Denmark

Back in May, L and I went on vacation to Denmark, specifically Copenhagen and Bornholm (with some day trips to other parts such as Roskilde). We flew out May 10th and returned on the 18th. I am unsure why it has taken me so long to comb through the pics that I took while there (which are a lot fewer in number than I had thought).

The flight over was awful, on a cramped little plane (don't fly Continental!) and I had some allergy issues on the very first day of arrival but despite those things, I loved Denmark. I'm sure part of the reason I enjoyed it there so much was due to being able to just relax with little to no responsibilities, being out of New York in a new environment and having the chance to just enjoy life without the usual drudgery of work, bills, stress and all the other garbage that makes life dull or just plain miserable. We basically just went sightseeing and ate and drank while having good conversation with family and friends. Perfect.

However, it was also the atmosphere of the place that made it so enjoyable. Copenhagen was wonderful. I wish New York were more like it. Half the people were biking around rather than clogging the streets with cars. A lot of old Scandinavian style buildings of course, which I loved. Everything seemed to be in great condition, very little urban blight (at least the parts we saw-admittedly we only saw certain parts of it).

Despite initially wanting to accompany L to Denmark due to my interest in history, Vikings and such, I honestly did have reservations at first that perhaps I would stick out like a sore thumb, being that I am pretty far from looking anything close to Nordic. However, the people were amazingly friendly, so much so that I felt extremely comfortable. Even in the areas that we visited outside of Copenhagen. If I was ever really stared at it always seemed to be more out of interested curiosity than anything else. In Copenhagen there were more African, middle-eastern and even Asian people walking around than I had even expected to see. However, the diversity ratio is of course nowhere near to being something of a New York or even London. Be that as it may, I felt very comfortable there.

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By the last couple of days I had gotten used to the morning routine L and I had developed of lazy peaceful mornings of coffee and great bread and butter; sometimes walking to the local bakery to pick up a new delicious loaf. In fact we had a couple of stores that had become used to seeing us come in. L commented with lament the day before we were to depart, that she had just gotten used to our routine and we suddenly had to go. Honestly, I was sad to come back to New York. I would live in Copenhagen if I could. I can see why the Danes are considered the happiest people in the world and Copenhagen one of the best cities to live in:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/14/60minutes/main3833797.shtml
and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5224306.stm

It's interesting to note that in the 60 Minutes piece, it is stated a couple of times that perhaps "content" would be a more accurate description than "happy". I have to say that although I cannot explain why, a prevailing air of contentment is exactly what I sensed while being in Copenhagen. On the other hand, perhaps that feeling of contentment was coming from within me; but I'm not so sure. That feeling really did hit me the very first day that we were walking around and I was just observing the people and our new surroundings.

One of the Danes in the news story goes into how the Danish keep to themselves, would rather not talk to others, etc, etc. I suppose the outward demeanor of the people in general seemed very "Nordic" and stoic to some degree. However, I found that people were perfectly willing to speak to us and offer a smile and on some occasions seemed to take an interest in us.

Though, the 60 Minutes piece states homogeneousness as one among a few possible reasons for the happiness (or contentment) among the Danes, I think it's important to note (especially since one of the things I love about New York is it's non-homogeneous aspect) that in the BBC article about the study, some of the most homogeneous cultures in Asia rank very low on the happiness meter; so that appears to be either a small or completely irrelevant factor.

I find the facts that the story points out about Denmark very interesting when contrasted to the U.S.A.: all education is free through university, students can take as long as they want to finish, half a year for maternity/paternity leave , government paid healthcare, the average workweek is 37 hours, the average vacation is 6 weeks.....all these things that contribute to overall happiness that Americans would consider evil "socialism" diametrically opposed to the American Dream of "having it all"...well I guess that attitude has succeeded in putting us at a distant 23 on the list. Go America! 23 is not absolutely terrible, but it is very very low compared to what you would expect considering all the jingoistic propaganda that goes on in this country about how great we are and how obtaining the "American dream" (whatever that really is) is the greatest of all earthly pursuits (and the path to happiness).

Somehow that Puritanical work ethic became corrupted (the Puritans not having very healthy attitudes to begin with) into an ethic of working yourself to death for the accumulation of wealth, and measuring one's sense of self-worth against the things you own.

Well, at least we aren't "socialist, like Europe".

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Anyway, on to the fun stuff.....obligatory vacation pics! The three above are, in order: a street in Svaneke on the island of Bornholm, a shot of the coastline and ocean seen from Svaneke which really doesn't do the scene justice, and a gargoyle in Copenhagen near the square.

Above, is "the Bee House", the little structure that L and I stayed in on her family's property in Bornholm.

L's father and step-mother's house in Bornholm.




and a little shed on the property.

Remains of excavated Viking ships at the Viking Ship Museum at Roskilde. They have shops outside where they make actual navigable reconstructions of Viking style ships. Unfortunately a big reconstruction of a warship had sailed off from Roskilde to Dublin where it was on display at the time we were there. It is returning in summer 2008. However, we saw an interesting film of the hazardous voyage to Dublin at the museum. We tried 'Viking mead' in one of the shops outside. I loved it enough that I had to buy a bottle.

L standing by one of the Viking ships.

Fields of rapeseed in Sweden. We passed over a bridge (I think maybe the Oresund bridge?) into Sweden on our way to the ferry that took us to Bornholm. It seemed as if we were passing by rapeseed fields every other minute.

Two wonderful Roman busts within the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum in Copenhagen. The museum has a great collection of ancient Roman statuary which I found inspiring.

...and a funerary relief sculpture from a section at the Glyptotek that focused on the ancient city of Palmyra. Palmyra was known as the "Bride of the Desert" in ancient times and was an important city located in Syria. Though Mark Antony failed at capturing the settlement, the Roman Emperor Tiberius made Palmyra a part of the Roman province of Syria. Palmyra then grew in importance as a trade route which linked the Roman Empire to Persia, India and China. In the 2nd century CE, Hadrian proclaimed it a free city. Their funerary art was meant to represent the soul of the person who was buried. I found this section fascinating as I did not know too much about Palmyra nor the art. The use of symbolism and the mix of Roman and Parthian styles of the figures made an interesting visual mix which I also found inspiring.

more to come....