…or Copenhagen as we brits know it…
I arrived in the city today for the first time. A few things struck me:
- The airport has wooden tile floors, feels very posh. This was despite the evacuation that was in progress when I arrived and was subsequently deposited outside the terminal with not a clue where to go… guess it wasn’t the floor’s fault.
- Sitting on the train, I wasn’t sure if I was in first class or not, it was so posh. The ticket guy didn’t throw me out so I guessit was normal pleb class.
- All the buildings are the same height… I think it’s 5 stories. It gives the city a uniform look, but when you look closely there’s a lot of character around.
- It’s pretty cold. It was kinda sleeting earlier.
- My hotel really is close to the station… despite me walking a few miles to get to it. (My fault for striding off confidently way further than I needed to and not looking behind me to see my hotel fading into the distance.
- Stuff is expensive. The meal I had was pretty reasonable, but during my meanderings and window shopping I saw boots for 1700 Krona (£170), lingerie (yes, I was looking for myself) for 750 Krona (£75). Now those weren’t the expensive ones, they were the cheap ones that I found! Don’t think I’ll buy Lizzy’s birthday presents here!
- People don’t seem to be in a rush. People wait pretty patiently at pedestrian crossings even when there’s no traffic passing. Maybe it’s because of the next point
- A green light when going across a pedestrian crossing doesn’t mean cars won’t look like they’re going to run you over! It appears that you get a green pedestrian light even when cars are still allowed to turn right, although the pedestrian gets the right of way. This is like in the UK having green men at crossings but allowing cars still to drive across them as long as they’re turning left onto the road… bizarre!
- Eating meals on your own is boring to start with, OK when the food comes and then painful when all you want to do is go home, lie down and stop feeling like you’re being thought of as a sad man.
As a supplementary observation… Did you know if you put “kobenhavn wikipedia” into Google the first hit is Gordon Strachan? Weird! Here, try it.
