Monday, January 23, 2006

Copenhagen Airport Facilities

Copenhagen Airport Facilities

The Copenhagen Pictures staff is not fanatical about Copenhagen – every now and again trips are made to other destinations to see what they do right. The upside of this is the reaffirmation that Copenhagen is indeed as great as you are being told on Copenhagen Pictures.

This is coming to you from the transit area of Copenhagen Airport, as you find Wireless LAN or WiFI available all over the airport. Unfortunately you are charged DKK 60 an hour for access, and you have the choice between an hour or an hour. In this area The Vienna Airport is leading the way with free WiFi access – hats off to the service mindedness of Vienna.

But the facilities at Copenhagen Airport in general are fantastic – no wonder that the airport is continuously being rated Europe’s best or the World’s best by different media and traveller organizations. Today I noticed a few changes. One is for the transit traveller that never gets to leave the airport. At the entrance to Finger B you now find a somewhat smaller scale model of The Little Mermaid, so you won’t miss her entirely. There were actually people with cameras around it when I passed, so it is being appreciated.

I never get the travel books in time for the trips, and often have to spend time at the destination looking for it. Today I found that the magazine and book store next to Finger B has a large travel literature section – pretty much the entire Lonely Planet Series covering the World for one thing. I’m not as amazed by the collection of English/American language books, but the titles I spotted cover something of interest for most people. I went with the latest John Irving novel.

There are no announcements over loudspeakers at Copenhagen Airport, so you have to look for the large signs showing flights, gates and status every now and then. But the loudspeaker announcements have more or less been replaced by sms or text messages. Next to the flight on the website you find a mobile phone symbol. Click on it and enter your phone number, and answer the confirmation sms with the word “FLY”, and you will receive an sms when changes to the flight status occur – go to gate, boarding and eventual delays come right to your mobile. Way to go, CPH!

posted by H.T. Ohlsen @ 15:37 4 comments

Monday, January 02, 2006

Free entrance to state museums beginning in 2006

A very positive development for tourists visiting Copenhagen is that as of 2006, entrance to state owned museums is free of charge to their regular collections.

In the Copenhagen area this includes the National Museum and the State Museum of Contemporary Art, Statens Museum for Kunst.

Unfortunately this coincides with the temporary closing of the most popular permanent exhibition at the National Museum, Danish Prehistory, for three years while it is being recreated in a more contemporary style. Today the Danish Prehistory exhibition seems very old-fashioned after being "in production" for more than 30 years. The good news is that the most important and popular pieces from the collection will be back on a temporary display already from May 2006, so you can still get some glimpses of viking age in Denmark while the exhibition is being redesigned.

At the moment, also Statens Museum for Kunst is closing part of its space. The museum is in the process of fireproofing the old building, keeping all activities in the new white marble building. This does not mean that the museum stops its activities - a Rembrandt exhibition will be available from 4 February - 14 May 2006. But as this is not a permanent exhibition, you will be charged an entrance fee.

Welcome to a more easily accessible cultural Copenhagen!

posted by H.T. Ohlsen @ 10:17 0 comments