I’m filming a new TV show this week in Copenhagen. This city has impressed me in many ways.
Copenhagen’s new subway is silent, automated (without a driver), trains go literally every two minutes, and it’s on the honor system — there are no turnstiles.
The streets in Danish towns are so quiet (most city centers are pedestrians-only) that I don’t talk to my friends from a distance…I walk over to whisper to them.
An angry young man at the train station was barking into his mobile phone…and it occurred to me that in a week in this country, those were the only angry words or shouting I had heard.
Twice in this city, my trip has nearly been cut short as I step from a taxi or sidewalk into the bike lane. I am aware of cars, of course, but there is a third dimension zipping along silently between pedestrians and drivers: Danish bikers.
London and Paris have taken lanes away from drivers to make bike lanes, but they go virtually unused. Somehow Copenhagen has it figured out. During Copenhagen’s rush hour, there are literally more bikes on their roads than cars. I look at a square in the town center, and there are 50 bikes parked (which blend into the scene almost unnoticed) and absolutely no cars. Congestion is less, parked cars don’t clog their arteries, and people are in shape. A new trend I just noticed is that fancy business hotels provide visiting guests with loaner or rentable bikes.
I was reviewing my TV production plans with a senior official from the Danish Tourist Board. Suddenly his mobile phone rang with a cartoonish voice for a ring tone, warning in an urgent Danish voice: “Hello, it’s the Prime Minister, Rasmussen. Don’t answer this call. It’s a bad man and he’s sitting with a bunch of terrorist friends and they’re planning to do something very bad.”
Later, I asked a Danish friend about the controversial cartoon image of Muhammad that offended so many Muslims. She said it’s all in fun. “We’ll take the heat, but you have to have a sense of humor. Our prime minister — who half our country loves and half our country despises — is caricatured as a caveman. He laughs, and we love him even more.”
Side-tripping north by train to Frederiksborg Castle, we film me saying, “A fun part of exploring Denmark — or just about any country in Europe — is enjoying the efficiency of the great train system.” As usual, I need about six or eight “takes.” My local guide is laughing as I work. I ask him why, and he says our train is running five minutes late, and everyone on the train around me is muttering “no, no, no” each time I say my line. Clearly, it’s all relative. While there are two trains a day serving my hometown, these trains go six times an hour and Danes here go through life never wishing they had a car — but they still complain. My friend says, “We Danes are spoiled. We love to complain.”
But, apparently, Danes end things on a more appreciative note. Today I passed a shop selling tombstones, and noticed the most common words pre-etched into the marble were Danish for “Thanks for everything.”
Great imagery of a train car full of Danes giggling at the Rick, :laughs:. Thanks for the blogs, Rick has a great style of writing that helps me escape the grind. It keeps me balanced while I sit in my office above the horrific traffic as I’m about to enter the “less efficient than Copehnagen” yet still pretty solid Chicago tranist system. Thanks Rick, keep on keepin on! P.S. My fiance and I decided to do the best of Europe in 21 days starting Sept 6 of 2009. We have your DVD’s but this will be our first RS tour, Looking forward to it.
Rick, even if the train full of giggling Danes doesn’t make the final cut of your show, PLEASE include it in the out-takes at the end!
In ‘79 and ‘85 when we visited Denmark, we found it a paradox. We met and talked with the nicest people, but found the ideas of many to be troubling. The hate the young people expressed for the USA seemed to be on the level with their lack of knowledge of our country. We had a large “coffee table†book about the US that we had purchased in Vienna. The young people could not imagine the photographs were real. They said they had never been told that the US looked anything like that. One man told how terrible it was, the way we treated our immigrants. Then he said, “But this is Denmark, we don’t want immigrants.†Another man, who told us that families in the USA did not spend enough time as a family, and we were going to suffer for it, then admitted his two daughters were attending school in the USA, not in Denmark. We were told more than once, and this was confirmed by Danish friends in the USA, and former members of the German military, that when WW II ended, many Germans, stationed in Norway, had to cross Denmark to get home. Dozens or hundreds, depending on which story we wanted to believe, were shot by the now brave Danes, who put up no defense when Hitler invaded Denmark early in the war. But each of our visits, we found most Danes to be friendly, and helpful, and we enjoyed our visits, including Legoland, the Lego Company’s version of Disneyland, in Billund.
Denmark sounds like they’re on the ball. I’d love to vitis there!
We can hardly wait to get back to Denmark. We love the Danes and have a good time and meet great people everytime we are there. Will return there in June 2009 on a RS trip to Scandinavia.
There are no problems only solutions, Jim. I say if we really want other nations to know where we stand, we should not change our socks for two weeks.
Love Denmark and love that you’re doing a new show, hopefully showing a little more of the Danish countryside. It’s great. Keep it up Rick! Love the blog
Rick, I’ve seen Aero in your guidebooks but I’ve never seen an episode on it. What gives??
Interested to read that Copenhagen now has more bikes than cars. (And it sounds like Paris might be headed that way.) It reminded me that Beijing is going in the exact opposite direction, and now has more cars (and horrible traffic) than bikes.
I absolutely LOVE your show, you make it feel like we are right there with you..