more money, and then buy more Smørrebrød.