The Great Belt Bridge -- one of the longest
suspension bridges in the world!

Legoland.

Danish flora is memorialized in Royal Copenhagen
porcelain, considered some of the best porcelain in
the world.  Very expensive stuff!

Inside the prestigious Royal Theatre.

Street jazz band playing on Strøget, the world's longest pedestrian mall that runs through the city center.

A sailing boat passes by popular Bellevue beach.

The pylons are 26 meters higher than those of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco in the USA, which for more than 50 years has been the record holder.

There are already two bridges between Funen and Jutland, so the Great Belt Bridge is the final element which enables driving from one end of Denmark to the other.

The bridge is for car traffic. Already finished and in use, are the train tunnels. Since June 1, 1997, all train traffic between Zealand and the Western part of Denmark goes through the tunnels. This has cut the travel time across the Great Belt from one hour to seven minutes!

LEGOLAND

For children, no trip to Denmark would be complete without a visit to LEGOLAND, where everything is made of LEGO blocks in a scale that is both impressive yet still manageable for kids.  Legoland is a 10-hectare theme park built from plastic Lego blocks.  The most elaborate reconstruction here is the three-million-block Port of Copenhagen exhibit, which features electronically controlled ships, trains and cranes.

Danish Design

Denmark is famous for the design of everything from porcelain to paperweights, and "the walking street" showcases it all. Crystal decanters and goblets glisten in the windows of Holmegaard, their graceful, fluid lines holding the promise of merry times ahead.

At Georg Jensen, art, sculpture, and design merge in collectors' pieces of silver jewelry, cutlery, key rings, teapots, and candlesticks created to endure for generations. Adjacent to the store, the Georg Jensen Museum exhibits the work of the master himself.

Danish flora is memorialized in Royal Copenhagen porcelain, its beauty perfectly set off in table settings and other elegant displays on four floors in a historic house on Strøget (where a tearoom serves pastries on the famous porcelain). Nearby, other shop windows beckon with boldly patterned Scandinavian knitwear, amber jewelry, cuddly down comforters, and sleek state-of-the-art electronics by Bang & Olufsen.

The department stores Illum and Magasin du Nord, the largest department store in Scandinavia, display an array of fashions and beautifully crafted home furnishings, so important to home-loving Danes. Sidestreets sprouting from Strøget reveal their own hidden treasures - antiques, pewter, luminous vases and bowls, and original jewelry designs from future Georg Jensens.

Duty-free shopping means that you save 25% on purchases over 300 kroner (about $46). And when you need to take a break from shopping, inviting cafes like the 126-year-old La Glace or the newer and more "happening" Cafe Norden are just steps away.

Danish Pleasures

In summer, Danes spend most of their free time outside. Descendants of the sea-faring Vikings, we remain a sea-loving people, and with good reason:  Nowhere in Denmark is the sea ever more than 45 minutes away. Our country may be small in area, but it has more coastline than many of its European neighbors to the south - 4,600 miles in all - so a love of sailing and windsurfing comes naturally.

The flat Danish countryside attracts bicyclists, particularly to the island of Funen, with its gently rolling landscape and winding lanes. But for Danes, biking is not just for pleasure but a preferred mode of transportation, even in Copenhagen, where bicycles are as common as cars.

Other European countries may be better known for their golf courses or beaches, but Denmark has both. More than 100 golf courses beckon travelers to play a round or two, and on long summer evenings you can tee off as late as 8 P.M and still finish up the 18th hole before sundown.

In summer, the Danish coasts swell with sun lovers (and surfers, too), where the long stretches of white sand are more than a mile wide. Nothing is more fun - or more Danish - than celebrating Midsummer's Eve with singing, eating, and drinking around a big bonfire on the beach.  Outside the immediate perimeter of Copenhagen City are a lot of interesting sites, worth a visit.  At the coast of Øresund, in Klampenborg, you find the most popular beach in the Copenhagen area - Bellevue. Like about all of the Danish beaches, it holds the prestigious European Union Blue Flag, signaling that the bathing water here is of the highest quality. And each spring, fresh sand is spread on top of the "old" sand in order to make visits a near to perfect experience.

Danes not only enjoy the natural beauty of our country, but we work hard to preserve it for future generations to enjoy. Laws protecting the environment have existed here since 1937, and there are more forests in Denmark today than there were in the eighteenth century.

After a long bike ride, a leisurely stroll through a well tended park or garden, a round of golf, or an invigorating sail, nothing hits the spot quicker than a cold, refreshing Danish beer, preferably served outside in our clean, fresh air.