I have been talking about s-tog and klippekort but I forgot to mention the basics. Where do you buy you klippekort? Well either from a shop inside the station or a vending machine directly on the platform. You can also find them in some newsagents.
Other essential info: if you ask kindly (to the vendor, not the vending machine of course ...), you may manage to get a card cover, some even have a line map on them! Classy and totally essential!
Here in Sjælland, it's hard to avoid taking the "S-Tog" (S-train, but that does the S stand for? Super-fast?), A sort of equivalent to the Paris RER.
Equivalent, but careful though: the level of service is not the same! Here the traveler has the right to a nicely designed seat, the position of the train on the line appears, and everything is quite clean. Besides the trains are rarely crowded, extra trains are added during peak hours (lines "+"). It changes from the Paris trains ..
An extra help for people who usually do not know where to get off (I know quite a few who can't figure it out), red and black display in each car gives you the list of the upcoming station and a dotted line indicates in real time the remaining time before the next station!
There are 6 lines, each with its associated color and initial (A to H, but no line D and G, why? not sure...).
More infos about the stog (for Danish speakers) : DSB website
Candles are a big part of everyday life in Denmark. This is especially true at this time of the year that once we get home I start by lighting up the dozen (at least) of candles stanging on my window ledges. In design shops, the choice of candles and candle holders is endless ... You can also spots huge candles or lanterns in the streets, they are used to frame the entrance to shops and restaurants. Big oil lamps as well, which is sometimes a little dangerous for the tourist wearing long coats! In our first flat (rented furnished), there was 5 candle holders and a bag of 100 candles (the biggest bag I have seen in a shop so far had not less than 500 candles in it), that explains a bit how important this is to the basic Danish survival kit.
Why the "Water" theme for Blog Action day 2010?
Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in eight of us who are subject to preventable disease and even death because of something that many of us take for granted.
Access to clean water is not just a human rights issue. It’s an environmental issue. An animal welfare issue. A sustainability issue. Water is a global issue, and it affects all of us.
Bottled Water: Even though people in the US have access to clean water from their taps, they drink an average of 200 bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86 percent of which will never be recycled.
Here in Denmark, I have stop using bottled water and bought a "Drikkedunk" for a while now. You can find them in a lot of shops, including pharmacies, and they come in different colours. The plastic they use is free for toxic elements, of course probably not all of them, but at least I don't feel responsible for creating hundred of kilos of extra trash every year.
As everyone knows, the Danes are craving for snacks. You just have to look at the assortment offered by kiosks, candy merchants, sausage stands, and so on ...
Recent example at work: as if all the sugar that my colleagues have on their desk wasn't enough, a box of candy and chocolates appeared with a help yourself system - a little money box on its side (this also illustrates how much trust people have in each other here).
Of course, Danes realized that this sugar extravaganza might not be so healthy after all, so healthy options are also heavily available. At work, it is easy to get its hand on the classic carrot and mini cucumber, alongside more traditionnal fruits...
Other healthy treats are also commun, like the knækbrød (a kind of very dry toast) or peas.
Healthy versus sugar: the fight has just begun! Wonder who is going to win ;-)
2009 most populars first names are out! You can spot there a few quite interesting names... much different from France (and yet again you don't know the pronunciation ;-)))
Bets are already open for the upcoming little royal twins... Princess Mary and Frederik have some work ahead of them to choose. Luckily for them they have up to 6 months after the birth to choose so they have still some time ....
Note that first names number one on the list have been given to around 700 babies... not so much risk to have a school classroom full of Freja and Lucas in 6 years...
| 1. | Freja | 1. | Lucas |
| 2. | Emma | 2. | Mikkel |
| 3. | Ida | 3. | Emil |
| 4. | Lærke | 4. | William |
| 5. | Caroline | 5. | Oliver |
| 6. | Anna | 6. | Magnus |
| 7. | Laura | 7. | Victor |
| 8. | Sofie | 8. | Noah |
| 9. | Isabella | 9. | Frederik |
| 10. | Sarah | 10. | Mathias |
... ;-) hummm at least it is most of the times pretty cheap!
The Nordsjælland school where I have done my study is apparently in the "rich" category. Education 100% free (well I wasn't asked to pay anything yet), e-learning classes, small groups courses on evenings or on Saturdays, teacher available by mail to correct your exercises in between classes, language lab in a computer room, books provided, CD-ROMs, dictionaries ... is luxury!Every time we go shopping, we are tempted by the kitchen items stores, which you have to admit are very well stocked with designer items in Denmark. The only problem is that we don't have an XXL kitchen to go with our shopping frenzy! In our small town, I have already a hard time to choose between Inspiration, Imerco, Bahne, Kop & Kande and the local Isenkram. I know, I am spoiled!
In Copenhagen, the most frequented places are Illum Bolighus and Magasin du Nord.
Regarding the brands you can find in the countless shops, you will notice that many of them are Danish: Menu, Royal Copenhagen, Georg Jensen, Trip Trap, Eva Trio (or solo), ... Yep Danish design is still popular!
It's just a tiny detail in our daily life, but it can quickly become very annoying, considering the number of times it is handled everyday (especially during the winter !)... In Denmark, each plug has its own switch, but it can sometimes be located really far away from the plug itself. So you may sometimes have to manipulate two switches to turn on a single device, hence only one chance out of four to actually get some light. Ahhh, the joy of moving abroad!
The Danes are heavy smokers! I came to this conclusion fairly soon after arriving here. My naive self believed that the further North you live, the healthier lifestyle you have.... all my illusions were shattered!
At least, I found that they sometimes have design smoking shelters...
The Danes loves biking. But like everywhere, some people are more lazy than others. From time to time, you can see these strange little cars on the streets. Last weekend, we spotted a tiny and very chic old lady out of a luxury shop who managed to fit all her shopping bags in her micro car before slowly leaving.
Note the customizing of the vehicle (such as the small eyes in front).
Many airports around the world are spectacular pieces of architecture (we can of course discuss about Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle). Copenhagen is no exception to this rule, even if the airport is relatively small, some aspects of it are quite remarkable.
This applies to the deserted corridor at the end of the path "A". You can admire there a rather minimalist style characteristic of Scandinavia.
Another practical aspect is that the airport has its own train station and also the Metro. This means that one can reach Copenhagen downtown within 20 minutes and above all, in a relative comfort. That is really a major contrast with Paris!We have already mentionned the Julemarked (Christmas markets) you can experience on Nyhavn and Tivoli (the 2 most famous ones) in December. There is also another type of market at the same period, a rather original one : some shops will open on a temporary basis and sell a lot of items at a single price.
Here was an example last year, on the City Town Square, a store (which was previously a travel agency and will surely be something else in a few months) has sold books, comics, CDs and video cassettes at 60 dkk each on the opening day and then, every day, the price is declining until Christmas. The price for each day is displayed in the window. This eventually ends up by a huge sales between Christmas and New Year, where you could walk away with 50 items for 100 kroner!
Of course the quality of what remains decreases gradually as the period goes on ...
So keep your eyes open for those "limited time julemarked", there could be some good bargains around (and god knows this is rare in Denmark).
Tonight let's go to the movies ...
Here in Denmark, the experience is quite different from home (in France). First thing at the ticket window, the lovely lady (you can also choose the lovely automatic ticket dispenser) presents us with a screen representing the room and you can choose your seat inside the theater. What I should say is we "must"! And we should especially pay an extra for the reservation (5 to 10 kr depending on the cinemas). Added to the price of the ticket itself (70 to 100 kr), the full expense for the movie represents nearly the price of a restaurant in Paris! But hey, at least we have the satisfaction of knowing where we will be seating for the next 2 hours ...
Note that here, the further you sit from the screen, the more expensive it gets. In France, people are fighting to be at the front row!
One detail is important: many rooms have reclining seats. It at least it's classy! In addition, some theaters offer the special last row lovers seats (an extra-wide seat). Nice!
Thanks to the numbered seat system, many people arrive at the last minute and thus avoid the long serie of commercials before the trailers ... there are even more than in France! Here you are also subjected to a lot of very cheesy ads promoting local attractions like the bowling or a shoe store on the street corner ...
Last point, here you can not miss the extravagant size of the candy store in the theater lobby ... very impressive! There are no fewer than 65 bins of bulk candy (I have not checked if they were all different but it is very likely)! Add to that displays of candy bags, chocolate bars, ice cream and the traditional popcorn and sodas and a ride to the movies can turn into a dangerous adventure for the liver!
In the serie "let's live fully the Danish life", we have just tried "the vote". Lucky us, we were entitled to two votes for one trip: the municipal and regional.
Since it is the local elections, foreigners - including ourselves - have the right to vote (as opposed to parliament two years ago for example).
Even if the grund principles are the same as in France (sorry I can only compare to what I know about), there are still some significant differences in the proceeds.
Firstly, we were not ask for ID. On arrival at the polling station, a volunteer scans the barcode on your valgkort (received by post one week before) and verifies its validity on a PC. And voila, you're done! The valgkort is a disposable piece of paper, no, no, no need to reach out to retrieve it - Oh, those silly foreigners ...
Then the volunteer gives you two lists (one for each vote), which I must say are quite bulky ... It is a big change from the myriad of small papers we get in France (one for each list)
Then comes the traditional trip to the voting booth. Well, where am I going to put my cross (pencil provided)?
Here you can vote both for a party or a person. Following the compting, if one party realizes that his member number 12 get more "personal" vote as member 10, they would probably re-organize the list. Once your choice is written down, don't search for an envelope, here they pay attention to the environment! But apparently no to the confidentiality!
Exit the booth by the opposite side, no, no, not that way, ohhh these foreigners, they don't understand a thing ...
Then you try to insert your ballot in a large plastic trash. Pardon, a ballot box - which is shaped like a large plastic trash.
Note the old style wooden racket leaning against the urn: here no "Has voted" stamp, instead you get a big slap in the ***. No, I am kidding, actually it meant to be used to stuff the ballots in the ballot box when they get stuck (and they do!). I dare not imagine how the ballots look like when they are retrieved from the bint!
Finally, here is yet another cultural experience!
Today is Municipal elections Day! After seeing numerous signs for weeks in the sstreets and received our Valgkort (voting card) at home (yes, foreigners can vote for those elections), it is time to vote! Of course, we are still hesitating, because it is really difficult to make a choice.
Let's look at some campaign promises: one hot meal per day for retirees, bus tickets at half price, one hour free parking in town ... Huuummmm, tough choice!
An interesting initiative worth noting in this campaign: the temporary opening (approximately 2 months) of a Valgcafe (coffee of the elections).
No, let's not dream, this is not a democratic initiative, a place to learn and discuss freely about all candidates. This is only the place for Social Democrats propaganda, currently leading our town.
Finally, if I had to choose between disfiguring the streets with signs and flyers, or have a chat inside and a warm drink, I find this initiative welcome in this cold period
As everyone knows, Denmark is the country of bikes. But it is also known for its rainy climate . To live through it, one has to be well equipped.
1. The over-shoes. Note the reflective tape! 
2. The waterproof over-trousers
3. The rain cape, with a few extra reflective tape, just in case ...
And voila, let's go downstairs to the Batmobile!
Here, in Denmark, everyone rides a bike. When I say "everyone", this is not really an exaggeration. From Granny to the young dynamic environment, including large families ... everybody seems to appreciate this healthy mean of transportation, and this is true whatever the weather conditions are.
There are a tremendous amount of different models of bikes here, for all tastes, all needs and budgets. One of the most surprising is the bike equipped to transport children (up to 4!) and sometimes when some adults have drunken too much, they can also serve as a improvised vehicle to go home safely (in that case of course, you still need a sober friend to drive the bike) ... The inside equipment depends on the model and brand: small bench, seat belts, ...
One of the most popular is the Christiana Bike formerly manufactured in the famous Christiania. There are also more modern models, from which the trailer can be detached after arrival to serve as a stroller (a little too big to go into stores, but practical enough not to wake baby when you arrive in town).
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Posts
All Comments
