Denmark Quick Facts

I'm here! Following three flights over a day and a half, I arrived in Copenhagen on Wednesday evening. All things considered, the journey went well. My bag arrived successfully, the planes were mostly on time, none of the flights were full, and I learned that British Airways gives out free adult beverages! (And that will be the only good thing I have to say about BA.)

For this, my first real post, I want to offer an introduction to Denmark. Sure, you can easily find all this information in various places online, but I'll save you some time and just list out some quick factoids:

• Denmark is the home of the world's oldest amusement park, Bakken, just north of Copenhagen. It began way back in the late 1500s. If that wasn't enough, Denmark is also home of the world's second oldest amusement park, Tivoli Gardens, which is more well-known since it is located directly in Copenhagen's city center. 
•  As of just last month, Denmark is the current champion of Eurovision, an annual music competition among all European nations (think American Idol, but a way bigger deal, and with decades more history). Here is the winner.
• Bicycling is HUGE here. Nearly every main road has some lanes for cars as well as dedicated lanes for bikes, along with sidewalks for pedestrians. Young, old, man, woman--about half of all Copenhagen citizens bike to work or school everyday. Last year, the country even opened up its first bicycle highway.
• Famous Danes include the author Hans Christian Andersen, Christian existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, physicist Niels Bohr, usability expert Jakob Nielsen (he's a huge deal in my field), and of course the Vikings. 
• One of my favorite rock bands, the Raveonettes, is from Copenhagen. Other big Danish musicians are Lars Ulrich from Metallica, Aqua (remember "Barbie Girl" from the '90s?), and electronic musicians Junior Senior and Trentemøller. Denmark is also home to Europe's second largest music festival, Roskilde, which brings in more than 70,000 people each July.