And Our Scandinavian Leg Begins

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And Our Scandinavian Leg Begins

When it comes to planning this crazy adventure of ours, we take many things into account before booking the next ten days to two weeks. The most important item taken into account is the interest of the sight. There is no reason to go somewhere if it’s boring or holds no interest to us. Makes sense, no?

After this incredibly important item there are many levels of secondary importance. The top item after importance is weather. While many people in the world may opt for hot and sunny places, we tend to shy away from heat. Europe isn’t known for its fabulous air conditioning and wonderful mid level accommodation. The beds are small and the air conditioning is often just below par. These problems add up to a really unfortunate situation where we are both hot and pressed together in a tiny, hard little bed. Thus, we shoot for cool places even if it means getting some extra rain.

With these top two items in mind we planned our next month, one of the hottest in Europe, in Scandinavia and the Nordic countries. The list, at present, includes Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Iceland.

So, as a first destination we caught an SAS airplane from Rome’s interminable heat to Copenhagen, Denmark. The flight was the normal boring two hours in the air but we were pleasantly surprised as we landed that the weather was really nice. Since we often check the weather before we head somewhere, we were expecting constant rain for our time in Copenhagen. Instead, at least for our first afternoon, we found sunny weather and temperatures in the mid-seventies. Nice!

Our hotel, located within walking distance of the nice part of town, was pretty decent and, since people in Denmark speak English well, there were a few English TV stations. I decided to immediately head out and get some pictures of town. I figured that with rain on the way I could at least get a few shots of the town in the sun for the blog. The things I do for you guys back home!!

While I ran around town like a chicken with its head cut off, Kel sat in the room and watched some TV and got a chance to call home and talk to her Mom. All this time with my parents in Rome and Paris made Kel a bit homesick. I certainly don’t begrudge her spending some time on the phone with her Mom. It makes her so much happier!

I got a chance to take a good number of pictures which you will hopefully see over the next few blog entries. The farther north you get in Europe the more hours of sunlight are available to you. Currently in Copehagen the sun rises officially at 4am-ish and sets at around 10pm. This meant that, despite the fact that I left the hotel at 5:30pm, I had more than enough hours of daylight to get some good pictures.

When I returned at 7:30, Kel and I were both famished so we went for a walk to find dinner. We had been a little worried about Scandinavian cuisine since the only dishes we were really aware of involved herring and other unfriendly foods. Well, for our first night in town we were pleasantly surprised to get a very simple but tasty steak dinner which was amazing. We both had garlic steak and a bowl of soup which were really great. After all the heavy food in Paris and Rome - don’t get me wrong the food in these places was awesome - it was really nice to get some simple hearty food. Talk to me again about Scandinavian food after we’ve been in this part of the world for close to a month. I may not be so enthusiastic about it, but for now I am pleasantly surprised.

A Full Day of Walking

We slept in on the morning of the 4th of July. While we weren’t able to celebrate this holiday in the classic American fashion, we were able to have at least some feeling of a holiday by sleeping till 10am. Traveling can be quite tiring, as my parents found out, and sometimes you just need to stay in and be a bum, so that’s what we did!

Once out of bed and ready for the day we were once again pleasantly surprised by the weather. It was a bit overcast but didn’t rain one drop on us the whole day. This fabulously cool and un-rainy weather allowed us to do a full walking tour of the city. We spent the next 6 hours walking through town, seeing sights and doing a touch of shopping.

We started out by heading into the old town of Copenhagen which is today a huge pedestrian shopping area. During the middle of the day this area is still fairly crowded and has its share of tour boat tourists. The tour boats often use Copenhagen as a major stop on their trip, thus you will always find hordes of people onshore on their daily tour ship stop.

Throughout old town there are cathedrals, squares with fountains and statues worth at least a quick look. We spent about an hour in this part of town including a stop for brunch at a local café. Thankfully, everyone in Scandinavia speaks at least a little bit of English which makes ordering food and getting help very easy. We grabbed a menu in the café, all in Danish, and muddled our way through. After having spent time in Germany we found Danish to be awfully similar, at least when written. This allowed us to pick through most items on the menu without the use of a dictionary, which we don’t have. In the end Kel got an great chicken sandwich and I got a hamburger which was delightful.

After lunch we headed toward Nyhavn, a canal which is lined with restaurants and has a ton of old sailing ships moored in it. This particular stretch of canals is open to anyone who wants to moor historic vessels for others to ogle at. Because of this open invitation, the area has become a sort of ever changing boat museum. But, despite the old boats and aged buildings, the area teems with life and is always full of people.

On our way out of Nyhavn we got a chance to see the house where Hans Christian Andersen wrote a bunch of his famous stories. This incredibly famous children’s author of books like The Little Mermaid , The Ugly Duckling and many others is known as the Danish Charles Dickens. Throughout town there are monuments to the man and his books including statues and roads named after him. While many people may not think of H.C. Andersen all that frequently, the Danish never forget him.

With Nyhavn behind us we set off up the Yderhavnen waterway and took a quick stop at Amalienborg Palace where the Danish Royal Family lives. We became much more familiar with the Danish royals while we were in Australia because the Danish Prince, Frederik, married a woman from Australia thus making her the Princess. We took a few minutes to stare at their home and the home of their mother, an identical building across the Amalienhaven courtyard.

The final stop along the water for the day was the incredibly touristy Little Mermaid statue which honors H.C. Andersen’s book. This small statue, poised on a rock right by the waterway, was surrounded by a huge crowd of onlookers. We decided to only spend a minute there since A) it was just a statue and B) the crowd seemed pushy and a bit annoying.

We then took a leisurely walk back to old town but this time through some of Copenhagen’s parks. We constantly comment on how much nicer European cities are than most cities in the US because of the large green spaces. Copenhagen’s parks are full of people running, lying on the grass, playing with their dogs, and playing games with their kids. We actually spent twenty minutes just sitting watching everyone have a good time. During the summer, these parks appear to be the social centers of these towns.

In Rosenborg Have, Copenhagen’s equivalent of central park, there resides Rosenborg castle. This Renaissance style castle was built by Christian IV around 1600. While not a splendid from the outside as some of Germany’s huge monstrosities, sitting in the back of the park, it gives the area a regal feeling. While we sat in the park we spent some time staring at the castle surrounded by incredibly green grass. I find this area to be the epitome of what you think of when you think of Europe in summer: green, beautiful and old.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped to do some shopping. We had a difficult time in the grocery store but finally discovered the cornstarch. We also picked up a few items that went missing with my pack back in Paris. With some new items in hand we went back to the hotel to get an hour or two of rest before dinner.

Hope you are all well back home!

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Photos

Amalienborg Castle
This is merely one side of a four sided courtyard. This side houses the Prince and his family while his mother, the Queen, stays in an identical building on the opposite side of the courtyard.

HC Adersen's House
The author wrote some of his best works in this house. Like the Ugly Duckling and the Little Mermaid.

Amalienborg Castle Guard
Love the fuzzy hat/period costume, but the rifle was very modern and very able to kill you!

Bicycles
As long as the weather's nice these are really the preferred method of transportation here. The interesting thing is everyone rides really broken down old bikes instead of nice ones.

Comments

[Freelance Travel Writer]

Freelance Travel Writer/Photographer
Keep up the good work and keep a Digital Camera around http://freelancetravelwriter.spaces.live.com

[Lee]

Copenhaven
You have definitely hit the highlights! The Glyptotek has to be my favorite. Don't forget Tivoli!! It's amazing and nothing like an American theme-park. They have terrific posters (each season they design a new poster). They sell them at the ticket office even if the park itself is closed. It's amazingly romantic at night because of the lights, too. I would highly recommend going, if you have the chance, it's definitely worth the money.

[Bruce / Daddy]

Mike, Thanks again for the work you do each time on the blogs. It sure is fun traveling with you guys around the world. Mike and Kel, It was informative to see what your priorities are in terms of planning where to go. Interests and weather sure are important. You guys mentioned Scandinavian cuisine. Swedish meatballs have always been one of my favorite meals. I’m looking forward to the time spent in Scandinavia. I’m sure there will be a lot of beautiful outdoor scenes.