Dear All,

I'd informed many of u that I'd been to Copenhagen - Capital of Denmark - last weekend (5th to 8th Oct.) and I'd also promised that I'd write something about that tour. Here I am, trying to keep my promise though a bit late.

Preamble

My Schengen VISA (Which is valid for more than 14 European Countries) was getting expired on 8th of Oct. and so far I'd used it only once when I'd been to Paris. I thought, it's a bit inconsiderate to let that VISA expire without visiting any other country and was searching for opportunity to visit some other European country when one of my ex-colleagues from Cable Corpo. - Gomati - told me that she has one colleague of hers staying in Copenhagen for some project work and we can stay at his place. She was anyway going to Copenhagen and invited me as well. Thus, this tour was possible in low budget :-) and hence I confirmed my presence.

We booked Friday Night flight from Heathrow to Copenhagen by Scandinavian Airways and flight back on Monday morning to London. This was my just second journey by flight and hence I was all excited about it, though the thought of leaving my near and dear ones here in London for a while was not pleasant at all. The first word I uttered when I landed Copenhagen was "Wow" !! Copenhagen airport was awarded the best airport in year 2000 and it lived up to this title. The ambience and choice of colours was indeed soothing to heart and the arrangement of things & the structure was very simple yet elegant. It was 12:30 AM in the night and we decided to take a taxi to Bhaskar (Gomati's colleague in Copenhagen)

The first surprise I received was then. The Taxi was a Mercedes !! I'd never dreamed of travelling in a Merc before !! The surprise grew to even great length when the taxi-driver informed us that all the Taxis in Denmark are Mercs. Initially, we were apprehensive about the fare and whether the taxi driver would cheat us. I read this thought from Gomati's face and told her in Hindi not to worry, he can't cheat us.

"Woh nahi fasaa sakataa".

No sooner I uttered this, than the young taxi-driver retorted back,

"fasaane koi baat nahi hai, sir, taxi puri meter pe chalatee hai !!"

I was thrown off-guard ! Later, we came to know that he's a Pakistani and there are lot many like him in Copenhagen. Kaashif (Taxi-driver) was very kind and talked continuously in Urdu-Hindi and dropped us to Bhaskar's place smoothly but told us a lot about Denmark on the way.

Bhaskar turned out to be the most ideal host and made us all at home within seconds ! We immediately decided on next days plan and retired to bed.

The first thing we saw was an old church where wedding ceremonies take place. More than grandeur of the architecture, I remember this one becuz we saw a strange marriage - Two girls marrying each other !! The less said the better about it.

Copenhagen - Capital of Denmark

Denmark is a country to the north of Europe and is a part of Scandinavia with Sweden and Norway being other countries. Add Finland and it becomes Nordic countries ! Denmark too has a queen and royal family like England (Remember, Hamlet - The Prince of Denmark?) and a daily event called "Changing of guards" is very famous (I still don't know why) in these Royal Families around their palaces. Buckingham palace has it as one of the great attractions. I wasn't much "amused" but that's the second place we visited and at the stroke of 12, the guards started giving the charge over to the next team. It was very disciplined, conventional and lasted 15 min. Unlike guards of Queen of England who are dressed in Dark Red Capes and black trousers, the guards here had worn Bluish Grey capes. Rest everything was the same.

We shifted our attention to nearby promenade by the Canal and strolled up and down for some time and could see some awesome ships (that go to Oslo, Norway everyday at 5.00 pm ) , Main Building of the shipping Cargo giant - Maersk, Statue of David by MichaelAngelo and old warehouses and Navy Bases.

On the way, we were captivated by one great sculpture called "Statue of Gefion". According to Scandinavian Mythology, Lady Gefion was gifted with as much land as she can plough in one night and this lady turned her four sons into four oxen and then ploughed a whole lot of land which is now called Zealand, a part of Denmark. The Gefion sculpture depicted this story. It was by the side of Sea Canal and with lots of Green Lush around (Real Green Lush I mean!) , this site of this statue was mesmerising.

Little Mermaid

We walked down ahead passing some beautiful but unknown sculptures, flower gardens and lawns and then we reached the famous landmark of Denmark - The Little Mermaid. Hans Christian Anderson wrote this famous story of the little mermaid and that's the theme of this sculpture which is placed on one of the big rocks in the sea canal. As the story goes (I vaguely remember it) this mermaid falls for a prince who's human being and he's already married. Everyday she comes on the seashore to see him but the prince is not in love with her or something like that. (I need to use google to know actual story) The sculpture was good yet disappointing. There was nothing much to be seen. Our Ajanta and Ellora and unparalleled in the world, I guess. Still, these people boast a lot about such things. One more such famous statue is in Belgium with a boy having a pee... Europeans have bizarre tastes, indeed !

We went back home, had our lunch at 4:00 PM, the ladies did some shopping (I wonder if they can do anything else more efficiently. In all my trips, I haven't seen a single lady not indulging herself in shopping.) Visited nearby park called "Fredericksborg Have" and Carlsberg Museum. In the park I cud witness some rather bold & provocative courting between some Danish Romeos and Juliets. Barring this, nothing seemed to be very enchanting!! ;-)

Carlsberg is one of the largest selling lagers in Europe and it originated in Denmark. Its factory has a museum, with the theme lager, (kind of beer) around. Incidentally, I'd augment my statement with one more proof of the bizarre tastes these Europeans have. These folks create a museum on themes which cud be anything ranging from National Railways, Sophisticated Science to Famous Personalities. But the height was when I'd been to Leeds castle recently and there I found one museum which had a name "Dog Collar Museum" !! The theme is the belts and collars worn by the dogs. I said "Go to dogs" and ignored it !!

Strogent Street - Perfect street to take a stroll

In the night, we took a stroll on the famous Strogent Street of Copenhagen. It's a shop-lined thoroughfare about a mile long. In the night, with many shops closed, the only kinds that were open were McDonalds, Burger Kings, Pubs and Discotheques. Lots of illumination and music blasting around and youths walking up N down the street with either dresses made up of flag of Denmark or the flag stamped all over their face. Made me think how patriotic there people are!

The next day, we went to the countryside by train at a place called Charlottenlund which boasts of a neat beach around, someone told us. The day was rainy and hence we didn't enjoy the outing much. I'd heard a lot about beaches in Denmark but unfortunately, there was nobody around on the deserted beach due to bad weather (probably) and we just killed some time in search of someone.

Canal Tour & Christiania

Next, we'd planned a canal tour and that's where we went in the evening. It was a tour in the boat lasting an hour and made me recollect the song "Do lafjon kee hai dil kee kahaani" since the tour resembled the picturisation of this song. Of course, it's picturised in Venice but so what ?After all, Copenhagen is sometimes called the "Venice of the North". The guide recommended a place called "Christiania" which is a totally different community altogether. She praised it a lot so we headed towards it on the way seeing Christiansberg Palace.

The moment I stepped into Christiania I smelled something eerie about the entire place. It was quite humid in there and the smell around was something I didn't like very much. All the houses were painted with strange pictures and bright, vivid colours. Couldn't see many people around. From a distant corner I cud here some music and our herd headed towards it. A few paces more and I could see some people standing as if waiting for something to happen. Some were enjoying their smoke and some just standing inertly as if suffering from Alzheimer. A few paces more with some daring and I could see some filthy shops with people sitting around and nobody talking to each other. Silence had cast all over the place along with the dusk. One sign saying "Photography forbidden". The eerie sense grew even larger. Then, I saw a Huge Dog, huge by any standard. It was 5 Feet tall and black but seemed absolutely gullible. And lo, One of the shops was having a big picture depicting Indian gods!! Strange, Strange Indeed. We looked at each other's faces and decided to go out of this place as soon as possible. There was nothing scary about it but strange, eerie feeling prevailed in the air. And just then something - a signboard - caught my attention. The big bold letters spelled "MARIJUANA". Everything became very clear and we almost ran out of the place.

I could find some information about Christiania, the next day on the net and it's attached with this email as Christinia.txt. Do have a look at if, if u want.

I don't know but the entire experience was eerie. With this, we ended our touring in Copenhagen.

Clearly, this trip was different unlike all other trips where I'd to boast a lot many things. The tourist attractions were well-known and so was the background, history. On the other hand, many of u (including me some time back) would not even be knowing where exactly is this country called Denmark. The places were strange and people stranger. History almost unknown and the only things I knew about Denmark were its dairy products, Danish Pastries, Hans Christian Anderson, Neils Bohr, Hamlet the prince of Denmark and Danfoss, the company whose Compressors are fitted into our Indian old Kelvinator refrigerators.

In the end...

Yet, I liked and loved Denmark. The people seemed guileless as was evident from their smiles. They even were helpful in spite of knowing very little English or none at all. The children are so cute, with most of them being blondes and having chubby cheeks as if two halves of apple are cut and pasted onto them and azure blue eyes like the Beautiful sea Denmark has got. I cudn't see any of the kids crying at all !! All looked happy, enjoying the day. People amicably said "Hello" to us as if we'd been knowing each other in the past. The land itself is very flat (Highest point in Denmark has altitude of 170 mts. from Sea-Level!!) and the roads are wide, very wide. One beautiful thing about Denmark is that, cyclists are very predominant here ! They have their own tracks and signals. Cycles are free. U insert 20 Kroners coin (approximately 100 Rs.) unlock the cycle and go for a ride. Lock it again at any of the scores of stands and u'd reclaim ur 20 DKK ! Standard of living is almost as rich as UK but people are simple and less gaudy, elite. Streets are less crowded, in fact deserted many times and one needs to really go in search of them. Compare this with lots of Indians seen at every step in London, the crowd, the narrow streets and the traffic. I'd seen this for almost 9 months and it is on this background that I loved Denmark. I might not be able to talk a lot about it in the future. May be I would even forget the places. But, I would never forget the experience and the warmth and courtesy, she (Denmark!!) extended towards us, foreigners.

The journey back on board the SAS flight on Monday Morning was something more horrible than a Hypercoaster ride. The flight heaved and shook a lot as if she were tied to some rope like a kite. Everyone around me seemed to be fast asleep and I just kept my fingers crossed and started chanting all the Sanskrit Mantras I knew, one by one. I felt myself most vulnerable aboard the flight and only thing I wanted was to land properly. Some time later, the pilot announced that we were caught in some turbulence in a "rainy" cloud and there were showers pouring down and hence the shakes. It was all routine for them but not for me !! In the wake of latest attacks, highjacking events and accidents of flights, I pledged I would never travel on flight again. To add to my agonies, Heathrow was busy and the ground control had asked us to wait up there and we were supposed to make some circles in the air to kill time. Those 10-15 minutes seemed eternal but at last the flight started descending and so does the terror in my mind. We landed on Heathrow alright and I prayed to god like never before !!

I had a very sound sleep that night since I had returned back to my own place. The feeling of returning to ur own home can't be compared with anything, really. But how strange it is, what I am calling my home is not mine at all !! It's sort of what we call "local variable" in software, visible only in Europe and that too, so long as I m destined to stay here. Yet, it was so soothing to return back to it and curl myself up in the sheets of warm bed. Man is a creature of habit, indeed.

That's it folks. If u were ever to visit Denmark, don't have much expectations about anything grand. Simple things can be beautiful as well !