Copenhagen how you do me.

Only here half a day and we are smitten. Everybody bikes (and follows the biking rules). We even saw one couple holding hands as they biked down the street. Everybody seems happy and healthy. They have been very willing to help. The weather was fantastic (we know--and the locals all told us--that we were lucky to have it). The buildings and canals are pretty. And the sunlight has a magical northern tone to it (a little like Edward Hopper's light for those of you who remember my love of his paintings). 

I always try to learn a little of the language and use it to show I am attempting a two-way dialog. That has worked well in my travels. Until now. When I started with Danish niceties or "Tailer du Englsk" (Do you speak English?), I was met with blank stares. And I want to meet the Danes. 

This is a sign for a program where they give free tours in English of the Copenhagen Museum (about the history of their city). We walked in to get more info (the museum was closing soon), and told the greeter we want to meet the Danes. "I am one, and I am happy to meet you," he said. He told me that I probably got the blank stares when using Danish phrases because people here dispense with niceties. I had read before arriving of this seeming paradox, and the writer's theory was that everybody here is nice so there is no need to say niceties (i.e., just be nice). A museum colleague of the greeter holding her walkie talkie was standing a little away from us but looking attentively. I thought she might need to speak to him or want to tell us it was time to leave because the museum was closing. "No," she told me. "It's just good sometimes to listen to your colleagues." This was a firsthand experience of what I had been told about the culture: the immense respect of everyone for their fellow humans.

I think dispensing with need for niceties may also be due to practicality. One thing I like about travel to Europe is that things are practical, well thought out and not for show. That doesn’t mean that they don’t do things for fun and comfort. Denmark is after all the country that gave us the word and concept of "hygge" (HYOO-guh): making everything as comfy as it can be. It's easy to overlook that it is also practical to be happy and healthy.

Speaking of practicality: here is our hotel room. 

Yes, that is the bathroom RIGHT IN THE BEDROOM. Mary pointed out (half jokingly) that the "privacy stripe" is a nice touch. But the room has everything we need and nothing we don’t.

One thing I like about travel are the little things you would not know unless you were physically there. The first time we passed someone smoking a cigarette, the smoke smelled slightly different than cigarette smoke in the U.S. The streets here have small, seemingly random changes in level that have twisted Mary's and my ankles more than once. And, yes, everyone speaking Danish sounds a little like the Muppets' Swedish chef to my unaccustomed ear. But so far, that is like music to my ears. 

and...

Why is Mary so happy?

Because she got a good European espresso!