"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."
Woody Allen
The number one tourist attraction in Denmark is Tivoli, one of the worlds oldest theme parks located in downtown Copenhagen. It's about as downtown as it can be, located between the town hall and the central train station. Tivoli has both nice rides and entertainment, but it’s greatest asset is the atmosphere they have managed to maintain. With lights all around, a small China town, old booths and café’s with danish pastry and interesting restaurants, Tivoli's a must see for visitors to Denmark.
With 9 kids at the table, it was impossible to get a shot of everyone sitting, smiling and looking into the camera.
We went with our hosts to the pirate ship, an old sail ship that has been turned into a pirate themed restaurant. It’s impressive. The ship is very real, floating on the water with natural movements, and the captain’s cabin, where we ate, was nicely decorated with pirate weapons and icons. The servants were correctly dressed, the menu followed the theme in the names and descriptions of the courses and I was looking forward to a truly themed experience. Unfortunately, the staff, though appropriately dressed in pirate clothing, was not in on the concept. The service was bad and we didn’t get our steaks prepared as we asked for. Not even the second time around. So why bother offering us rare, medium and well done if the chef can’t figure it out? They were so close to delivering an excellent experience, it’s sad that they fail at such simple things as those.
It amazes me how the service level in Europe in general is so much lower than in the US (ok, I’m generalizing here, I’ve got excellent service in Europe and lousy service in the US as well). It’s often so simple things, such as a smile, ask how the food is (and listen to the answer), offering even the smallest compensation when something goes wrong etc. Small, simple things like that can make such a great difference.
Theme parks are really one of Denmark's strong holds. You'll find theme parks within a few minutes from each other all around Denmark. When in Copenhagen I would recommend Tivoli and Bakken (the worlds oldest theme park) and Legoland in Jutland. Those are the best ones for international tourists while others are more aimed at the locals.
Danes are all but workaholics. Their expertise is “hygge”, which we might translate as “cozy time”. The downside of this is that they start closing everything at least 15 minutes early so that they can get out the door the minute they are supposed to close. So be prepared for that and show up in time. They don’t like to have things on stock either so they usually order a little less than they could possibly sell so that they won’t have any “leftovers” at the end of the day. That’s a bad habit, specially for a last-minute and spontant person like me ☹
But “hygge” is at the same time their best quality and what I love the most about Danes. They really know how to relax with friends and family, take things easy and enjoy the moment. It doesn’t have to be fancy, they’re more on the romantic side. A checkered picnic tablecloth, candle light, red wine or beer and very healthy sandwiches. You put all this in a basket – on the front of your bike – and ride to the park or beach and enjoy the day. Maybe this is also the reason why Danes are so creative. They give themselves the time to think and create, rethink and recreate. And they don’t just build castles of sand, they also really know how to sell their design and export it. The Danish culture has both created and been created by great designers and architects like Arne Jacobsen, Georg Jensen, Jørn Utzon (Sydney Opera). Beside Tivoli, only a few meters south of the town hall, you’ll find Danish Design Center where you can see examples of the best in Danish Design through the years.
Cheers to that
Hjörtur
All people deserve good life and loans or just commercial loan would make it much better. Because people's freedom is based on money state.
Posted by: MoralesHollie34 | July 07, 2010 at 04:45 AM