World's most expensive cities

Swiss bank UBS has released the results of a survey into the most expensive and the cheapest cities in the world and, predictably, the Scandinavia capitals score high on the list. In fact, Oslo ranks as the world's most expensive city excluding rental costs, with Copenhagen in the number 2 spot and Stockholm coming in at number 6. Including rental costs, London jumps from third most to the most expensive city. The results can be found in Swedish on the Dagens Industri website.

Cultural imperalism?

A Danish newspaper has - with its tongue stuck firmly in its cheek - accused Ikea of bullying Denmark and committing "cultural imperalism" by naming its low-value products after Danish towns. The story has been picked up by Business Week in the US and by the UK's Independent newspaper.

Interestingly, this seems to have kicked off a comments debate on Swedish daily Aftonbladet's website about returning the Skåne region to Denmark, 350 years after Sweden took control of it.

The Danish language

Norwegian comedy series "Uti vår hage" has its own take on the Danish language, which should be appreciated by anyone who has lived in Denmark and tried to learn the language - hilarious, imho...

This time next week...

...and we will be living in Stockholm.

Today we had lunch at a favourite place in the city, Les Trois Cochons, and then headed over to my apartment to pack up the last few bits and pieces. It only took a couple of hours, giving us the confidence that, despite both of us travelling with work next week, we should be packed and ready to go early on Friday morning.

It seems hard to believe how suddenly this week has arrived: it seems to have been autumn for so long, then out of the blue, winter arrives and it is December and we are heading off.

All tied up in red tape

Well, it has been a while since I last posted, but it has been a busy few weeks packing up the first batch of boxes and dispatching them up to Stockholm in a van with the boyfriend, sorting out what to take and what to throw, filling in forms and taking them to various offices, finding out that I didn't need to be there and didn't have to fill the form in after all...

But now I am back and I have one piece of advice for those leaving Copenhagen to live in another country for more than six months: if you're moving to Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland or the Faeroe Islands, then all you need to do is register with the authorities in that country; if you're going to any other country than those, you need to get yourself down to Folkeregistret (Dahlerupsgade 6), fill in the form called "Udrejse fra Danmark" and hand it in to them.

Well, that is how things are now, but it seems to change frequently, so it is a good idea to check out the website (and in English); that way, you won't be making the same three unnecessary phone calls and visit to the office that I made.

Live and learn

Learning Swedish has just reinforced for me how challenging a language Danish actually is to learn. (Yes, it does seem easier!)

And this poem just highlights how confusing and nonsensical it can sometimes appear (in Danish only, I'm afraid).

The big news story of the week?

The broadsheet newspapers in Denmark are falling over themselves this week to late the new exposé on the Danish Royal Family by former royal correspondent Trine Villemann.

According to her new book, the marriage of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary in under strain from the pressures of their royal duties, raising a family and the Crown Prince's visits to his ex-girlfriends.

One Australian website has a great take on the story, expecting Australian expats to storm the palace and stage a rescue, while the contribution by Swedish newspaper Kvällsposten offers a rather unflattering picture of the Queen to illustrate one of the stories in Villemann's book - that Mary broke down in tears at a public event at which Frederik ran into an old flame.

This seems to be a story that will run and run...

Liveable cities - a different take

Now a Reader's Digest survey has nominated Stockholm as the world's greenest, most liveable city - a much better result than in Monocle's similar survey earlier this year. In the Reader's Digest list, Oslo came in second, while Copenhagen only managed a no.10 position.

A little piece of London

For me, Custom House seems like a little piece of London in Copenhagen. Bacino, the Italian restaurant, in particular feels like it has been transported straight over from there. It is my favourite restaurant for a special evening out in Copenhagen.

And now I have been told that the place hosts monthly evenings for expats here and Danes who have lived and worked abroad before. For 150kr on the door, you can enjoy tapas and a glass of wine, as well as the stunning views over the harbour, while meeting fellow expats.

Maybe I'll see you at the next on 25 September!

You know you've been in Denmark too long, when...

• You think there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
• You understand why not every type of meat can be put together on top of bread.
• You think it's impolite to sit next to someone in a bus if there is a bench where you can sit on your own.
• You can open a beer bottle with almost anything.
• You honestly believe that the distance between Copenhagen and Aalborg is long.
• You can tell the difference between a Grøn Tuborg and a Carlsberg beer
• The first thing you do on entering a bank/post office/pharmacy etc is to look for the queue number machine.
• You accept that you will have to queue to take a queue number.
• Silence is fun.
• It no longer seems excessive to spend 800 kr. on alcohol in a single night.
• You know that "religious holiday" means "let's get pissed".
• You use "Mmmm" as conversation filler.
• The word "yes" is an intake of breath.
• You don't mind paying the same for a 200-metre bus ride as you do for going 10 kms.
• You start to believe that if it weren't for Denmark's efforts, the world would probably collapse pretty soon.
• It feels natural to wear sport clothes and a backpack everywhere.
• You know the meaning of life has something to do with the word "hyggelig".
• You don't think it strange that no one ever comes by to visit without being invited and you never show up at any one's place unannounced either.
• You wouldn't dream of coming even 10 minutes early to a party. (Once around the block is always an alternative.)
• You find yourself lighting candles when you have guests - even if it is brightly sunny outside and 20 degrees.
• You offer people strange-tasting brown alcoholic liquids with their coffee in the morning...
  

I was sent this little gem today. And it's too true...

Lovely, lovely lists

The slightly oddly named Danish Enterprise & Construction Authority (Erhvervs- og Byggestyrelsen in Danish) has produced a fantastic page for those wanting to buy or sell property in Denmark. boligejer.dk (seems to be in Danish only, I'm afraid) even helps you create a seller's checklist, letting you know everything that you need to do as part of the sales process, depending on how involved you want to be and how much you want to leave up to your estate agents and/or lawyer.

The site also provides the equivalent information for those buying property.

Perhaps I need to get out more, but I find it fantastic that you can get all this info and create lists at the same time!

Home, sweet home - part 2

One of my main aims this rainy Sunday is to finish off the painting that I started yesterday and finish tidying up the apartment a bit more so that I can set up some valuations with estate agents - exciting, but scary too. (Maybe that is why I'm sitting here at the computer, writing about it rather than actually doing the painting...?)


Anyhoo, mortgage provider Realkredit Danmark offers a quick online valuation guide on its website (Danish only, I'm afraid). It seems to be a very quick-and-dirty calculation, as all you need to put in is the postcode, the attractiveness of the property's location in the area, the size in square metres, number of toilets, type of heating, building year, year of any major renovation and the condition of the year. Press the button and, hey-presto, it comes up with a figure for you.

As I say, a very quick-and-dirty calculation, but as a guide it seems okay, given the price of similar places to mine on the market now. But let's see what the estate agents say...

Great minds think alike

likemind is a concept that developed after Noah Brier wrote an entry on his site saying how he would be interested in meeting other bloggers living in or visiting NYC in person. The reply he received from Piers Fawkes led to them starting a coffee meet-up for like-minded people once a month; and so likemind was born.

The concept really seems to have taken off; in just a year it has developed into coffee morning held in 32 cities across the continents. Among them are Copenhagen, Stockholm and Malmö. So if you're in either of the first two (unfortunately, the Malmö meeting is cancelled this month) or, of course, in any of the other 29 host cities, and you like what you see on the website, why not check it out tomorrow.

(I cannot say how the coffee meets are as, I'm sorry to say, they are held at precisely the time that I really cannot sneak out of work...)

Strange things seen in Copenhagen, no.1

After living here in Copenhagen for just over six years now, there are some things that no longer seem strange to me, but which I found very puzzling when I first arrived. One of these was the many people in the city (well-dressed as well as not) who will wander up to a rubbish bin in the street and poke around in it, looking for empty bottles.

Denmark uses a system of deposits on glass and plastic bottles and cans to encourage recycling. After you have finished your drink you can take the container back to the supermarket, put it into a 'reverse vending machine' and you get a voucher that you can use in that store.

These means that as well as people rooting around in bins in the street, there are often queues in the supermarkets at the weekends (especially after big holidays like Christmas and New Year) of people returning crate after crate of their Carlsberg bottles. (Actually the picture in that link is rather civilised compared with the reality of the machine jamming when it thinks you're putting in the bottles too fast, or of realising just too late that the can still had some dregs left in it, as they trickle down your arm and seep into your sleeve.)

On the whole, I think the system is a great idea - recycling without really thinking about it, and it brings the added amusement of watching visitors' faces when they see that guy delve into the bin for a prized Tuborg can.

Airline moan

Yes, another one, I'm afraid... Today I checked with my credit card company only to find that the airline who cancelled our flight have not refunded all of the money that we paid for the flights. No, instead they have kept hold of Dkr 140 (about €20) as a handling fee.

I know this is a small amount of money really and that they are probably within their rights to keep this "handling fee", but, oh, it makes me mad - just the principle that they are the ones in the wrong and then they fail to give us all the money back.

Well, it has made me decide once and for all that I will boycott that particular airline, even though they are the only one to fly from Copenhagen and Stockholm to the London airport that suits me best. My decision will not make an iota of difference to their revenues, but it gives me pleasure to imagine if everyone on that flight (and all flights that they have previously cancelled) did the same [evil smirk].

Where is everybody?

It must have been the same last year and perhaps I think this each summer, but where is everybody? Walking through the city at 19.30 on a Saturday evening there was no one around.

Every July the majority of smaller shops close for much of the month for their summer holidays, but this year it seems that even more people have deserted the capital. Perhaps it has something to do with the bad summer weather that Scandinavia has experienced these past few weeks, or maybe it really is like this each year and I just forget. But whatever the cause, the city seems empty.

- - - - - - -

Just after I started writing this, the power went out in this area and stayed out for a couple of hours. It was then that you could really notice how little noise we actually make ourselves - the place was silent in the semi-darkness. The majority of the noise that we generate seems to come from tvs, stereos, radios and other electrical equipment. Without the use of these it was eerily silent here...

A little annoyed...

I'm trying to resist venting my spleen about problems with a certain Scandinavian airline (whose name is another word for the British currency), but let me just say that I am less than happy as we were booked on a flight with them last Saturday evening and arrived at Copenhagen airport only to be told very rudely that we could not check in as our flight was cancelled and had to stand in a queue for the ticket office. After two hours in said queue, we were handed a photocopy of the contact page from the company's website and were asked to leave the airport, with no explanation given for why the flight was cancelled and nothing offered in the way of help to those who had travelled from elsewhere in Denmark, from Sweden or who were heading home to the UK. When I called the number on the page, I was told that the first flight that they could offer us was Thursday (not much use when our return flight was booked for Friday evening).

Unfortunately, all the other airlines were fully booked until Wednesday, so we had to cancel our holiday as well as the belated birthday celebration that I was due to have there. I know that this is always a risk with travelling on a low-cost carrier but an apology of some form would have made it somewhat less of a bitter pill to swallow - rather than being treated as an inconvenience.

Luckily, we were able to grab a last-minute flight to Budapest (thank you, Wizz Air!) four hours before it left and had a great few days there. And we will be attempting our UK trip again in a couple of weeks - on SAS this time.

What's that they say about telling one person after a good experience, but 10 after a bad one...?

Home, sweet home

One of the main considerations for us ahead of the move is when to put my apartment on the market. Initially, we had planned on the summer, but then time ran on and now it is summer…

This very useful tool from BRFkredit (Danish only, I’m afraid) provides details about property values in different areas in Denmark (price per square metre (and the consequent value of my apartment), the % change in property prices since the last quarter and the number of properties sold. And, unluckily for me, prices in my area have declined 7% on the last quarter, but I guess that is the way that it goes with the property market. And the most important thing is to sell it before we leave or there will be extra t-a-x [shudder].

DanBolig also has a useful page (also in Danish, sorry!) where you can put in the size of your property and type, location and how much you would like for it and they will let you know how many people are seeking such a place.

Now just comes the simple task of selling the place.

Liveable cities

A special feature in the latest issue of Monocle (the brainchild of Wallpaper* creator, Tyler Brûlé) listed what the magazine sees as the top 20 most ‘liveable’ cities of the world (quality of life), with Copenhagen coming in second. The article about the city was very interesting, especially the quote about the number of Porsches now seen around the city. Also amusing, given the delightful summer weather that Copenhagen is experiencing now, is that one of the criteria they used was hours of sunshine – and Copenhagen still managed the no.2 spot.

The list in full:

1. Münich
2. Copenhagen
3. Zürich
4. Tokyo
5. Vienna
6. Helsinki
7. Sydney
8. Stockholm
9. Honolulu
10. Madrid
11. Melbourne
12. Montreal
13. Barcelona
14. Kyoto
15. Vancouver
16. Auckland
17. Singapore
18. Hamburg
19. Paris
    
20. Geneva

Not sure how much I agree with Copenhagen's high ranking as Monocle states in the accompanying Urban Manifesto that the survey is 50% scientific and 50% subjective, but then I am obviously biased as I am moving from the no.2 city to the no.8.

The whys and wherefores

This move is the opposite of the one that I made to Denmark in a number of ways. Firstly, as I say in my profile, that was made for work and this move is for love. Secondly, the decision to move to Copenhagen was made in split second and the time between that decision and arriving was not that much longer (six weeks, as I remember); this one will be a grand total of 15 months (if all goes to plan and we’re in Stockholm by Christmas). And thirdly, I have a little more idea about the country that I’m headed for this time around, rather than just some idealistic views garnered from work colleagues and Hans Christian Andersen…

The past eight or so months have been spent trying to keep quiet about my big news, and the month after I talked to work about it? Well, that has been spent trying not to worry. Once it was out in the open I started reading more and more websites about moving, particularly ones about moving to Sweden, and that is when I started to get nervous – there are a hell of a lot of statistics out there and not all of them make for positive reading. And that is the thing that does not make sense; this is not the first time that I am moving, so why am I getting myself so worked up about it not working out? Is it the time that I have to think about it, or that the move to here was initially just for six months, whereas this is permanent?

Too much time on my hands, methinks.