Design capital of the world

COPENHAGEN:

”Let’s create the perfect city. We’ll
start with a vast network of streets
lined with great stores and cafés.
Bicycle lanes will span the city,
encouraging a quiet, nonpolluting
means of transport, and we’ll
generously spread royal palaces and
rich museums about. Of course,
we’ll build our city along a pretty
yet functional harbor. And we’ll put
an amusement park right in the city
center, making carnival rides and
concerts accessible to all. Finally,
we’ll govern with a socially minded
philosophy that virtually eliminates
poverty, crime, and begging. This is
no fantasy – this is Copenhagen.
And without a doubt this very real
city’s richest gift is its quality of
life”.

Quote from Frommer’s 97, Frugal
Traveler’s Guides: “EUROPE from
$50 a day” by Nikolaus Lorey.

Copenhagen, being the Design capital of the world, is truly people’s city. Jette fixed her son’s mountain bike and it is mine to use for the next three weeks. The streets everywhere are divided into lanes for cars and bikes. The direction of the bike traffic on the bike lanes follows the car traffic. If you ride in the other direction, you risk yourself immediately being hit by other bikers. Even stopping in the bike lane, other than at the stop sign, causes other bikers’ harsh eyes or some Danish yelling sometimes. The width of bike lanes are right about the distance of two bikes passing together, so fast bikes can pass slower ones. Bikes stop at the pedestrian crossing when the cars stop. Bikers strictly keep traffic rules. There are amazing numbers of bicycles and bikers going all directions. People of all ages ride their bikes. Bicycling is a major way of transportation here.

I have not seen any fat people so far, except a Nursing faculty I was introduced to on the first day. People are very fit. Susan and I went to the Copenhagen downtown today.
There is a Jazz festival in the city for a week and many people were outside enjoying the music. Weather was not that good, cloudy and chilly, even with short pouring rain. People are wearing leather jackets. A major shopping corridor was filled with pedestrians. There were lots of street musicians, even a few clowns. Also there were plenty of Cafes and street food. We had to be happy with hotdogs but even hotdogs tasted better than those back home. My hotdog was 23 Krone, about $4.50. Typical restaurant food costs 200 Krone so I kept asking myself, “how people here can afford?” I had to have beer with my hotdog listening to Jazz under the rain. Tuborg is popular here, 50 Krone a glass.

Then we walked, walked, and walked all around the city to see the little mermaid, the new opera house, Queen’s residence, Royal castle, and Susan’s friends, the Royal palace guards. I did meet some of my friends, homeless people, drinking, eating, and sleeping on the street. I started a talk with a couple of them. (Actually I only saw four today on the street.) They were not even Danes. They were Swedes who ran away from the strict Swedish law. One guy said in Sweden, they couldn’t drink beer on the street or sleep on the street. The police would arrest them and put them in jail. So they moved here to have better life with more freedom. People would give them food and let them drink freely on the street in Denmark. In fact, I saw a few guys holding a bottle of beer, not wrapped in a brown bag, on the street as well as in the subway train. Maybe Denmark is going to have a new social problem? I don’t know.

More and more I feel that Danes know how to use the resources they have at hand and utilize it to its maximum with moderation, functionality, and simple beauty, without excess and waste. They respect individual’s freedom and choice even to give space to the homeless from neighboring countries. People are taxed from 40% to 70% of their income in sliding scale, so the rich pays more by tax rates. The rich still pays their own money to go to a private hospital. People are required to add 180% of tax for their imported cars like VW golf, ended up paying close to $70,000. But the quality of life in Copenhagen, not the quantity, seems to be good. I'll see some of that soon, I hope.