Since we were heading to Paris this afternoon, I thought it might be interesting to present some observations about Denmark and Copenhagen. Denmark is a Nordic welfare state with most of its services free to the citizens. According to a variety of sources, Denmark has the worlds highest taxes! Private transport, running a personal car, is incredibly expensive which is why people in Denmark ride bikes or use one of the best public transport systems in the world. It is commonly ranked in the top ten places for population happiness.
The population is around 5.3 million with Copenhagen accounting for about 1.7 million in its greater urban area and with 1.1 million in the city itself. It is a safe country with only 0.85 murders per year per 100,000 population. Compare that with Australia at 1.16 or the United States at 4.8. Or for a really bad place to live there is always Honduras with 86 murders per 100,000 population.
Copenhagen is a wonderful place to visit. Almost everyone speaks English so if you haven't mastered Danish, something we suspect very few other than Danes have done, it is very easy to get around.
Copenhagen's Kastrup Airport is the largest in Scandinavia, and that means huge. In addition it is extremely clean and there were lots of help desks. As airports are increasingly becoming shopping malls, this is one of the best. Of course, if you don't want to shop at an airport these days, there isn't a lot to do - so we waited, finally boarding our flight for Paris.
The trip took about an hour and a half and was very efficient. When we arrived at Charles de Gaulle we picked up our bags and walked out of the airport. Customs didn't have any staff and there was no immigration checkpoint to be cleared. We assume this was because we were travelling within the EU. Charles de Gaulle doesn't hold a candle to Kastrup.
We were fortunate enough to get a taxi very quickly and proceeded straight to the apartment where we stay. Considering the time - around 5.30 PM, we were lucky to get to Montmartre very quickly with no significant delays. In our experience this is unusual and it was reflected in the taxi fare.
Despite being tired from the long day, we went out and did our basic shopping for breakfast tomorrow and managed to get our laundry up to date. It would be nice to be able to just buy new clothes when the old ones got dirty, but those of us who fly the bottom end of economy class have to make do. Fortunately the apartment has a really wonderful washing machine.
And for those who have followed our blogs from Paris in previous years, the man who eats every evening at the Chinese Restaurant opposite the flat turned up, like a lucky charm, at his usual time. With that, we knew we were back.
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