Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
would suggest. In fact, the Danes live extremely well. Traveling through what
seems to be a fantasy land, you keep wondering, “How do they do it?”
First of , there's the obvious: Denmark is, simply, pleasant. I'm impressed
by how serene things are, even in the bustling capital of Copenhagen. h eir
new subway is silent, automated, on the honor system (with random ticket
checks rather than turnstiles), and trains go literally every two minutes. h e
streets are so quiet (thanks to downtown pedestrian-only zones) that I don't
yell to my friends from a distance…I walk over to speak to them in a soft
“indoors voice.” On my last visit, I saw an angry young man at the Copenha-
gen train station barking into his mobile phone—and it occurred to me that
in a week in the country, that was the only shouting I'd heard.
When you get beyond Copenhagen and travel into the Danish coun-
tryside, you i nd yourself saying “cute” a lot. h atched-roof farms dot a green
landscape of rolling hills
and i elds. Sailboats bob
in tiny harbors. Parents
push kids in prams along
pedestrian-only streets.
Copper spires create
fairy-tale skylines. The
place feels like a pitch
'n putt course sparsely
inhabited by blonde Vul-
cans. Travelers here i nd
the human scale and orderliness of Danish society itself the focus of their
sightseeing. Everything is just so...Danish.
h e local Disneyland—Legoland—is a wildly popular place featur-
ing 58 million Lego bricks built into famous landmarks from around the
world. (h ey claim that if you lined them all up, they'd stretch from here to
Italy.) h e place is crawling with adorable little ice-cream-licking, blonde
children. Although stoked with piles of sugar, the scene is strikingly mellow.
Kids hold their mothers' hands while learning about the Lego buildings and
smile contentedly as they circle around on the carousel.
Riding Danish trains is also thought-provoking. Wandering into a nearly
empty, sleek train car, I noticed that each seat was marked
Kan reserveres.
I i gured that meant “not reserved,” and sat down. h
en I was bumped by a
friendly Dane with a reservation. He said, “h
e sign means the seat 'could
