Coming To Copenhagen

The so-called pedestrian street known as Strøget is your destination on the first of your two perfect days in Copenhagen. Remember, your quest is to find that perfect hot dog that I wrote about earlier. Of course, if you’re in the Danish capital for a day, you’ll need to modify the plan a bit.

On the first of your two days in Copenhagen, you’ll walk along Strøget all the way to Tivoli, Europe’s oldest amusement park.

A word about Tivoli: Don’t expect Disney or Six Flags. Tivoli doesn’t occupy hundreds of acres; rather, it occupies only one city block.

Disappointed? Don’t be. After all, it’s a big city block. Even so, Tivoli is nothing like the big amusement parks you may be accustomed to visiting in the United States.

In Denmark, you need to shift your thinking. Think charming. Think small. Think fairy tales and storybooks.

Most things in Denmark, in fact, are on a smaller scale than in other places. For starters, Denmark is the smallest country in Scandinavia, only twice the size of Massachusetts and with only 5.5 million people. With adequate wealth, a strong social welfare system and the good life for all who live there, Denmark is more of a country club than a country. I only wish I could join.

Basically, what you have is the makings of a fairy-tale nation. Bah humbug, a Dane would respond (or they would utter something unintelligible in Danish.) Challenge a Dane, however, to deny that he or she does in fact live in a fairy-tale place.

Consider:

• One of Copenhagen’s main streets is called Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard, named for the Danish fairy-tale writer, the father, in fact, of fairy tales.
• Citizens of the world’s oldest constitutional monarchy, the Danes still have a Royal family and a daily changing of the guard at the Royal Palace and the requisite parades and fairy-tale-like ceremonies.
• The country is officially known as the Kingdom of Denmark, with castles and royalty.
• There there’s Tivoli, the world’s oldest amusement park. Heck, Copenhagen doesn’t need Tivoli; the whole city is like an amusement park.
• Of course, as in fairy tales, everyone in Denmark lives happily ever after. Denmark is home to the world’s happiest people, according to two university studies.

Okay, I know there’s a Dane reading these words with disdain (hah!), still in denial that he or she lives in a fairy-tale nation. So, Mr. and Mrs. Dane, I ask, “What is your national symbol?” Sure, the Dane will think of plenty of symbols: the national flag, the national song, the Royal family, to name a few. But Denmark’s true national symbol, and the whole nation of Denmark knows this, is, drumroll please, the Little Mermaid.

See, a fairy-tale nation.

Remember I told you that everything in Denmark is on a much smaller scale than in other nations? The Little Mermaid is appropriately named. She is tiny. “She’s just a little girl sitting on a rock,” one Dane told me. “You’d walk right past her if she were in the city center.”

Still, hundreds of thousands of tourists, make the pilgrimage to see her. Or to try to see her. Most actually walk past her, looking for something larger and more substantial.

Speaking of substantial, we need to steer ourselves back on course. I can smell a hot dog. Can’t you?

Second in a series of Two Perfect Days Copenhagen articles.