Friday, 15 November 2019
Hygge in Copenhagen
Hello All,
We are in Copenhagen having a blast so thought it easiest if I write one blog for everyone.
Of course we arrived exhausted - for the record Premium Economy (Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong; Lufthansa to Copenhagen via Munich) is turning into basic coach. God knows what it is like back in coach. Premium Economy has 2 at the sides and 4 (yes that's FOUR) in the middle - man I would be pissed if they shoved me in a 4 seat row. The movies were great - I binged on Japanese films and Bill did John Woo apparently.
Anyway after too many hours we found out way to our Copenhagen "home". And just as I put my foot on the stoop, my mobile died. Yes the ONLY method of communication we had and at 20% my phone stopped. Luckily Bill's had a wee bit of juice and so we sent a text and there was our lovely hostess, Ingrid (our exchange partner's mum). She was waiting inside and I think she might have heard me swearing. I think the Pope heard me swearing.
We have a hygge one-bedroom flat on the ground floor. There are a couple of "odd" things - everyone in Copenhagen has no problems about not having curtains on their ground floor windows! Yep as you walk along you can see into people's places. Our windows have the lower half covered with some kind of privacy frosting. It doesn't look much from the inside but it does work. However I was mildly surprised when I saw a guy a delivery truck at my height. He couldn't have cared less - I guess people are so used to it, they wouldn't be so impolite as to look inside someone's bedroom?!
The second is the heating - man it's warm in here. The first thing we did was turn off the heating. Only left the bathroom one on. BTW I hate rainfall showerheads. Who ever thought they are a good idea? Everyday your hair would be wet and in your eyes. We have a dual shower head head but the first shower was not fun.
Frabulous joy, we opened the fridge and there was a plethora of beer. All sorts. We also had a lovely bunch of yellow roses and some great danish bread and things so we could survive til we shopped. The bread here is divine.
Food is expensive in Denmark - or Copenhagen at least. But I do realise we have had afternoon tea at museums and they always charge a premium. But a cup of coffee, a mug of tea and a croissant costs about AUD25. Best croissant I've ever had, it was heavy with butter, and the Earl Grey was delicious. The Danes are serious about their coffee - so Bill's been happy so far.
A craft beer costs about 60DKK which is about AUD12. And so far we've had some fabulous craft beers. No complaints there. We like to treat ourselves to a beer or three around 3ish. The bars here are uniformly "cosy" and the service is friendly. Everyone speaks English, excellent English - it's just plain embarrassing.
Okay that's all for now. I will be updating this daily.
Sunday 24 November 2019
Five Plus Weird Things in Copenhagen
Oh my it's our last day in Copenhagen and I'm reflecting on some of the strange things we've encountered.
If you want this with links and pictures go here
First - traffic lights - for some reason, the Danes have nailed the crossing timing. Every time we get to a set of lights, they change within a few seconds. It seems that it's not just me but it's a new "intelligent" traffic light system. Now come on world, if the Danes can do it - everyone can.
Second - baby prams. So everyone bikes everywhere. What I didn't realise is that people here love their prams -- riding ones and pushing ones. They all seem to come in twos too. I don't know about the Dane's fertility but rarely do you see a single pram. Not saying they are twins but clearly they're not mucking around with this one-child business.
Speaking of which - babies are everywhere. And everyone pushes them from mummies to grandparents -- lots of grandparents. And they seem to like it. Even when the bubs are left outside, in their prams, in the cold. Shakes head. This New Zealand woman found it weird too.
Third - cleaning products. I can't seem to find the same ones I usually use. I like to use a little bleach in the shower (for mould) well I went to several stores and they were sold out. So either the Danes are really clean or there's a world wide shortage of bleach. EEkk. At our apartment, I was scrounging and opened a bottle of something and immediately took a big sniff--that's a dangerous thing to do. Don't do it.
Fourth - TV. I have never seen so many romance movies airing. Yes it's the time of year for Jule Christmas Romance movies. There are usually about 4 each night on telly here. They are the crappiest, cheeziest, Hallmark movies you can imagine. The Danes are romantics at heart.
Auction tv shows -- while Australia continues its love affair with renovation television shows, and America still loves a desperate housewife, it's all about the auction here. We can't understand a word of them but in various guises people guess what things are valued at and them compete in various ways. We're crap at guessing prices. It seems the the more tortured the piece of porcelain the more it fetches.
Fifth - Food and Drink. Sweets-yes the Danes LOVE their sweeta (I mean lollies); they are second only to Finland (really? see this article) at 8.51 kilos per head per year. Every corner has a 'candy' shop that's filled with gummy type chewy lollies. I love them. My figure doesn't. One of the reasons that Danes, with the highest "happiness" rating, don't live the longest. There's a lesson in that, right?
Coffee - okay it's a national sport here. They are the second biggest spenders at over 3 euros per cup in the world (see here). (Swiss rank #1). Drink as much as you can. I'm not a great fan -- I hate that coffee breath that heavy drinkers get.
Bread - while we might know that dark-rye-nut laden bread used in open sandwiches-we've discovered a bread/croissant type bun.
Oh - it's 2pm. Time for Glogg. I will write about glogg but not right now. It's drinking time.
If you want this with links and pictures go here
First - traffic lights - for some reason, the Danes have nailed the crossing timing. Every time we get to a set of lights, they change within a few seconds. It seems that it's not just me but it's a new "intelligent" traffic light system. Now come on world, if the Danes can do it - everyone can.
Second - baby prams. So everyone bikes everywhere. What I didn't realise is that people here love their prams -- riding ones and pushing ones. They all seem to come in twos too. I don't know about the Dane's fertility but rarely do you see a single pram. Not saying they are twins but clearly they're not mucking around with this one-child business.
Speaking of which - babies are everywhere. And everyone pushes them from mummies to grandparents -- lots of grandparents. And they seem to like it. Even when the bubs are left outside, in their prams, in the cold. Shakes head. This New Zealand woman found it weird too.
Third - cleaning products. I can't seem to find the same ones I usually use. I like to use a little bleach in the shower (for mould) well I went to several stores and they were sold out. So either the Danes are really clean or there's a world wide shortage of bleach. EEkk. At our apartment, I was scrounging and opened a bottle of something and immediately took a big sniff--that's a dangerous thing to do. Don't do it.
Fourth - TV. I have never seen so many romance movies airing. Yes it's the time of year for Jule Christmas Romance movies. There are usually about 4 each night on telly here. They are the crappiest, cheeziest, Hallmark movies you can imagine. The Danes are romantics at heart.
Auction tv shows -- while Australia continues its love affair with renovation television shows, and America still loves a desperate housewife, it's all about the auction here. We can't understand a word of them but in various guises people guess what things are valued at and them compete in various ways. We're crap at guessing prices. It seems the the more tortured the piece of porcelain the more it fetches.
Fifth - Food and Drink. Sweets-yes the Danes LOVE their sweeta (I mean lollies); they are second only to Finland (really? see this article) at 8.51 kilos per head per year. Every corner has a 'candy' shop that's filled with gummy type chewy lollies. I love them. My figure doesn't. One of the reasons that Danes, with the highest "happiness" rating, don't live the longest. There's a lesson in that, right?
Coffee - okay it's a national sport here. They are the second biggest spenders at over 3 euros per cup in the world (see here). (Swiss rank #1). Drink as much as you can. I'm not a great fan -- I hate that coffee breath that heavy drinkers get.
Bread - while we might know that dark-rye-nut laden bread used in open sandwiches-we've discovered a bread/croissant type bun.
Oh - it's 2pm. Time for Glogg. I will write about glogg but not right now. It's drinking time.
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