Our trip : Copenhagen
The story sounds familiar: A utopian city where the streets are clean, traffic is orderly, and the people are tall, beautiful, and calm. It’s the stuff science fiction novels are made of…
I didn’t have many expectations for each city that we visited during this trip but I had some thoughts going to Copenhagen.
Some quick backstory:
I’ve grown up to with the American work ethic of the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” kind. So to come to a country where socialism plays an important part of the governing system, it immediately brought thoughts of lazy dependence on an overtaxed government from beatnik no-doers. I should say that most of my understanding of socialism spews from good ‘ole propaganda-filled American public education. It has led me to believe that socialism is THE anti-American way of living and is often told much like a scary bedtime story to caution wayward capitalist children about the tyranny of the Soviet Union. 👻
In reality, Denmark is not a socialist state but rather it upholds a socialist democratic practice. The objective is not for the state to own the means of production but rather it refers to a political philosophy that supports economic and social policies that promote social justice in a capitalist economy in a democratic way. Most people see this through the way they govern a tax-financed health care service. (Universal healthcare 🚑) Others might refer to it as a social welfare country due to its extensive services for children, the elderly and the poor. Denmark also provides special provisions for universal education, support for unions or collective bargaining, and sensible (ostensibly) government regulation of industry to preserve the environment and health and welfare of people within the jurisdiction of the country. Either way you spin it, the country operates with private and publicly run businesses and Copenhagen is considered to be one of the top ranked best city in the world for standard of living. So with that in mind, I came to Copenhagen with a lot of curiosity for the way everything worked and operated.
Here’s a breakdown of our trip to Copenhagen:
- We flew into CPH — Copenhagen Airport
- We stayed a total of four days, three nights
- Our Airbnb was located in the Nørrebro neighborhood
- We purchased the 72 hour CityPass ticket for public transit
We arrived in the late afternoon of our first day. CPH was quite nice and fairly large. Having flown a lot domestically within the US, it was a night/day comparison to see a privately-owned airport. (As compared to the airports owned by the government much like the Port Authority NY/NJ) Even the bus lines are privately owned in Copenhagen and I was mostly impressed by the clear signage, cleanliness, and on-time reliability.
We decided to purchase the 72-hour CityPass ticket to get around on public transit since it encompassed the entirety of our stay in Copenhagen. (We got in late our first day and left at noon on our last for a total of three days.) Public transit is a bit pricey here. A one-way ticket throughout the 3-zones that the city encompasses is $36 DK or $5.39 USD. So to purchase their $200 DK 72-hour card, it only cost about $30 USD for three days. We didn’t rent bikes this time around but rather walked. If I return again, I would rent a bike for the entirety of our stay since the city was very bike friendly and central to most points of interest.
Our Airbnb was conveniently located just a few blocks from the Nørrebro Station. Thom and I really enjoyed our stay there. Our guests were very welcoming and the apartment was very comfortable. If you follow me on any other social media, then you’d know that I’ve already posted a short video of our stay.
A lot of the time making this video was spent find creative ways to shoot still video without a tripod though. 😝
The location of our Airbnb was absolutely great! Again, we were very close to public transit but also a short walk away from The Lakes, Copenhagen’s Botanical Gardens and parks, grocery stores, and the famous Torvehallerne.
On our first evening, we walked over the Lakes and ate at Thai Pan. I’ll admit that food is a bit pricey in Copenhagen in general, but this restaurant had a great three-course menu that provided us with a lot of leftovers for the next day. They make a super tasty coconut soup with chicken and mushrooms. That alone was well-worth the price and trip!
Also that first night, I received the best email that I could ever imagine:
Noma has an open spot for you and one other to dine on the following day. Would we care to join?
WOULD WE CARE TO JOIN??!! WOULD WE EVER!
I think that I’ll save that experience for it’s own special post since the meal was over 3.5 hours long and consisted of 14 courses and a tour of the kitchen and grounds. Long story short:
It. was. amazing. 😍
The other two days we spent walking around site-seeing. We visited:
- The little Mermaid Statue — I’ll stick to the Disney movie. Hans Christian Andersen’s famed statue was not as spectacular as I imagined it to be.
- Kastellet — Cool and old star-shaped man-made island and fort.
- Christiania — Hippies and cheap weed.
- Nyhavn District — Pretty buildings and iconic canal
- Parts of Strøget — So much shopping. Strøget boasts to be one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe!
One place that we did not have time to see was Tivoli Gardens. I still don’t know if I regret this or if this was something to easy miss. I haven’t been to a theme park since my short visit to Disney World over three years ago. The idea of long lines, large crowds, and rollercoasters just doesn’t appeal like it used to when I was 14. But Tivoli is one of the world’s oldest theme parks and has some beautiful gardens. If I had the chance again, I think that I would go to see and visit the grounds alone.
Here are some shots from our stay in Copenhagen:
Some shots around Christiania. You aren’t allowed to photograph some parts within the free state:
Out and about Copenhagen, including: The Lakes, Botanical Gardens, and Nyhavn:
And that was it! An overall great impression of the city. What really stuck out to me was the overall infrastructure of the city and how well maintained it is. I enjoyed the serenity found in the heart of the city and loved the fact that people were out and about strolling in the parks or by the Lakes late into the evenings. My only criticism is the near-perfect state of everything. There weren’t any brash forms of expression of any kind whether through the city itself or it’s people. It’s of no surprise that a place like Christiania had established it self so long ago. It acts as the only visual protest of all the conformity found throughout the rest of Copenhagen. Even staying in the multicultural Nørrebro neighborhood, I felt that there was a tragic loss of diversity, especially compared to places like Berlin and Amsterdam. (SO many blonde-haired, blue-eyed people everywhere in Copenhagen!)
It’s truly a give and take with this city with this ultimately in mind: High prices for a better standard of living.
My last take: Not to live in, but I would visit again.
This post is a part of a series based on my recent two-week trip to Europe.
To read this in order:
