Anne Skyvington
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Anne Skyvington

The Craft of Writing

  • Writing
    • Craft
      • Structuring a Short Story
      • Alternative Narrative Approaches
      • Genre in Writing
      • A Grain of Folly
        • Novel Writing
          • The Sea Voyage: a metaphor
          • How I Created My Debut Novel
          • What I learnt from writing a novel…
          • Short Story
            • At the Swimming Pool
            • The Night of the Barricades
          • Poetry
            • a funny thing happened …
            • An ancient mystic: Rumi
            • A Window into Poetry
            • The Voice of T.S. Eliot
  • Publishing
    • A Change of Blog Title
    • 5 Further Publishing Facts
    • 5 Facts I Learnt About Self/Publishing
    • Highs and Lows of Self Publishing
    • A Perfect Pitch to a Publisher
    • A Useful Site for Readers and Indie Authors: Books 2 Read
  • Book Reviews
    • A Story of a Special Child
    • Discovering Karrana
    • A Young Adult Novel: My French Barrette
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • The Trouble With Flying: A Review
  • Mythos
    • Ancient Stories from Childhood
    • Births Deaths and Marriages
    • Duality or Onenness: The Moon
    • The Myth of Persephone and Demeter
    • Pandora’s Box
    • 7 ancient artefacts in the British Museum
    • Symbolism of Twins
    • The Agony and the Ecstasy of Change
    • Voices From the Past
  • Australia
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    • A Kit Home Goes Up in Vacy
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    • A Bird’s Eye View
    • A Tuscan Village Holiday
    • Back to Cavtat in Croatia
    • Travel to Croatia
    • 5 or 6 Things About Valencia
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    • a father’s tale … by Ian (Harry) Wells
    • A Guest Poem: “First Loves” by Roger Britton
    • A Love Sonnet by Ian Harry Wells
    • “Snakey” by Roger Britton
    • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills
    • A Story of a Genteel Ghost told by Roger Britton
  • Psychology
    • Creativity and Mental Illness
    • Networking and Emotional Intelligence
    • C.G.Jung’s Active Imagination and the Dead
    • Psychology as a Field of Study
    • Western Influencers Down Through The Ages
  • Life Stories
    • Adriatic Romance … Rijeka to Titograd
    • Always something there to remind me…
    • A Well-Loved Pet
    • Candidly Yours…
    • Memoir Writing
    • River Girl: An Early Chapter of my Memoir in Progress
Tag

cyclists rule the roads in Copenhagen

sydney-opera-house
TravelWriting

Copenhagen is Amazing!

It’s on the opposite side of the earth from Sydney, the language spoken is very different, and it’s much colder in autumn. But Copenhagen is an amazingly liveable city. We felt surprisingly comfortable there, and were impressed by this city during our brief visit.

the-little-mermaid-copenhagen

There were 18,000 doctors visiting the city for a cancer conference, so we were lucky to find reasonably priced accommodation. Some of the medicos stayed in Sweden and commuted by car across the bridge joining  the two countries.  Hotel Nora, recommended by Trip Adviser, was comfy and relaxed. Admittedly, my visit was short, but here are some first impressions of the city and its people:

The Traffic

cyclists-rule-the-roads-copenhagen

The  city is flat and cyclists fly along the streets along dedicated bike paths, sharing the space with pedestrians and cars. Helmets are not prescribed by law. There are two bicycles to every person in the city. Cars are fewer and smaller than in other cities. As a result, noise and carbon pollution are much less. Motorists must give way to cyclists, and the latter to pedestrians, in the final analysis. Only one taxi driver felt that motorists were unfairly treated by the laws.

A Caring City

preschoolers-pram-minder

We saw evidence of small refugee children being expertly cared for by middle-aged Danish women, almost certainly on a volunteer basis. The Danish babies were well looked after too, as evidenced in the photo above.

The Buildings

typical-danish-buildings

Aesthetically pleasing. There’s a seamless mingling of old and new, with evidence of expert architectural input at work down through the centuries. I thought of our Sydney Opera House,  an iconic building that had been designed by the Danish architect Jorn Utzon. And I thought about how, as a young nation, we hadn’t been quite ready to benefit fully from Utzon’s expertise for the interior of the building.

Food and Entertainment

restaurant-copenhagen-lunch

We had lunch in a Copenhagen cafe, and ordered a traditional open rye sandwich called Smorrebrod, with cream sauce and seafood. Our friendly Ethiopian taxi driver had told us that the Danes only enjoy one outing per week; he was still missing the dance/music culture of his native homeland, thirty years on. It made me wonder about the multicultural system in Denmark by comparison with the one that we have here in Australia.

The People

They seem happier than the citizens in many other countries. This reminded me of my sister’s thoughts on the people of Bhutan. In Buddhist Bhutan  Gross National Happiness (GNH) is used as a measure instead of gross domestic product (GDP). I wondered if Denmark had been influenced by this idea. At the same time, the work ethic in Denmark is very strong, and citizens are proud and patriotic. This was evident at a glance.

Taxi Drivers

Many of the drivers we met were from Ethiopia and other African countries.  They were able to discuss cultural differences in a sophisticated manner, indicating their easy assimilation into the society. The only problem for one of them was not being able to fall asleep easily in summer, when the sun is still up until 10 o’clock at night.

The Royal Family

“We love her,” people said when questioned about Princess Mary, originally from Australia. “She learnt the language so quickly and adapted to our ways”. She also gave birth to four children, heirs to the Danish throne.

oryal-palace-amalienborg

 

Copenhagen is Amazing! was last modified: September 7th, 2017 by Anne Skyvington
October 15, 2016 0 comment
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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington is a Sydney-based writer and blogger. <a href="http://anneskyvington.com.au She has self-published a novel, 'Karrana' and is currently writing a creative memoir based on her life and childhood with a spiritual/mystical dimension.

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