Something Was Rotten In The State Of Denmark…It Was Us

My birthday present was Denmark, not the entire country, just a trip there. We fell in love with the country.  Here is a top ten list of things of to love about Denmark:


10. The bike culture. I even got to see some of the World Championships. 

Poul Henningson Artichoke Light

9. The design. From everyday objects to amazing modern buildings, it is a treat for the eyes. They really find a way to highlight the beauty in function of an object (and make it accessible to just about everyone). This passion for design extends to architecture. They don’t try to make their buildings look like they were built 200 years ago, they try to make something incredibly interesting and hyper-functional. 

These buildings are filled with light, even on gray days.

8. The wonderful people. Seriously, they may be some of the nicest, friendliest, warmest people around. 

7. Great fish. Except for the lunch where I had a pastry (I couldn’t help myself), I had fish at every meal in Denmark. Including for breakfast. Come to think of it, all of the food was really good. And who doesn’t love a Smorgasbord? Sorry, I was too busy eating to snap pictures of anything other than the vitamins.

The breakfast Smorgasbord included fish oil pills. I took a picture because I knew you wouldn’t believe me otherwise.

6. Good beer. While you may be able to buy Kronnenberg 1664 or Heineken less expensively (we wouldn’t know as we have never tried), beer is not cheap in Geneva. Good beer is really expensive. He loved the good Danish beers and their reasonable prices. 

It was too cute.

5. Adorable canals.

My cab

4. They are green.

Electric car charging in front of the hotel

3. Their English is wonderful and everyone speaks it. I didn’t meet a single person who didn’t speak it very well.

Don’t they look like happy, normal, real people who dig each other?

2. Their royal family. This is what I saw in the guidebook. Yep. That’s their queen. You would never see the British royal family acting human. The Danish royal family acts like normal people and the Danes love them for it (The queen used to go out around the city on her own, Crown Prince Frederick met his Australian wife in a Sydney bar, etc.). Very refreshing.

1. You can indulge the big kid in you with Legos, candy, pastries, Tivoli Gardens and Hans Christian Anderson.

Yep! Legos are Danish.

The Danish make a good Danish.

Tivoli is Europe’s first amusement park. They don’t make good ol’ fashioned fun like this anymore.

P.S. A HUGE thank you to my wonderful husband who knows me well enough to know that my favorite gift is not jewelry or clothes,  but a trip. He got bonus points for picking out and giving me my favorite guidebooks ahead of time.