Top 10 Danish Observations

After spending 3 weeks in Denmark, here are my top 10 observations that I noted about Danish society and norms:

1 Pedestrian signal obedience
Many blogs speak to the fact that Danes obey walking signals. And after just having spent less than a week in London, I can definitely confirm the difference in culture. Danes will wait at an intersection for the crossing signal, even if there is no traffic in sight. I experienced this on multiple occasions. Brits, on the other hand, regularly disobeyed crossing signals. Their motto: if no cars in sight, or if cars in sight aren’t moving yet, treat as green and walk.

2. Green thumbs
Danish people, at least more than Canadians, seem to have an affinity with live plants and flowers. A flower/plant shop similar to these ones could easily be found in any Copenhagen neighbourhood. Windowsill plants/gardens were also a common feature in many flat windows, including ours.

So many plant shops. — So many flower shops.

3. Table decor
I fell in love with minimalist Danish style. And in doing so I noticed that almost all Cafe, bar and restaurant tables shared two commonalities: they included both a floral arrangement or plant, including herbs, as well as a candle. This gave off a hygge vibe, defined below, and effortlessly gave off a warm, inviting vibe without much clutter. I did a poor job of documenting this, but here’s one photo with plants on all patio tables.

4. Hygge
First, read here what the Danish term hygge means. Many restaurants, bars and cafes with outdoor seating had blankets available to keep guests warm. In addition to heat lamps, these blankets were often either draped over chairs or folded in trunks, so passerby could readily see that an additional layer was available if it was a chillier day. Such a cosy atmosphere to see patrons cuddled up under their blankets while dining or drinking.

Most restaurants, cafes, and bars with patios, which was very common, had blankets and heat lamps available to make the space useable despite dropping temperatures.

5. Sneakers
Many Danes wore stylish but practical footwear to support their active commuting lifestyle. Not previously a wearer of casual sneakers, I found myself oohing and ahhing over various stylish yet practical sneakers.

6. Design everywhere – even construction walls!
I was surprised by how the Danes, or maybe Europeans more broadly, take extra care to ensure many features are presented as pleasantly as possible. Take Copenhagen’s current million dollar City Circle ring line Metro expansion, wherein 17 new stations are being built by 2019. While in the centre city, you’re never more than a few minute walk from a construction site. Nevertheless, the city commissions public art to cover or be featured on these walls, making the construction zones as pleasing as possible, while also engaging the local arts community. A simple yet unnecessary touch that makes the city that much more pleasing.

Curated construction art featuring local residents and employees of local businesses. — Curated construction art featuring local residents and employees of neighbourhood businesses.

7. Widespread use this uniform pram (stroller)
I felt like Danish prams (or strollers) were everywhere. Danes seem to bring their kids along wherever they go, and if the child isn’t old enough to sit in the parent’s bike seat or have their own tricycle, they are pushed around in these super awesome strollers. I took quite a liking to these, though several ex-pat blogs question their practicality. Give their large size, it’s not uncommon for parents to leave their children inside the strollers on the sidewalk they quickly dash into a coffee shop or bakery.

8. Mac users
I popped into many cafes while in Denmark and not once did I notice a Windows laptop. Danes appeared to be Apple lovers through and through. Interestingly, the Apple watch was finally launched in Denmark and other smaller European countries while we were there.

9. Perfume
One of the first things I noticed in Denmark is that people wear perfume and cologne regularly. In North America we’ve largely moved to scent-free atmospheres, which is why I noticed scents in Denmark almost immediately. I’d be curious to know how per capita perfume sales compare between Denmark and Canada.

10. Self-serve water service
While I also noticed this in London, Denmark frequently had self-serve water stations at bars and cafes, where there wasn’t table service. I really enjoyed being able to grab a glass of water without having to line up at the counter. Given the extensive walking and biking we were doing, it was great to have easy access to unlimited water!

And there you have it. I had an amazing time and highly recommend Copenhagen, a European gem that, at least in September, was less invaded by tourists than many other major European cities.

Next up: my brief stop in London followed by tales from our Japanese adventure, which is sadly coming to an end this weekend.

Adventures in Aarhus

Welcome back! After having a tough time finding both spare time away from sightseeing, and a great internet connection, I’m finally able to finish this post, which dates back to 3 weeks ago when Ian and I spent two nights in Aarhus, Denmark’s “second city”.

While only a city of 325,000, or 845,000 metro, it is rather compact and as a result has the feel of a cosmopolitan city, with multiple central districts and many cafes and shopping districts. Furthermore. Aarhus has a number of wonderful cultural attractions. These are the ones I visited.

Old Town

Ian told me we were going to an open air museum, which was highly recommended to him by locals. I was game but neither of us had researched it before we walked over. We arrived to find out there was an admission cost, which we paid because we were there so figured we might as well.

We wandered in to the first building to discover it was an actual house from the 1500s relocated to this site, and had a museum actress playing a housewife working away in the kitchen. We thought this was a little odd and then read the signage to realize that Old Town represents a compilation of Danish buildings from 3 eras: 1550-1800s, 1927, and 1974. In essence, the carefully curated buildings create towns as they were in each era. It was actually the neatest museum I have ever been to in terms of layout and content. Here are some pictures from the 1927 and 1974 towns:

Ian window shopping for a TV and radio. Storefront circa 1974, including actual product prices from the time (in DKK).

Preserved actual former convenience store, physically relocated here with products circa 1974.

Moesgaard Museum (MOMU)

I’d heard that MOMU was a must see museum,having just recently opened outside the city of Aarhus in a purpose-built structure designed specifically to house this museum. It’s what’s you could call the future of museums – high ceilings, lots of open space, thematic decor, and a great mix of interactive exhibits for all senses – touch, audio, audio-visual, visual, etc.

The feature exhibit was a selection of artefacts from the Terracotta Army. It topped my list of favourite exhibits seen on this trip thus far. I marvelled at what Chinese society was able to accomplish and build in the 200s BCE. Mind you, there was significant exploitation of labour, but nevertheless the grandiose scale and attention to detail was extremely stunning.

Here are a few photos of the exhibit and rest of the museum:

Grauballe Man. Kinda creepy but super cool.

The museum is built into a hill, with a slanted rooftop that descends down the hill to the ground. Beautiful lookout spot from the top.

Aarhus City

While not a thorough list of all the neat things we stumbled upon,here are a few:

1. Stroøget, Latin Quarter, and Canal
These largely pedestrian areas were full of activity while we were in Aarhus, even mid-day during a weekday. I spent some time meandering through the streets, popping into a few stores and admiring all the beautiful, minimalist Danish decor items.

Narrow d — Narrow streets in the Latin Quarter.

This photo doesn't do it justice, but the fountain to the left is beautiful. — This photo doesn’t do it justice, but the fountain to the left is beautiful.

I fell in love with these chrome light fixtures but unfortunately they aren't configured for North American outlets. — I fell in love with these chrome light fixtures but unfortunately they aren’t configured for North American outlets.

2. Dokk1 (Public Library and civic space)

The Aarhus public library and civic complex is brand new and should be regarded as an example of what’s possible in urban design, architecture, and space-making. It is designed to invite and encourage users to sit and spend time within the facility, whether it be to work, read, play or discuss – there’s something for everyone, and conversation is welcomed, not discouraged.

Isn't this an inviting space? — Isn’t this an inviting space?

Backlit bookshelves. Beautiful and spacious!

Board games. Yes, visitors are allowed and encouraged to play games here!

3. More Climbing Structures

Like Copenhagen, Aarhus is a very active city. Cycling is also extremely common, despite the fact that it has many more hills than Copenhagen. We stumbled upon this random climbing structure in a city park:

It was great to have the chance to meander out of Copenhagen to see Denmark outside of the capital. It’s a beautiful country, with many cute cities and towns situated along the train route between Copenhagen and Aarhus. We left Aarhus for a quick return to Copenhagen before heading to country #2/3 of our trip: England.

Delicious Danish Drinks

So a fairly significant amount of my time in Denmark has centered around drinks, whether they be of the caffeinated or alcoholic variety. Popping into a cafe or bar is a nice way to take a break in the afternoon or evening, and can be a great way to enjoy a Copenhagen patio. So I figured a blog post was in store to share interesting aspects about drinking in Copenhagen!

Caffeine

As in most places in Europe, drip coffee is not a standard cafe menu option. The Danes are all about espresso, with many cafes lining the streets. Ian and I are bodum coffee drinkers at home, and opted not to pack our bodum once our Airbnb host confirmed his kitchen is stocked with a bodum and coffee bean grinder. Perfect, we thought. Well, true to European form, we’ve replaced our morning bodum coffee with a daily morning espresso. This habit was kicked off when one of my best friends came to visit for a couple days, with Italian espresso in tow. Ever since her visit at the very beginning of our trip, we’ve been sipping espresso over breakfast.

Yet since we’re used to larger quantities of caffeine, most afternoons involve stopping in to a local cafe to grab another caffeinated beverage. There are an abundance of cafes in our neighbourhood (Vesterbro) so it’s easy to walk downstairs and grab something. Or, we might take a break, visit another neighbourhood, and pop into a cafe there. Either way, Copenhagen has an abundance. All have free wifi, which we kinda love, and most have benches on the sidewalk in front of their storefront. It is far more common here to have patio benches than patio tables and chairs. They take up less sidewalk space, and they’re more communal.

Standard Copenhagen cafe storefront with communal tables and long benches.

Laundromat cafe in Norrebro. I can't remember what it's called, but you can see the various layers. — Cortado at Laundromat cafe in Norrebro. Delicious!

Latte at Retro cafe in Norrebro. This is a non-profit coffee shop, operated by volunteers!

Lattes at Coffee Collective, one of Copenhagen's top roasters. The space was great, but the latte was too milky. — Lattes at Norrebro’s Coffee Collective, one of Copenhagen’s top roasters. The space was great, but the latte was too milky.

Pricing: Caffeinated beverages are pricey in Denmark, or at least in Copenhagen. We’d been forewarned that Copenhagen is expensive, and this is true largely for restaurant food and drink. Grocery store prices are reasonable to standard vis-a-vis Canada, but an espresso will easily cost $6-$7 CAD.

And lastly, Danes appear to love their independent cafes, or very small local chains. There is one mainstream chain cafe I see fairly frequently otherwise they are independents. Starbucks is essentially a no-show here. Because I’d seen so few locations, I googled it. Outside of mall locations, the airport, and the train station, there appear to be only a couple Starbucks locations in Copenhagen. While Danes love their coffee, they love their independents and obviously the demand is not there for Starbucks, which is especially overpriced here. A grande latte runs you $10 CAD.

Alcohol

Like caffeinated drinks, beer is also expensive in Denmark if you’re going out for a pint. At Mikkeller, Copenhagen’s most comprehensive beer bar, now with multiple locations, two pints cost us exactly $30 CAD. That being said, the beer was delicious. With over 40 taps to choose from and employees who willing hand out samples, you’d be hard pressed not to find something for everyone. Further, the atmosphere at each location is fun, hip, and with minimalist Scandinavian style. I didn’t want to be that person taking pictures of the entire bar, but here are a couple I managed to grab.

Mikkeller & Friends in Norrebro. Can you tell Norrebro's one of our favourite neighbourhoods? — Mikkeller & Friends in Norrebro. Can you tell Norrebro’s one of our favourite neighbourhoods?

Love these glasses at the original Mikkeller Bar.

I absolutely loved these washroom door signs at Mikkeller and Friends.

Because Copenhagen is home to Carlsberg brewery, there’s a wide selection of different Carlsberg brews. We stocked up on a number at the grocery store to try throughout our stay.

Given our close proximity to Sweden, we took a short commuter train ride to Malmö, Sweden, on Tuesday for the afternoon/evening, mainly so we could say we’ve been to Sweden. It was not very different from Denmark, except tipping small quantities at restaurants and bars is customary, unlike in Denmark. Luckily, we’d learned this so we could tip our friendly and amazing bartender at Malmö Brygghus.

Neat malt centrepieces at Malmo Brighouse — Neat malt centrepieces at Malmö Brygghus.

Like many places in the world, though unlike many Canadian provinces, alcohol is sold in grocery stores here. Prices are reasonable and comparable to Canada. Further, grocery stores accept empties in an automated bottle return machine, and spit out store credits. No need to go to a separate location to return your bottles!

Lastly, public drinking is also allowed. So if you want to grab a beer and drink it in a park, go right ahead! Further, many restaurants and bars have beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) available to stay or to go. A cocktail bar below has this sandwich board sign:

IMG-20150919-WA0000 — Take away cocktail sidewalk sign.

Despite the price tags, drinks in Denmark are of a very high standard and delicious. We still have several spots left on our list of recommendations for drinks and espresso as we kick off our final week in Copenhagen.

On today’s agenda: train ride north of the city to Louisiana, Denmark’s premiere modern art museum. It’s along the water so we’re bringing our bikes to ride up and down the coast, checking out the large mansions that line the water’s edge.

Happy weekend!