Episode 17: Shiny; Happy People.

København (I've always preferred the Danish spelling, it just looks cool) is king of the capitals. I've seen Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin on this trip and London, Cardiff, Dublin and Edinburgh previously but Copenhagen tops the lot. We came to Europe basically to wander around and here is where we've found the best place to do that. There seems to be no end to the procession of new things to see as you go around the city.

But more importantly there's simply a general nice feeling about the place, the people just seem happy. I know I said the same in Paris but now comparing Paris to here I start to wonder if I was getting good vibes from fellow tourists there, because in the Danish capital it seems more noticeable how at home the people are with their wonderful city. Paris felt like a beautiful place where people live. København is a beautiful place to live. The distinction is slight but important. Now the main difference may be tourists; Paris got at least 11 times as many as Copenhagen last year (according to some very basic research by me that probably misses out a bunch of factors), and it must be a bit difficult to really feel at home somewhere when the visitors outnumber the locals. While that may stop Copenhagen becoming jaded, though, it's not the main reason why the place feels so happy to begin with. Chesterfield gets basically zero tourists but as much as I love my town I can't say it's anything like a happy place to live. So what is the secret?

Denmark as a whole regularly tops the world happiness charts and there are a ton of theories as to why. Without wanting to get all political again, I'd have to say that it's the laws of the land that play a big part. It's quite a progressive country and - as visitdenmark.com puts it - few have too much but even fewer have too little. Equality's the thing. You can't be anything but happy when you live in a country with such a level playing field for all. It's freedom. Where there's equality and mutual respect, there's the freedom to be yourself, and that's the only way to be happy.

It shows anyway. Once I got to thinking about how good the city felt to be in, I had plenty of opportunities to just people-watch and work out why. There're ways people act when they aren't confident they can be themselves (I'm something of an expert because I've never been confident in myself) and I saw just one example of those behaviours today, and that from a tourist. It's not the most scientific study but there you have it; it is my conclusion that in Copenhagen everyone can be themselves, so it seems, and the laid-back happy feeling thus created permeates the whole city, giving you the chance to really appreciate the beauty of the place.

This is the furthest point from home on this trip (discounting a trip to Majorca a couple of years ago it is the furthest from home that either of us have ever been) and yet we didn't feel out of place today. That's not unique to Copenhagen but it's interesting, nonetheless, and certainly a far cry from the streets of Doesburg, the police stations of Brussels and even the British Embassy.

Denmark - and especially the capital - has been my favourite place so far. If I had been able to stay here a little longer and had I the skill for such a thing, I think this entry would have been a real love letter to København. As is I've not really gotten to know the place well enough for that and I probably couldn't do it justice anyway.

Oh, and Chris spent about an hour in the LEGO store and managed to come out with just one tiny bag of bricks.