A while back I went to Denmark and Sweden for a week. When I say a while back, I literally mean over a month ago. My procrastinating ass has been too lazy to write this post until now. It kept saying to me, hola señorita, do it on your next train journey.. or even on a rainy afternoon… Don’t do it now.. Sí.. And yes for some reason it has a Spanish accent. But those days are over now that I’m travelling again. Leaving updates too long jumbles up my memories too much and of course isn’t fair on you guys.
I arrived into Copenhagen and found it to be a very pretty city although surprisingly not snowy. It was however full of cobblestones, pretty architecture and clean smelling air. Denmark has one of the lowest carbon dioxide emission rates in the world due to high taxes and rules regarding the use of motor cars. The rather nice wide cycle lanes are included in every road and full of many cyclists at any time of the day.
The first night I went to Ripley’s Believe It or Not exhibit for a bit of a laugh. It was quite interesting seeing how big the world’s tallest man was along with the biggest matchstick sculpture collection.
Then I met up with one of my lovely Brighton workmates who happened to visiting her family in Copenhagen by chance that weekend. She introduced me to some weird Danish pizza (it was basically kebab ingredients on pizza – including the lettuce!), snuck some beer on the bus with me before we went out for cocktails and dancing. It was a very fun night and a great way to see the Danish culture with a local friend.
P.s Danish men can really dance!
The next day I had the usual free walking tour. The main points I can remember from it over a month later is that the guide was wearing a cape (only a little odd!), and a bridge still in progress that some architect mucked up, and now the ends of the bridge that should meet up in the middle of water are misaligned by quite a large margin. Oops expensive mistake.
A Danish palace (I think?)
Horse statue in front of the Parliament
City centre
The most expensive part of town to eat and sleep in – pretty gorgeous though!
A Danish church
Another horse statue outside the Royal Palace with a palace guard at his post
Some more statues on the way to the Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid statue in all her glory
Then I caught the train to Stockholm for the next couple of nights. The first night I accidentally ate a rather expensive steak dinner. It was pretty tasty but once I worked out the conversion rate to nz dollars at the end of the meal, I wasn’t so impressed. I had cheap Swedish fast food the next couple of nights to help balance my budget. Plus I figured it was again a neat cultural experience to try the Swedish version of Macdonalds.
I didn’t realise it at the time but I was starting to get a little sick with a bit of a head cold. I didn’t enjoy my time as much in Stockholm purely from feeling cold, rundown and lethargic. Which is a shame because Stockholm is an extremely neat city and there was so much more I wanted to do there. It meant that I didn’t really maximise my exploring or activities in my one ‘whole’ day there, but did make me feel happy with the idea of returning again one day.
Pretty bridge in Stockholm
Stalking some swans with my camera.
I went to just one museum – the Vasa. It was amazing! It’s dedicated to an ancient ship wreck that is still extremely well preserved and quite glorious to see. The funny side to this is that the museum is dedicated to one of Sweden’s biggest fails. The Vasa ship sunk only 100 metres into its maiden voyage. But still it was terribly interesting all the detail and story behind the function of the ship, the finding and preserving of it. The museum is beautifully designed and very well thought out.
A little grainy due to the lighting inside. But maybe you can see how absolutely massive it is
Next to the Vasa museum was the Abba museum. I had been quite excited to go here originally but with my flagging energy levels by that stage, and my budget already out of proportion (Abba museum ticket was a little on the high side at about $50nz); I decided to give it a miss. I listened to some Abba music on my iPhone during the walk back to the city centre instead.
During my walk back I found some snow! And some free ice skating
Next on the agenda for the afternoon was a free walking tour of the old town. I didn’t actually enjoy it so much. I don’t really remember any of the particulars or any interesting facts of the tour itself as I was too busy feeling cold and thinking of my nice warm hostel. I do recall however that the guide this time was not wearing a cape. It was very cold walking around outside and by the end of the tour, I had definitely realised I wasn’t feeling 100%.
I went back to Copenhagen for one more night after Stockholm but kept it pretty tame. I had a good explore of the National Museum of Denmark and particularly enjoyed the Stories of Denmark exhibit. I wandered about on the streets and attempted to find the Christiansburg district which is apparently the druggy but arty Amsterdam-like part of Copenhagen. I was unsuccessful but did manage to find a hotdog stand for one last delicious Danish hotdog to finish off my Danish adventure.
Admission is free!
Pretty sunset on a Danish canal
A hotdog in all it’s glory. Comes with three different types of sauce, sliced gherkins, and dried fried onion. Utterly delicious.
Another reason to go back to Copenhagen I found was the Tivoli Gardens. It’s one of the world’s oldest amusement parks but sadly closed in the winter. I walked about the outside and got very excited looking at all the roller-coasters. And then quite disappointed when I found out that it was closed until April. Oh well.
Overall I thought Denmark was lovely! The people are very friendly with a surprisingly high level of English. It’s very clean and things are a little on the expensive side there with the high taxes imposed by the government. Sweden was also amazing although it comes second in my comparison this time.
Sure was nice to jump back in my warm cozy bed in my Brighton apartment though and finish recovering off that head cold though.
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