Guds hjælp, Folkets kærlighed, Danmarks styrke

I’ve been to Denmark before – at least I think I have, after all when you’re about 8 years old you tend to take everything your parents say at face value (unless it’s “No”). For all I know I could have been to the Netherlands instead!

As you may remember, my friend Ilana from Australia, whom I met in the USA and went to Cuba with (and who recently visited me in Ireland… again) is now working for Microsoft in Denmark. What better opportunity to visit our 55% income tax neighbor could I possibly have? None, exactly. So last Friday afternoon I hopped on an SAS flight to Copenhagen to inspect the Kingdom of Denmark once again!

Denmark is an hour ahead of the Republic of Ireland, so the 7pm flight got me to the Københavns Lufthavn (airport) a little after 10pm. As promised my friend Ilana was there to pick me up; as me, Ilana doesn’t own a car - apparently the Danes like to tax behaviors and things they want to discourage (of which smoking appears to be not one of them), so they tax private cars for example north of 300% of the purchase price. It’s a good idea not to buy one.

If this would have been Dublin, the late arrival would have meant either waiting 30 mins for the next Aircoach (a privately owned bus service) to take me to my neighborhood, or dropping about €30 on a Taxi downtown (yes, Dublin has indeed no rail connection .. or any public transport to speak of.. that connects the Airport to the city). But luckily this wasn’t Dublin. Or even like it at all.

Just outside the terminal doors is an underground train station in which an S-Train was sitting, ready for departure heading downtown. Shortly thereafter we changed into the subway, and mere minutes after I had exited the baggage reclaim area, we were already in Ilana’s neighborhood. Copenhagen reminds me why I like large European cities. By and large, that is.

The next day was reserved for sightseeing – having not been here in ages, I had virtually… actually none whatsoever memory of anything. I’m sure I had seen the Little Mermaid before and looked upon the wondrous palaces and statues… but then again, maybe I was too busy eating ice cream and stealing candy instead (‘”sweets” for my Irish readers).

The 4 hour walk through the city gave me lots of opportunities for pictures and coffee stops, and I learned a great deal. Here is an excerpt:

• The mermaid is on her 3rd head
• The Danes believe that their flag fell from the sky
• Smoking in cafes is perfectly fine
• Alcohol isn’t nearly as taxed as in the other Scandinavian countries
• Don’t buy the roasted almonds from the stand near the mermaid
• The princess of Denmark is Australian
• All the kings are called Frederick or Christian
• The Danish prince could probably seriously kick Prince Andrew’s butt

A showing of “Blades of Glory” in original with Danish subtitles and some cheap but seriously good pizza concluded the day. The next day we slept in way too late, so that after a great breakfast in a smoky café I made my way back to the airport.

Oh yeah, pictures are - as always - on my smugmug account.

And the title is the motto of Denmark: The Help of God, the Love of the People, the Strength of Denmark