Yesterday I returned from a trip with my family to Denmark. My great-grandfather immigrated to the United States around the turn of the century, and no one in our family has been back since, to our knowledge. I’ve wanted to visit since I was a child. We spent 5 days in Copenhagen.

In short, all the flattering things about Denmark are true. You can have a people-centric city that’s clean, safe, and a delight to walk and bicycle around. Clean, quiet, modern buses come every five to ten minutes, and all classes of people use them. You can have harbors and canals so clean that people regularly swim and fish in them. You can have good food sold in a 7-11. You can have a society where they take the environment seriously. They are rightful proud of their city.

No place is perfect. Denmark is not without problems. But on some universal challenges, like urban living, they exemplify that we can have nice things. And perhaps we should.