Denmark, well Copenhagen...

Day 1 - 'I would walk 500 miles...'

We arrived at Copenhagen airport to a bright and warm airport. Luckily we were able to sleep on the plane and adjust to the time zone so we weren't too tired. We easily found the Metro and made our way to our accommodation which was a lot easier than expected as the Metro and buses had next to no people around at this early time (pre 7am).

We dropped off our bags and then had the day to explore before meeting our friend Sara in the evening. We walked to the nearest Metro station with a coffee shop on the way. We got off at Osterport station and went looking for The Little Mermaid statue, walking through the city to get to the shore. It was quite a hot day at around 27 degrees, but we carried on. We walked through the park and fortress of Kastellet - which was very picturesque, and arrived at the cruise terminal. We consulted Google Maps to determine where to go next to see the statue. Unfortunately Google Maps failed us and sent us in the wrong direction. We went south instead of north and ended up at the canal at Nyhavn. We weren't that disappointed as this meant we could stop have some lunch and a beer, and it is only a statue afterall! 

The canal at Nyhavn is one of Copenhagen's best known sights with its narrow canal, rigged boats and colourful quintessentially Danish buildings. It is also a 'Tourist Trap' where high prices are demanded by the cafes that line the canal. Regardless we found a suitable cafe and rested our tired bones down for lunch. Mick had a chicken burger while I had Gravad Laks (cured salmon) and Tuborg, the most common beer in this city.

After lunch we moved on and walked further into the centre of the city. Passing through the central district we found our way onto a pedestrian street called Strøget which is basically a shopping mall that runs for quite a few blocks and has cheap touristy shops sitting amongst designer brands. We walked down this street to the beginning of Vesterbrøgade, the main road that runs toward our suburb of Frederiksberg. We continued to walk home taking in the shops and restaurants along the way. 

We were thoroughly exhausted by the time we got back. We had walked roughly 14 kms. So we thought it was probably time for a nap. We tried to sleep but the heat in the apartment due to the warm weather (and a lack of curtains) made it quite difficult to sleep.

We meet our friend Sara and walked to the nearby meat packing district for dinner, which had a number of trendy eateries to choose from. We settled on a place the specialised in 'saltwater pizzas'. We ate and caught up, before walking back to the apartment to have some wine. It was nice sitting on the balcony at 10pm with the sun still up shining!  Luckily Sara is staying only a 5 minute walk away. 

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Day 2 - 'Then I would walk 500 more...'

With Sara catching up on some long over due sleep, we decided we'd explore more of the city (on foot). The day started with an over priced coffee ($7), which Mick thinks had extra lactose included for the high price, as our beautiful  90 min walk around the Frederiksberg Park was accented by Mick farting uncontrollably, for the full 90 min. Mick did not tire of his joke about the frogs in Denmark having the same accent as Australian frogs.... While Mick was careful not to shit himself, Damian took copious photos of the park's meandering walk ways. We agreed we'd return to the park one evening for an alcoholic picnic and watch the sunset at 11pm.

We then walked aimlessly around the town of Vesterbro, getting lost and then finding our way again. We had a rather expensive lunch, and Mick almost fell off his chair when a local Dane told us that things world be more expensive in Norway! We meet up with Sara and we visited Nyhavn again. Nyhavn on a Friday night was very different to the Thursday lunch time, with significantly more people out and about, with people drinking on the street and hanging out on the canal's edge. Afterwards we walked down the charming Strædet walkway surrounded by old town houses and eateries.

In the evening we went to the famous Tivoli gardens. The gardens were beautiful and well worth being in a tourist trap. That night a heavy rock band was playing, and the beauty of the garden was overtaken by a mass of  people rocking away to some heavy rock.  It was quite surreal seeing these old Danes (60+ yrs old) dancing/signing along to this rock music that we thought was too loud,  and   not Tivoli garden appropriate! We then walked home as it was only 15 mins and the buses, like everything in Copenhagen, are expensive. 

A constant feature of our time in Copenhagen was the  tradition of the newly graduated high school kids (19yrs - 21yrs). The kids would drive around  the city in the back of trucks, drinking copious amounts of booze, with horns blasting, music blaring whistles screeching. The kids all wore white and had white hats that look like sailors. The highlight was when they all stripped down to their undies to play in the town fountain. The low light was when a party truck stopped out the front off our unit at 1 am and decided to dance to a few songs. 

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Day 3 - The have and the have nots

We had planned another day of sight seeing, but agreed we'd done more then our fair share of walking and would take as many metros and buses as possible. We waited in the heat to see the changing of the guards at the Amalienborg Palace. It was such a disappointment, for over 5 mins the two "teams" of guards just looked at each other, and then the old guard just marched off. No pomp, no ceremony, what a waste! 

Lunch was at the Torvenhallen food market, which seemed to be full of tourists. Sara ate a local salmon sandwich while we went for the non-local Spanish tapas option (the best non-fish meal Mick could find). We then headed off to Christiania Freetown which was/is a hippy commune. Back in the 60s the hippies claimed squatters rights, and the police were too fearful to enter. The day we went there were markets, live bands and lots and lots of dope. There were even multiple market stalls where the only products to buy were weed or hash. Damo and Sara were in their element, taking thousands of photos of the commune - beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder, where Sara and Damo saw art, Mick saw run-down and overgrown shacks - hardly worth taking pictures of. (Actually, the place is beautifully overgrown and charming, with bijoux cottages and delapidated buildings - Damian)

We went for dinner at a place near Fredericksburg Metro. Dinner was a bit of a debacle, the restaurant lost our meal tickets and then when food was finally served (over 1 hour late), our decision to move to an inside table saw our meals get lost again. Damo was seething and Mick was scared he was going to over throw the tables. Sara worked her charm and our meal was completely free! As we were leaving Sara commented how happy she was with a free meal, Mick knew Damo would rather pay full price and eat on time, and was scared he was going to throw Sara over the tables! 

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Day 4 - Scandi Hipsterville

The next day we set out fairly early to the northern suburb of Nørrebro. This part of Copenhagen is colourful, eclectic and a bit 'studenty' and 'migranty'. It also boasts a large cemetery where Hans Christian Andersen is buried. We checked out his grave before having coffee and a croissant at an overpriced hipster cafe. We then went further into the suburb to see a street touted as the colourful heart of Nørrebro. Unfortunately much of the heart was closed, but we walked around the corner and found the largest flea market we had ever seen. It spilled out of a park and into the street, continuing for a number of blocks.

We had a tasty lunch at a street corner cafe before heading to a local pub to wait out the heat. Not long after we sat down the staff started to prepare the pub for the world cup match that was to start at 4pm. We had prime seats to watch the football from, but given Mick isn't the biggest fan, he used this time to rest his eyes. We're sure the patrons who had obstructed views of the tv would not have been impressed. We then went to a gastro-pub / brew house for dinner. When taking the order, the cashier suggested we had ordered too much food and strongly recommended that we remove a dish. Mick couldn't decide which dish to drop so decided we were up for the food challenge. Mick was horrified that when he went to the bathroom Sara went and ordered more food! When all the food finally arrived (on time and to the right table), it was very clear we had too much. We didn't finish it all, but gave it a really good attempt.

We then made our way to the Frederiksberg  Park to have a twilight picnic/drinks. It was a great idea in theory, but the temperature had dropped, the wind picked up, and we were freezing. We were also surrounded by some mean looking geese. After one drink we decided to give up and go home to the warmth before we were attacked by the geese. 

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Day 5 - 'To be, or not to be'

On our fifth day in Denmark we decided to get out of town and get cultured by visiting a castle - and not just any castle, we were going to visit Kronborg, the scene of Hamlet. Kronborg is located in the town of Elsinore ('Helsingør' in Danish). After some initial transport confusion, we hopped on a train with Sara and headed off. We got to the town in under an hour, and made a beeline for the castle via the harbour. 

The castle was impressive, and beautifully decorated but what truly made the visit worthwhile was the actors that toured the halls playing scenes from Hamlet in their original settings. We saw Hamlet, his mother, Claudius the king, Ophelia and Laertes all playing key scenes from the play, culminating in the fatal duel in the throne room. Mick was amazed at how well he understood the actors (reflecting on his  struggles understanding Shakespearean language at high school), only to be disappointed when Sara observed that they had used plain English in order to help bring in the tourist dollar. 

Afterwards we took 'a few' photos and then headed back to town for lunch, before hopping on a bus to take us to the coastal town of Klampenborg. The ride was beautiful as we passed through charming coastal villages. We arrived at the town and walked from the bus stop to the beach where we tested or weary feet while people watching and catching some afternoon sun.

When we had our fill of vitamin D, we caught the train back to Copenhagen. We had dinner at a Greek restaurant before turning in early so we were rested for our flight to Stockholm the next morning.