We spent eight days in Copenhagen. During that time, we were outside and exploring for upwards of 17 hours a day—seriously, we got no sleep, thanks in part to the sun setting past 10:15pm and rising at 4:30am. During that time, we befriended nine people living in Copenhagen, along with a few other Scandinavian tourists from Norway and Sweden. It is a beautiful city, and I'm grateful to the people we met there.
So, as a tribute to them, and as a reflection of things that are completely different from NYC at least, I thought I'd list things that amazed, shocked, and confused me.
Things that amazed me about Copenhagen, a short list:
- They party hard on the weekends. Like, hard. And then on weekdays, they don't. Per someone with whom I spoke there: "We party, yes, but then as soon as it is time to work, we focus only on work."
- People didn't use bike locks. They trust each other enough to not steal them—and they're not stolen. Living in NYC, that's unheard of here.
- Public nudity is chill. A body is not shamed just for being a body. I may have blushed a lot, looked away, and said, "oh no oh no oh no" the first time I saw a fully naked male stranger. #Puritan
- I barely saw any tablets being used to entertain children. When we saw fussy babies, the parents—both of them—engaged positively with the baby to turn around its mood. (It probably helps that Denmark has much more family-oriented policies)
- There were no children in bars or breweries (that we went into; sample size of twelve locations). This is becoming more and more prominent here in NYC as many bars, but especially breweries, try to market themselves as family to keep afloat during economic turbulence.
- There were so many public green spaces. Trees, bushes, flowers all of them with free, public seating. It was beautiful—and cooler, literally, because of the trees.
- Art is everywhere. We could just walk up to weird, contemporary, artistic statues and admire them across the city.
- There were so few homeless people. We saw maybe three on our eight-day trip. Compare that to seeing dozens in a day if we walk around Manhattan. The people here are taken care of. Their taxes are insane, yes. According to three of the folks with whom we spoke, they're taxed about 50% of their income. But what that does is ensure everyone has access to healthcare, a roof over their heads, and everything else they need to just survive. And in turn, prices around the city are so, so much lower so people can actually afford things still. The market adjusts accordingly.
- The water in the harbor is literally clear. We went on a boat tour and had the tour guide dip a glass into the water. When he brought it up, the water was crystal clear. You won't get that in the Hudson.
- You can actually swim in the harbor?! It's safe to do so.
- People are so willing to just enter a conversation with you at bars. There's no hostility or unease about speaking to a stranger.
- There are so many god damn smokers everywhere. I'm actually impressed at the amount of smoking we encountered.
- The ones we befriended outdrank my partner, which is a fucking feat. See: they like to party.
- Possibly related, they have free, publicly available heart starters (I'm losing the phrase right now because they literally call it a hjertestarter) on a lot of streets.
- Religion apparently isn't really discussed. This seems in keeping with different parts of continental Europe; France was similar, and according to an old boss from the Netherlands and Switzerland, they also don't really talk about religion as much as some do in the states. Neither good nor bad, it was just an interesting cultural point.
- We saw only one unclaimed pile of dog shit on the street. People actually clean up after themselves. Crazy concept, I know.
- There was an air of civility and respect everywhere. I never heard a raised voice. I never saw two people on the street randomly cussing each other out. I witnessed only one person honk their horn because someone wasn't turning fast enough.
- They get really excited when you try to learn Danish. Apparently, few tourists do. Seriously, don't be a dick. Learn the language of the country you're visiting as a tourist. It's basic respect.
- The food scene is incredible. Oh my god, it rivals most of the cities in the U.S.—but not New York. That's kind of our thing.
I'm probably forgetting a hundred other things. But the city is amazing, and there are seversl things on this list that I wish we would emulate here in the states.
