Copenhagen... A Good Place to Change Planes

We’re becoming familiar with CPH, the Copenhagen Airport. When we made the itinerary for this adventure, it turned out that CPH had better connections to the US and our other destinations than flying into and out of Stockholm, the other logical airport. As a result, we will have gone into and out of CPH about 6 times by the time we leave here for CLT.

So, if you’re planning a trip to the Nordics, consider Copenhagen airport. As for the city itself, well, the airport is convenient. And I’ll admit we found a couple of good restaurants.

Before I go on I want to say that all of the people we met in Copenhagen that weren’t on bicycles were friendly and helpful. Great people. And we were fortunate enough to spend those three days in a home that John Nelson found on AirBnb. Ana’s home is in the suburbs of Copenhagen, convenient to the airport, and to downtown. It’s modern, spacious, well appointed, and private. And an absolute bargain compared to Copenhagen hotels. A great place to stay if you’re going to Copenhagen, or even better, elsewhere in Denmark.

 The Danish Train System (not connected to the Metro) can get you around the country efficiently. Roskilde, 25 minutes outside of Copenhagen, is a must see.

But If you detect I have some cynicism about Copenhagen right now, you’re right. I’ll explain.

John and I went with Diana and Debi yesterday to the airport, by taxi. And we decided to take the Metro back to the B&B. We’d already become pretty familiar with the Metro – you buy a ticket priced based on the number of zones you’re traveling (our B&B is in Zone 3, Center City one 1). Makes sense. We did it several times during our stay. Two zone tickets are about $6.00 – Copenhagen is not a cheap place to visit (or live). And once we bought tickets, we never had to scan them anyplace or verify them in any way. An honor system.

So, when leaving the airport, John and I bought a couple of two zone tickets and got on the Metro. Shortly after boarding a Metro “Steward” came through the car. I knew she was coming because the Copenhagen guy standing next to me turned quickly and walked toward the other cars.  So much for his honor system.

The “Steward” glanced at John’s ticket, walked on, and asked for mine. I showed her mine, she looked at it, and told me she was going to write me a ticket for 750 Krone (about $125), because I didn’t have a three zone ticket (which would have cost about $4 more.)

The reason? All rides from the airport are considered three zone rides, in spite of the Metro map. Go figure.

The scheme was apparent. 1. A confusing ticket scheme, one which visitors likely will get wrong. 2. Ticket “stewards: on the airport cars, ones which visitors will likely be on. 3. Outrageous fines, ones which a lot of visitors will go ahead and pay.

Welcome to Copenhagen, suckers.

The steward and I had a long conversation over the ethics of this, during which I asked for her identification. Turns out, her identification had expired at the end of last year, which of course I pointed out to her. She said that it was a “minor mistake,” and I pointed out to her that what I had done was a minor mistake, that what she was doing was a big problem.

In defense of the other friendly Copenhageners we met, I don’t think Metro Steward 54390 is representative of everyone in the city. I think she’s from Norway.

You can probably guess that I’ve written the letter to the Copenhagen Metro folks already. Postings on all the travel sites I can find will follow.

Wanted to mention this experience, just in case you detect a little negative attitude toward Copenhagen in what I write below. But let me assure you, all that I tell you about this God-forsaken city is both objective and factual.

So… Here’s the BEST OF COPENHAGEN…

There are a lot of bikes in Copenhagen. Lots and lots. Estimates are that in this city of 580,000, there are more bikes than people. This is very intentional. The city has for years actively promoted bike riding with development of bike lanes, bike parking, bike bridges, etc..

For Copenhagen, bike riding is a way of saving energy, being eco friendly, promoting health, and allowing Copenhagen to (rightfully) claim that it is the most bicycle friendly city in the world. 

Copenhagen is also among the most highly taxed cities in the world and a new car is taxed at 180% of its price. Consequently,  bike riding helps to soften the very real fact that many Copenhageners simply cannot afford to own a car. 

  

It turns out there are other ills associated with bike riding, just as with other means of urban transportation. Bike congestion and bike parking are issues the city is wrestling with. The city recovers over 13,000 abandoned bikes every year. Even the least expensive bicycle in Copenhagen will cost you over $500 new, and prices go way up from there.

And there is also something called bike rage. It stems from the congestion, and from the attitude of the bike riders, and occurs between riders and other riders, and riders and pedestrians.

To an outsider, it looks like there are very few laws regarding bike riding, at least laws that are followed. One study indicates that bike riders stop at stoplights 90% of the time. Congratulations. The Copenhagen chief of police has called the city’s bike riders the “cuckoos” of traffic.

This is important for visitors, who are probably pedestrian. The city is designed for bike riders, not pedestrians. It keeps track of bike safety data, but a near as I can find, doesn’t track (or doesn’t disclose) pedestrian safety. 

As a pedestrian, you will not feel safe, nor should you. You should never feel you have the right of way, on a sidewalk or crossing a street. And never, never, should you be in a bike lane. And it’s up to you to determine whether or not you happen to be in one.

But, if you want to take the risk, there are some well-known sightseeing venues in the city.

One of these is “The Little Mermaid”, pretty much a symbol of the city.

I’m probably guilty of not paying attention, but my impression of “The Little Mermaid” was that it was located at the entrance to Copenhagen harbor, and it served somehow to welcome Danish sailors home from the seas.

I got it wrong.

The Mermaid, of course, pays homage to Hans Christian Andersen’s rather deep story, and  Disney’s later, shallow, remake.

Any sailors returning from the sea who wished to see if the mermaid is welcoming them back would have to go a long ways outside of their path to find out. They’d have to head toward shore, look for the crowds of tourists, dodge the tour boats, and find the mermaid in between a couple of cruise ships.

But the Mermaid is the symbol of Copenhagen after all. As such, there is still debate a century after she was created as to whether the sculptor captured the essence of what HC Andersen intended. And she’s suffered multiple beheadings and losses of limbs over the years from protests and vandals, some of whom apparently felt guilty and later returned the limbs. She’s been painted, outfitted, and disfigured. She’s been dynamited off her rock and into the bay, and on one International Women’s day, she was outfitted with a dildo.

But perhaps the worst humiliation was when the Mermaid was banned from Facebook. You see, the statue is actually of  a Mermaid, and real Mermaids wear very little clothing, thus running afoul of Facebook’s view of the world. But, after an apparently throroughreview, Mark Zuckerburg relented and allowed that it was perfectly okey dokey for mermaids to have breasts.

Seeing the Mermaid is a can’t miss experience.

The number one tourist destination in Copenhagen is Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli is the world’s second oldest amusement park, built in the 1850’s. Tivoli missed being the oldest amusement park by only 300 years, to Bakken, built some distance outside of Copenhagen in the 1500’s, presumably to avoid bicycle congestion.

John and Debi spent the day one afternoon seeing Tivoli Gardens, while Marty, Diana and I got out of Copenhagen to visit Roskilde and the Viking Ship Museum (more on that in a different post).

John’s take was that Tivoli Gardens was a nice old amusement park. As for me, if I want to see an old amusement park, I’ll just go to Carowinds.

Nyhaven is a part of downtown Copenhagen that you’ve undoubtedly seen in pictures. It’s a canal that comes in from the bay and in the pictures you’ve seen is lined with colored buildings, cafes with picturesque umbrellas, and has small sailboats lining the waterfront. 

Very picturesque. 

John, Marty, and I went there yesterday. So did every other visitor to Copenhagen. We almost lost Marty in one of the many T-shirt shops. 

When we found Marty, we grabbed a table at one of the cafes under one of the picturesque umbrellas and treated ourselves to  $24.00 hamburgers, cheese and drink extra. But, hey, it came with a few fries. But it was still a bit short of a Happy Meal.

Which brings me to…. Prices.

Denmark, and Copenhagen in particular, have the highest taxes in the world, with total tax burdens between 58 and 72 percent. That includes income tax, “church” tax, property tax, Value Added Tax, and more.  For that, they get a lot of government services (I won’t start the discussion of the value they get those services, nor why the Danes are happy about it, but I’d sure like to.)

And, congratulations! You, as a visitor, get to help pay for those services too!

Copenhagen is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Goods in shops are 42 percent more than the European average. Meals in restaurants are up to 150 more than the European average. But the prices are in Danish Krone, of course, so as a visitor you mostly just enjoy your $24 burger and try not to translate krone to dollars much. You won’t feel the pain until you see your Visa bill.  

Freetown Christiania is the 4^th most popular tourist attraction in Copenhagen.

Christiania is a self described  “autonomous anarchist” district founded within Copenhagen in 1971, when the initial community members took over some unused army barracks in the city. Since then, it’s developed its own set of rules and acted pretty much as an independent entity where the  “hippie” ideals of the 60’s have lived on. They made their own rules, which included open use and trade of marijuana. Freetown and the city of Copenhagen have had managed to coexist for over 40 years, although not without occasional conflict.  

There is a good amount of long, gray hair in Christiania. There’s a strong feel of the 60’s, the counterculture, independent living, and freedom to be who you like. You can still feel that hippie vibe, but it’s now in the shadows. 

There have been some changes. The main “street” is festooned with colorful banners and shops. It’s known as “Pusher Street.” With ample reason. You can tell the pushers. They’re the young men with small stands displaying their goods. And, so you don’t miss them, they’ll tell you as you pass that they have anything you want, weed, hash, and “whatever.”  

Since Christiania is now a tourist attraction, it looks like there are more tourists on Pusher Street than there are serious Christianiaites. In fact, Christiania draws over 500,000 tourists a year.

That number of tourists has to change a place that started as a home for counterculture. That’s why the tourist books advise you to be careful taking pictures on Pusher Street, because the street’s entrepreneurs don’t like their picture taken and “can be aggressive.”

It’s pretty depressing.

Well, that’s pretty much my Best of Copenhagen. If you’re planning on going, I hope I’ve helped.

I also hope you’ve enjoyed reading this as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. But I doubt that you have.

This Post Dedicated to Metro Steward Number 54390