Cheerful in Copenhagen

PEOPLE smile a lot in Copenhagen.

This is distracting for a first-time visitor, and also highly gratifying. Danes tend to be exceptionally good-looking. A few hours in the city, and your head is spinning from desire, and adulation. Then you see you are just being silly. They are smiling because they live here. When you live in Copenhagen, there is a lot to smile about.

To start with, there is the efficiency. This is as absolute as anyone has ever tried to tell you, although you may not have believed them. When you live in a country where ‘leaves on the track’ is an acceptable excuse for a train being delayed, it is hard to believe in efficiency. And yet, in Copenhagen, everything works exactly as it is supposed to from the moment you get off the plane and step onto your automated train.