by sabine behrmann

Danes prefer tourists to any other kind of foreigners: they admire the country, pay an awful lot of money for dubious services, and leave again rather quickly.

In a fit of anti-nationalism the Danish newspaper Politikenn has now pointed out ten reasons why people should not visit Denmark. They are:

1. Istedgade - former hallmarks: prostitution, pornography - there is still some of it left in the neighbourhood of the main station.
2. Tivoli - a must for tourists, getting gaudier and louder all the time.

Photo Credit: Limungo


3. Strøget - the pedestrian zone in central Copenhagen. You can find better shopping facilities in other places.
4. The free City of Christiania - clean and law-abiding and a far cry from what it was meant to be.
5. Den lille Havfrue - The Little Mermaid. Tiny girl with a fish-tail.
6. Holger Danske - a block of concrete in the basement of Kronborg Castle. Since the German's have the Kyffhäuser legend and the English have King Arthur, the Danes wanted a similar story about a national hero. However, they weren't able to come up with a king for the occasion...
7. H.C. Andersen's house - in Odense. It's an example of a town capitalizing on their famous son who would never have amounted to much had he stayed there.
8. Pølsevognen - the Sausage Van. An assault on your health - that is what it is.
9, Dronning Margrethe. Fancies herself as an artist and sports poor dentistry.
10. Himmelbjerget - it's actually a hill. But don't tell the Danes - they have put a tower on its top in order to get even closer to the sky. There's nothing heavenly about it.

Personally I would like to add the Viking fortress Trelleborg. It took me years to get over that disappointment.