copenhagen

Copenhagen

2008-02-16

Copenhagen, Denmark

Wednesday morning, I was up ridiculously early to fly from Tallinn to Copenhagen (Denmark) for a conference with one of our business partners. I was giving a presentation at 2:00 in the afternoon. The conference was actually in Charlottenlund, a suburb north of the city center. The presentation went well, but it was a long day. After being up at 4:00 a.m., the sessions went all day, then we had a reception, then out for dinner at 8:00 p.m. Then a large group ended up at the hotel bar until after midnight. Needless to say, I did not make the start of the conference on time on Thursday morning.

The part of the conference that I was interested in wrapped up around noon, and I stuck around for a little bit chatting with one of the attendees that may in fact be a prospect for us. As the group broke, I hopped a train into downtown Copenhagen. I had about three hours to explore before I needed to be back on a train to the airport to catch my flight. While this is nowhere near enough time for a city like Copenhagen, it wasn’t that big a deal, as I am scheduled to be back to meet with a customer in April. Plus the weather will be nicer then. That being said, I had a beautiful day – sunny and clear, but a bit cool. It was a perfect day for walking.

I left the main train station, and headed into the main section of the old town. Where Tallinn had retained much of its feel, Copenhagen feels a lot more western. I guess that’s to be expected. A lot more of the usual suspects – McDonald's, Burger King, various western retailers. Still, it’s a very beautiful city, with a lot of character.

Church near the Danish Palace; Sculpture in the town center

Of course, three hours doesn’t get you much. I walked through the heart of the old town, and up towards the harbor. I did manage to see what I think was the main palace for the Danish Monarchy – the guards in the costumes gave me that impression, as well as a number of prominent buildings that I couldn’t easily identify. Next time, I’ll bring my guidebook.

Houses along a canal; skating rink in one of the city parks

At the north end of the city is a very nice area that’s been left fairly natural, and seems to be a large park the sprawls along the side of the harbor. Part of this area is one of Copenhagen’s most famous tourist attractions, the statue of the Little Mermaid, from Hans Christian Anderson’s fairly tale (later co-opted by our friends at Disney…). I took a few pictures for Lisa.

Statues of the Little Mermaid

At that point I was starting to run a little late, so I headed back to the station, and headed off to the airport. For whatever reason, the Danish airport security seem to be the only ones I’ve seen so far that give the Americans a ruin for their money on ridiculous security theater (processes). After a bit of a wait, I was off and back home to London. It’s still pretty cool to land in Heathrow, and have that be “home”.