Danish hygge and not-so-hygge

Spending a few days in Copenhagen, you realize that the Danes actually do know a thing or two about hygge.

For example, we arrived here with COVID-19 -  yes, after over three years of avoiding it, we finally succumbed, courtesy of a 90th birthday party in England - and no-one seemed unduly perturbed, just got on with it, ensuring some level of precautionary measures which we were totally on-board with, in a very down-to-earth Danish manner.

But we would not have been able to maintain the precautions we wanted to take in many another city. In Denmark, it is perfectly normal to sit outside a café or restaurant, even in inclement weather (it oscillated between 0°C and about 7°C during our stay. Many cafes and restaurants have heaters outside, perhaps not so environmentally friendly in a very environmentally-conscious country (have a look at the amazing Amager Bakke power-from-waste facility, right here in Copenhagen), but a life-saver for us. And guess what, they even provide blankets. What's more hygge than that?

Then there is the single-quilt-on-a-double-bed thing, which I think is a pan-Scandinavian phenomenon, but this was the first time I had encountered it. It's just so sensible! None of that pulling the covers back every time one person turns over. And you can still cuddle up if you so desire. It is in fact more comfortable. Phenomenon indeed! We will be investigating when we get back to Toronto. I'm not sure about the pristine white quilts we were given in Copenhagen, but what a concept!

Just to bring things down to earth a bit, though, one thing that Denmark does not seem to have cracked is toilets. None of the toilets we tried seemed capable of flushing down our robust North American offerings. Water savings is one thing, but a toilet does need to perform the job for which it was designed (or we need to eat more fibre). That part did not seem so hygge.