Bucharest city tales: The biggest differences between Bucharest and Copenhagen

Columnist Eleonore af Schaumburg-Lippe writes in her weekly column about life as an expat in Romania. This week she looks at the differences between daily life in Bucharest (in picture, below) and Copenhagen (in picture, above).

When I arrived in Bucharest, one of the first questions my Romanian friends always asked me was about the biggest difference between Denmark and Romania. There is not a single answer to that question, and even if there are differences, they are not as big as people might expect. So hereby I will tell a little about the day to day differences in Bucharest compared to Copenhagen. Cars First of all there are many more cars in Bucharest compared to Copenhagen, and they are parked everywhere. What amazed me in the beginning was when I saw how my friends managed to park a car, or to maneuver the car around in a crowed area, for example in front of a club in Bucharest. Sometimes I would close my eyes to avoid seeing the cars around damaged, but I have seen some very talented drivers here, and most of them really know how to drive a car, even when they have to drive backwards. Crossing the streets In Denmark, when crossing the street - mostly two- car lanes, my highest concern is not to be hit by a bike, since there are a lot more bikers in Copenhagen than in Bucharest. In general you don’t cross the street unless the light is green, and this happens even in the countryside in Denmark, where all you see is fields. There, I would still wait for the green light. In Bucharest many people cross the street on the red light, and they often smile at me while I am waiting for the green light, in a way indicating that I was not Romanian. The streets of Bucharest There is a thing with the streets and pavements in Bucharest. Conquering the streets here has been a bigger battle than expected, since in Denmark the streets are very good, and if there is a hole in the street it would be marked so it is impossible not to see it, and it anyway happens very rarely to find a hole. Here in Bucharest you have to watch your step not to fall down in a hole, but at the same time you have to look up, to avoid not walking into one of these often seen wires hanging down. I always wonder if they are connected to electricity...