Visiting Copenhagen

Gothenburg to Copenhagen

After a couple of nights in Gothenburg we again got on a train, this time a 4 hour journey to Copenhagen. Again everything was smooth and without incident. You have to give it to the Scandinavians, they know how to make things work efficiently.

Tivoli Hotel

We got to our hotel in the early evening, it was the Tivoli hotel, a ten minute walk from the Tivoli gardens (and central train station). Whilst not as fanatastical as the Grand Curiosa hotel we stayed in in Gothenburg, it was still a very nice place. It is also a conference centre, which meant the whole place had a business feel to it, but as we saw in the morning there were plenty of families with young kids in the hotel as well.

No photos, but I impressed with this cheese cutting mechanism.

We also found these two nearby residential towers very eye-catching. Believe it or not, everything is actually flat.

Copenhagen Day 1

For our first full day in Copenhagen the weather was fantastic. Around 26°C with full sun all day and that city showed itself to us its best. People sunbathing at the waterfront (which is everywhere), jumping into the canals, climbing out on ladders which are every hundred meters or so. They have slides going into the water. Fantastic.

And despite people being everywhere, it never felt crowded.

Architecture museum

Talking of slides, the architecture museum has one going down three floors.

It also has lots of other interesting things to see and experience. Definitely worth a visit.

Nyhavn

We kept walking along the waterfront until we reached the famous Nyhavn canal, a lovely little canal, old style.

Danish Design Museum

Further along, we paid a visit to the Danish Design Museum to gain a better understanding of what site behind this countries designs. Of course, everyone will be familiar with this "Series 7" chair by Arne Jacobsen.

Mermaid statue

After the design museum, we continued even further, past a fortress area and to the famous mermaid statue.

Not the biggest of statues, but very nice nonetheless!

Boat ride back

By the time we had seen the mermaid, we'd been on our feet several hours. It was time to get the ferry boat back to our hotel. Again we could experience how great all this water is when the weather is nice. People were everywhere and the city has taken great care to ensure the locals can enjoy the water for free. Here's a swimming pool, in the canal, with a 3 metre diving board!

Copenhagen Day 2

Christiania

In the morning I had a walk around the free town of Christiania, apparently not a part of the EU.

Nearby is also the Church of our Saviour, with it's impressive steeple.

Superkilen

The next day we headed to the Superkilen park, slightly to the north of the city. This is a park with contributions from various countries. Bulgaria's was a chess board, Belgium's a round park bench.

Paternoster lift

On the way back we stopped off at the Axelborg building to try a patternoster lift. This would never pass any health and safety rules these days!

Quirky shopping street

Finally we ambled round some smaller shopping streets.

Tivoli Gardens

In the evening, we went to the famous Tivoli gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. The oldest one is in fact just outside of Copenhagen, but we did not visit that.

There are plenty of rides here, but the most interesting one was the "Rutschebanen", which once it starts rolling from the top, has no breaks, except for the one controlled by the driver sitting between the first and second carriages. Which means that the driver controls the speed of the train. So you will have slightly different experiences each time you go on it.

There was also the "Villa Vendetta", which was a haunted house with real actors in it, not just dummies falling out of cupboards or from ceilings. They actually chased you!

And of course the whole place looks lovely at night and even had a rock concert later in the evening.

Copenhagen Day 3

Rooftop flea market

On our third day we had a wander around the local flea market, struggling to buy goods where no one takes card. Cash or mobile transfers only. Unfortunately the danish system and our system are not compatible. Maybe one day... A trip to the cash machine it was then.

Roundtower

After that we went to the round tower, Rundetaarn, whose hollow centre is also the geographic centre of Denmark. It was fun walking up the tower and there was also an interesting science exhibition in one of the adjoining rooms.

There's even an observatory at the top.

As well as a 360 balcony with a view.

Rosenburg castle gardens

Walking on we ambled through the Rosenburg castle gardens.

Cafe La Posata

And then stopped off in an Italian cafe, in Copenhagen run by French guys. The espresso was strong!

Hire car

After that we slowly returned to the hotel as we then had to go to the airport to pick up the rental car for a day trip. The car was an automatic Skopa Superb and drove very nicely. My next car will be an automatic!

Copenhagen Day 4

So having picked up the hire car the previous day, we set off on our day trip. The idea was to see Mons Klint and the forest tower Skovtarnet. Fate had other ideas...

Mons Klint

It took us two hours to reach Mons Klint. We parked, had a look at the welcome centre and had just bought tickets to see the museum area when my phone started beeping with text messages. Our flight home that evening had been cancelled, we should go to the airport sort out a hotel for the night. In addition we had not all been put on the same return flight.

We decided to skip the museum but anyway walk down the cliff side to see what we came for. It was quite a steep descent, but it was definitely worth the eventual, equally steep, ascent. No lifts or escalators here.

Forest Tower Cancelled Luxair flight

But we had to cancel the visit to the forest tower and head back to the airport. With no further information being provided by Luxair, we did not know whether there would be a hotel room or not. Also I had to keep phoning them to ensure we were all on the same flight home. On the phone they said to go to the Luxair office at the airport for the hotel details. Of course, they have no office in Copenhagen. Thankfully one of the security guards knew the deal and directed us to the correct hotel. Thanks for nothing Luxair!

In the end it all worked out, but they could have saved us a lot of stress and not ruined our last day by simply giving us all the details up front. We're still waiting for our compensation as well.

Copenhagen +1

So with no particular plan for our extra day in Copenhagen we slowly walked up the local waterfront near the airport. This turned out to be a fantastic idea. It was wonderful there, with it being all setup for sports activities, but relatively empty. We had a nice coffee and ice cream in one of the many little cafes along the path. And we finished with a round of mini golf, as well as watching a seagull snatching a crab from the water and then peck it apart before eating it!

And finally yours truly and K2.