The Copenhagen Report

Episode #43 of MyDenmarkTV.com is up! It was a lot of fun to make this episode since we filmed on a beautiful sunny day, and it features my good friends Ashkan Nejadi and Bo Vase, who run a small design agency called 'We Live Here' doing very street-level projects, and they've spent a lot of time in Norrebro (Copenhagen) over the past year, which they tell us a bit about. They've had a lot of success considering it is just a side project for them. Hope you enjoy the show!


Episode #43 – MyDenmarkTV.com from MyDenmarkTV on Vimeo.

If all 'adverts' were this beautiful (and all cities were this cycling-obsessed), well, the world would be a better place, there's no doubt about that. This one was made by Mikael Corvill-Andersen, who is also behind the masterful Copenhagen Cycle Chic site.

Should you find yourself entranced by the Copenhagen presented through the lens of this addictively compelling video (as I am...and I already live here!), let me tell you, aside from the risk you may suddenly be overcome by the urge to book a ticket here for a weekend or longer (do it...if you don't already live here), well, at the very least you may find yourself spending an extended period of time trolling through the archives of Mikael's blog, which really deserves all the praise it has already garnered and much more. You've been warned.


Copenhagen. Life. Cycle. by Biomega from Copenhagenize on Vimeo.

For Episode #42 of MyDenmarkTV.com, I asked Katrine Klinken, a fantastic Danish chef, food writer and educator, if she would appear on the episode. Not only that, besides talking about Danish food traditions, she also agreed to make us several smørrebrød dishes. It made for a great episode, especially if you're a fan of good cooking - and Danish food and recipes.

Katrine Klinken is an opinioned food writer, and a strong advocate of keeping classic Danish recipes alive by reinventing them with a modern twist. She is also a strong advocate of organic food and farming, and using high quality, seasonal food whenever possible. We had loads of fantastic footage to edit through once we were done shooting, so it wasn't easy editing down to the final version. But we boiled it down to its essence, focusing on Katrine making the dishes, and offering a few of her opinions on modern danish cuisine.


Episode #42 – MyDenmarkTV.com from MyDenmarkTV on Vimeo.

By coincidence, I recently met Karin Høgh, who is the voice behind the online audio series One Minute Danish. If you're into languages and have the urge to pick up some elementary Danish, well, here you have it. 10 lessons of the most basic Danish words and Danish phrases, each clocking in at one minute. Danish to English. English to Danish. That's it.

The lessons are free to listen to online, or to download. If you think you're going to learn everything you need in 10 minutes, well, you're probably mistaken. But you will learn something.

Now, I have to admit if you think that having a few phrases of Danish will have some practical application, as in, it will be useful if you plan to spend a few days in Denmark, well, it's not likely - English is all you need. But if your motivation is to learn a few phrases in a new language for fun, well, why not give it a whirl.

One of my favourite areas in Copenhagen is, of course, Nørrebro. This video embedded below, produced by Wonderful Copenhagen (the official tourist agency of Copenhagen), is actually an excellent representation of the Inner Nørrebro area.

With my partners at MyDenmarkTV, we recently had a very informative meeting with the film production unit of Wonderful Copenhagen, to see if there were area in which we could co-operate together in the future. Wonderful Copenhagen has an impressive film and production unit, with the capacity to produce the highest-calibre productions. I would say the only limitation they face in terms of film and video production, is that they are obliged to produce infomercial-like productions, rather than personality-driven shows and clips. The problem is when producing in this 'infomercial' manner, it can be tricky to create a nuanced balance between real-life and propaganda, though I have to say that many of the videos I have seen by Wonderful Copenhagen do a pretty good job of striking the fair balance, and end up being fascinating.

This video about Nørrebro provides quite a realistic glimpse into the area.

If your future will involve travel to Denmark, here's one suggestion that will ensure you a good night of sleep. If you are booking a hotel in Copenhagen, or elsewhere in Denmark, I recommend using www.booking.com. I will explain in some detail exactly why this is, and why I am recommending the services provided by this website - even though this site is not the market leader.

Why use booking.com?
If a hotel booking site can change your life, than this one has done so for me. It's a site I discovered about 2 years ago, and I have become more and more convinced that if you are looking for a consistent, high quality booking site that ensures you get excellent prices, and gives you the best information about all options available, then this is the site for you.

I've personally used www.booking.com to plan trips and book hotels and apartments in a number of cities around the world, including: Copenhagen and elsewhere in Denmark, a number of cities in France, New York, Canada (Toronto, Montreal), Latvia (Riga), Lithuania (Vilnius), and several others. I've even booked hotels within an hour of arriving, and my reservation has always been right there waiting for me.

Here's what I like about the site (besides the consistently great prices):

Extremely user-friendly
First and foremost, it is the most user-friendly booking site I have found out there. The quality and detail of information whenever you make a search is top notch. You'll get a complete list of all room types available in every hotel, fully priced with all pertinent details up front in the search results.

An unparalleled guest rating system
Aside from the detailed information about all types of rooms available (which is often lacking in other hotel booking sites), it is the quality and quantity of guest reviews system that sets www.booking.com apart. This is second-to-none system when compared to other hotel reservation website.
 
Because booking.com sends an email request to anyone who has booked accommodation a couple days after the end of the trip, asking them to rate the hotels they booked. This includes giving written comments and giving a numerical rating for a number of categories (Staff, services, cleanliness, comfort, location, value for money). Hence, the site has accumulated a depth and quantity of detailed reviews that I have never found anywhere else.

Thus, every hotel has an overall rating based on a 1-10 scale, plus for every single hotel you get an in-depth snapshot of the hotels strengths and weaknesses based on the ratings guests give in each category. This is a fantastic feature, because depending upon your trip, some features are more important than others. For example, sometimes location really isn't important - especially if you need a hotel in a specific area and not necessarily a tourist area.

On top of this, the ratings are broken down by type of reviewer, including: young couples, families with young children, people with friends, solo travelers, mature couples and families with older children. Again, this has impacted my booking decisions on more than one occasion, since I have a young daughter who I am often traveling with.

You clearly see how many reviews each hotel has received, and you can read every one of them. So you know exactly what the rating the hotel has received is based on. If you don't want to risk a hotel with only a couple reviews, no problem, just pick one that has a higher number.

Specify exactly what you desire!
If you wish to refine your search, www.booking.com is heads above the competition. Want a jacuzzi or spa?  Insist on having a pool? Are you looking for a family room? Whatever your demaind, simply check the appropriate boxes which appear beside the search results and the matching results appear. Again, this is a feature I have made liberal use of.

You can also specify how close to the center of your desired destination the hotel should be, helping you avoid inconveniently located hotels.

Need to cancel your reservation? No problem!
The site's fantastically easy-to-use reservation cancellation system is something I've had to take advantage of on a number of occasions, so I can attest to how efficient it is.

When you make your booking, you'll receive an email with all details of how to modify or cancel your reservation, including the terms of the reservation clearly and prominently specified. So you will know exactly when you need to cancel your reservation to receive a full refund (typically 48 hours before the arrival time on the date of arrival). You can cancel your reservation in a couple clicks, and you'll receive an email confirmation of your cancellation. It's seriously simple - and it's not always this easy when using other booking sites.

And a map to get there....
You can also easily click and download or print a map with directions of how to get to any of the hotels, which saves a few clicks over to google to do the same job. 

And one final reason to use booking.com...
By clicking on this link you'll be supporting The Copenhagen Report - it won't cost you anything extra, but I'll get a small royalty based on your booking. There are booking sites that have much higher royalty programs (for example, hotels.com), but I've tried these sites and I really don't like them as much. And I always recommend the services that I use myself am very pleased with - and this is one of them.

Episode #41 of MyDenmarkTV.com is up - covering such topics as danish pastry, jobs in Denmark, buying a computer, and much more. It's been a hectic couple weeks putting together episodes owing to the travel plans of our team., and hopefully this is the last episode for a while that we will have to freeze our asses off to make!


Episode #41 - MyDenmarkTV.com from MyDenmarkTV on Vimeo.

Pretty much anyone who has spent time in Denmark knows edbpriser.dk is a great site for buying a computer or other hardware and software. It's also a great place to find a camera or video - I've purchased no less than 3 cameras shopping through edbpriser.dk over the years, and loads of random computer supplies like external hard drives, memory cards, usb cables, and much more. Unlike many countries, as a business or individual, its very difficult to hide (consider that whenever you move, your bank is automatically informed of your address), meaning that even buying stuff online from obscure small shops with an address in another part of the country is fairly safe - they don't really have anywhere to run, which pretty much ensures good service. I've never had any problems buying stuff online.

As for www.lagkagehuset.dk perhaps the best bakery chain in Copenhagen. I hope to interview the CEO of  Lagkagehuset in a future episode, as I think they have a great story to tell - after all, this is one of the relatively few businesses in Denmark that has succeeded in expanding - dramatically expanding - during what for many are tough economic times. We shall see.

Arken, the museum Julie talks about, is a great museum placed in an unfortunate location. It really is a wonderful piece of architecture and they have some fantastic exhibitions out there - but it's not the easiest place to get to from Copenhagen (you have to take the s-train, then either walk or take a bus). 

I'm looking forward to our next episode, which is a special one indeed. I'll write a bit about once we are done filming this weekend.

So episode #40 of MyDenmarkTV.com is up - and I'll let you in on a little secret...a couple of the segments were in fact the very first segments that I filmed when I joined the show, so it was all new for me (and really it still is!). I was also fighting off a case of the flu during some of the filming, which didn't help matters...so we didn't manage to get quite as much humour in this one...but we'll be working hard on that in the future.


Episode #40 – MyDenmarkTV.com from MyDenmarkTV on Vimeo.

Unlike the last episode, this one is in the more traditional '5 segment' format that those who have dug into the shows archives are more familiar with. We continue to intensely discuss the format the show should take in the future, but personally I am much more comfortable with a looser more flowing format (like episode #39) that is less tied to segments. Something that is more 'storylike' and tied to a theme. That said, there is also value in having some structure. In future, there will probably be more of a mix of episodes taking one or the other format.

If you're living in Copenhagen and looking for food and entertainment ideas, you'll probably be interested in the last 2 segments in particular Nørrebro segment and Julie's museum tip. I'm a big fan of Ranees, the fantastic Thai restaurant at Blågards Plads (which I have previously reviewed here). Which is not to say the other segments, about joining a car sharing program and Danish Højskole's might not be interesting and useful for you, as well.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

I always like to give a little shout-out whenever I come across pages linking here, and it recently came to my attention that National Geographic was kind enough to feature The Copenhagen Report right here on their 48 hours in Copenhagen page. Thanks a lot - it's fantastic to have a link from such a popular and reputable publication and website!

Incidently, National Geographic also featured my other project, MyDenmarkTV.com among the featured links on their Copenhagen page, as well.

I had a quick read-through what they had to say and recommend in Copenhagen, and by-in-large their suggestions are sturdy ones to get you started, in my humble opinion.