Nordic style

Copenhagen -

population:
1.2 million

area:
455 sq km

currency:
danish krone

foreign language:
perfect English

first impression:
the home of fairy tale, copenhagen is truly an utopia. city is combined of both old houses with cultural evidences and new build...ings with modern, sleek architecture. and bikes are everywhere, in motion or just left on street. and all kinds of people ride them, young, old, practical, fashionable, etc.

color:
yellow, sky blue, and, pink.

people:
everyone is friendly, willing to help strangers, not afraid of foreigners. people are tall and fit, girls are Nicole Kidman like but guys are no where near Tom Cruise.

cost:
definitely higher than Paris, London, or Tokyo. all public transportation is 23 kr (€3) in 2 zones, 24 hr free pass is 125 kr (€17). a Big Mac meal is more than €8.

city life:
no beggar on street, metro is extremely clean, city is clean for the most part. it's almost impossible not to ride a bike in the city, anywhere, at any hour, and they have tracks for bikes climbing up and down the stairs. street artists are amazing, my guess is that they perform music on the street because they love it, not for begging money, because they are good and they don't try to block the metro entrance. crowded in city center, but no where close to champs-elysees in Paris or montenapolione in Milan. cars are normal and boring like milan.

night life:
a lot of bars sighted, very loud too. did not see any clubs but then i wasn't in the right neighborhood. cool thing is that, you can find people riding bikes to bars, i didn't see any drunk bikers though.

winter:
during the day it feels like night temperature of milan, very cold but bearable, when it's dark it's really cold. it gets dark at around 5 pm. biking is okay in winter, it's not easy to find icy bike tracks there.

McDonald's:
for a bit more than €8, you get a Big Mac meal, and it contains 2 Big Mac's. yes, they eat two huge burgers at once, but they are not fat, maybe it's because everyone rides a bike.

romance:
the danish buildings, scandinavian style design, fairy tale, quiet and smooth city life.



Stockholm -

population:
1.2 million

area:
188 sq km, made up of 14 islands

currency:
swedish krone

foreign language:
very good English

first impression:
stockholm is very modern and busy. an exciting city with lots of things going on. the moment you get to the city, you know you won't be bored.

color:
snow white

people:
everyone is friendly, when we were having trouble on the street, people would come up to us and try to help. people are tall but much wider than danish, and look like Vikings. (pirates)

cost:
definitely higher than Milan, probably a bit more than London and Paris if not much higher. all public transportation is 20 kr (€2) within the same zone, 24 hr free pass is 100 kr (€10). a Big Mac meal is about €6.

city life:
a few beggars on street, but not many, definitely not like London, Paris, or Milan. metro is extremely clean, city seems clean but all covered by snow and ice so i wouldn't know. biking is impossible in the winter. the very few street artists i ran into were pretty bad, loud and bad music. city center is crowded the way like Copenhagen, you see a lot of people but it doesn't annoy you. a lot of cars on the streets, you see a lot of modified cars, not as crazy as Los Angeles but they do stuff to their cars.

night life:
a lot of bars, clubs, movie theaters, and a lot of people on the streets at night. if you have the money, you definitely won't get bored in Stockholm. you can hear loud music of all kinds on the street, both electronic music and mainstream american hip hop, and you see a lot of drunk people at night. i heard that night life is a big thing in Stockholm, apparently it's true.

winter:
cold cold cold! i was pretty much numb the whole time, day and night it's freezing cold. streets are frozen, most places are covered by snow, a lot of them are icy too, it's even difficult to just walk on. it feels a bit humid inside because the snow is everywhere.

McDonald's:
1 Big Mac in a meal, whewww… Fanta is not orange soda but strawberry.

romance:
i was numb, could not feel anything at all.