The Danish capital reminds the tourist of how clean, unpolluted and well managed cities of the world look like

FOR a student, an opportunity to attend a conference in Denmark brings with it the obvious bonus of visiting Europe. Of course I made the most of the visit.

I didn’t know much about the Scandinavian countries except that they were very clean and unpolluted. However, as I later came to know, a substantial number of Pakistanis inhabit Scandinavia. During the flight, I met a friendly and consuming businessman of Pakistani origin, Massud Khan. He had been in this part of the world since the 1970’s. Today, he is the honorary Consulate General of Republic of Lithuania in Pakistan.

We landed in Copenhagen at little after 9pm, at which time the Sun was still shining. The temperature was cold enough to snuggle oneself inside a jacket. I found out that the best time to visit the Danish capital is in May and June when the temperature hovers in the range of 10 to 20 Celsius, during which time it is pleasant during the day and a little chilly in the nights.

I was received by the organizers who took us to an Italian restaurant for dinner. There I met students from 25 nationalities. Meeting students from diverse nationalities for the first time was a unique experience altogether. Finally we were driven to the hotel.

The next day, the first of the six days of the conference, I was kept busy by the official schedule till 5pm. After that, the organizers took us on a guided tour of the city, by boat! The weather was very pleasant as the unpolluted lakes of Copenhagen made for remarkable scenic beauty. The multiple canals of the city meandering through its old and new parts is a beautiful blend of history and modernity. We saw marvellous old architecture and other sculptures symbolic of renowned Danish royals. We also saw ships that were not in use, but had been retained for their historic value. Some of them had been converted into small restaurants.

We also came across beautiful and serene huts right on the river-bank. Then the boat took us to the Little Mermaid, Copenhagen’s world renowned landmark. The Little Mermaid, the bronze statue of a mermaid peering into the sea, was a present from brewer Carl Jacobson to Copenhagen, and was made by the then little known sculptor, Edvard Erichsen. As the story goes, in 1909 Carl saw solo dancer Ellen Price, perform in Fini Henriques’ ballet The Little Mermaid at the Royal Theatre. He was so taken with her that he asked her if she would pose for a sculptor.

The Little Mermaid symbolizes the adventure by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, which tells the story of a mermaid who fell in love with a prince from the land and often came up to the edge of the water to look for her love.

And then there are the famous Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli is very close to the center of Copenhagen — the Town Hall Square. It is visited by scores of tourists every year. Tulips bloom here by thousands as Tivoli is also known as a place of lights. The organizers had arranged a trip in such a way that we had seen both the day and night life at Tivoli. There is so much to do here that you tend to forget the world for a while.

Danish windmills are very popular because Denmark has an old tradition for using windmills to treat the agriculture produce, as well as the production of the energy. Today, they use the windmills primarily, to produce electrical power. We were also told that Denmark is a world leading producer of windmills. These mills are located next to a coal powered power plant and symbolize the wish to produce the needed energy though clean means, rather than through burning coal. Scandinavians in general and the Danish in particular are very environment-conscious. In fact I hardly saw any pollution, be it air or water. And that probably has something to do with the fact that the Danish people prefer to ride a bicycle instead of driving cars. Copenhagen has one of the largest bicycle populations in Europe.

Cycling is one very enjoyable experience in Copenhagen. You can get it for free. All you have to do is slip in a 20 korona coin to unlock the cycle. You get your money back money after parking the cycles at the stand. We used to ride bicycle every night. One of the cycle-stands was near our hotel, so when we got back to hotel, we took the cycles and used to go on long rides. The weather was a little chilly but it was such an experience that we cared little about the chill.

The churches in Copenhagen were beautiful. The Church of Our Saviours was spectacular. We had first seen that during our boat trip. It has a big spiral tower of gold and black. We walked to the church as it was not far from the venue of our conference. I also had the opportunity to cross the second largest sea bridge in the world, the one that connects Copenhagen with Malmo — a small Swedish town. The Great Belt Bridge is the world’s second largest suspension bridge with a span of 1,624 meters — second only to a bridge in Japan. The pylons are 254 meters high, and the bridge sections were placed 75 meters above the surface of the sea. Each bridge section weighs 1,000 tons.

The cleanliness, the sights, the sounds, the colours of Copenhagen and above-all the hospitality of the Danish people are now part of memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life.