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Published: February 6th 2006
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Bridge to Sweden
Longest suspension bridge in the world... And it only cost 40 pounds to cross (one way)! Ed:
I have a new favourite airport - London City.
It’s only a small airport with a really short runway which means that it only suits small aircraft. But it’s the easiest and quickest one to get to and you don’t have to wait for 20 minutes for your luggage like all the other airports - which is pretty unique so far as British airports go!
We flew out of London City this weekend after Matt won a competition for two free tickets to Copenhagen in a competition run by Scandinavian Airlines, SAS.
We left Friday night and got there just after 9pm. We explored the town looking for a bite to eat, but realised Copenhagen shuts down around 10pm in the winter and so we ended up at a bar which was playing 80’s music.
The following morning we decided to hire a car and explore a bit of the Danish countryside. Our first stop was the longest suspension bridge in the world which connects Copenhagen to Sweden. Matt, wanting the full ‘longest suspension bridge in the world’ experience, decided to drive over to Sweden. That turned out to be an expensive 30 minute drive,
Matt feeling up a statue
Don't worry - this isn't the Little Mermaid! not realising until after we had gone past through the tolls that it cost 20 pounds (A$50) each way! At least we got some great pics of the bridge from Sweden!
Afterwards we headed north of the country towards Helsingor. We took the drive up the coast and went past cute little fishing towns and saw some gorgeous houses. When we got to Helsingor we headed straight for Krongborg Castle, which is famous for being the setting for Hamlet. Along the way, Matt displayed his knowledge of the book by reciting most of the bloody play (apparently his crazy year 12 teacher made the class learn whole slaps of text). I was pretty impressed, but Matt said it didn’t really reflect the description in the play… Something about it not being dark and menacing enough.
We then headed to the medieval part of town following our Lonely Planet guide. The directions were so good that we found ourselves right in the middle of the plaza - unfortunately it was a pedestrian plaza! After pissing off many a Danish pedestrians, Matt braved a three point turn and got us out of the fist waving crowds.
After upsetting so
Our Little Car
It did the job... many locals, we decided we better move onto the next town. Next stop was Roskilde. With only a basic map only showing major routes we found ourselves stuck in a town called Hillerod. After much to-ing and fro-ing we finally managed to find our way out! As we neared Roskilde I remembered reading something about Hillerod having an impressive Dutch Renaissance castle that spread across 3 islands… but by then we’d gone too far south - do’h!
Roskilde was quite beautiful. The people in Denmark are just so kind and lovely… especially when they find out you’re Australian - I think Princess Mary has a lot to do with that! We went to a cute little side street restaurant and had the lunch special, which included eel and herring… and Danish Cheddar! We felt like such Vikings!
Now a word of warning about Danish Cheddar… If you have never had it - DON’T! It’s friggin awful. It’s the most pungent thing I’ve ever tasted… Even Matt couldn’t eat more than a crumb! Apart from that, the rest of the food - and the local wine - was delicious.
We then explored the town a bit and took
photos of the Roskilde Domkirke (Cathedral), which was built in 1170, but has been rebuilt and added to so many times it has different architecture styles. Strangely though, they all fit nicely, unlike Gaudi’s Sagrada Family Cathedral in Barcelona which just looks like a big mess!
The whole town was covered in white from the snow which gave it a real gothic feel. As we headed over to the Viking Ship museum, Matt took a massive slide on the ice and fell flat on his back! He didn’t move at first which got me a bit worried (and I had to hold my laughter) but then he slowly started to move. So then I was able to laugh. He’s really taken after you, Elaine… He seems to fall a lot lately!
The Viking Ship Museum was a bit of a let down. We imagined this huge ships as we had read how they were discovered in the middle of the ocean, however they weren’t that big at all. It was interesting to see how they made the find and the restoration process though.
We then said our farewell to Zealand and decided to head for the next
island - Funen. We went to Odense which was the birth place of Hans Christian Andersen. We again crossed another long bridge that joined the 2 islands (and again we paid 20 pounds each way in tolls!). This one actually felt a lot longer than the one to Sweden!
We didn’t get to Odense until after five which meant most places were closed and the photos didn’t turn out too clear! Still, it was a cute sleepy village. We went to a coffee shop and just admired the scene outside whilst scoffing hot chocolates. As we headed back to the car we walked past an ice rink and couldn’t resist having a skate under the falling snow.
Now, if you think Matt is unbalanced in normal shoes - you can imagine him on a pair of ice skates! He was attempting with so much caution that a 10 year old Danish boy went up to Matt and started teaching him how to skate! It was the cutest thing I’d seen! It was such a Kodak moment.
After this we headed back to Copenhagen and checked out one of the gay bars. Let’s just say, Danish men are
hot!
Next day we planned to spend the day at Tivoli, which is a large theme park in the middle of town, but for some reason it was shut! So we then walked over to the Amalienborg Palace, where the royal family live and did a tour in one part of the palace. We were totally impressed as to how accessible it was. We were able to walk right through the gates and practically up to the door. After the tour we decided we love Danish royalty - so down to earth and friendly… unlike the British one!
By the time we left the palace it had started to snow quite heavily, and realised how remarkable it was that only 2 weeks ago we were sunbaking nude on a beach and now we couldn’t get enough clothes on!
After the palace we headed down to the bay to see the statue of the Little Mermaid. It was a cute little thing and even in the cold there was a queue to get a phot with it! Disney’s influence is far reaching! From there we saw a windmill in the distance and went in search of it. I don’t
Roskilde Domkirke
It's still the same church! know how but somehow we ended up in the middle of an army barrack, and before we knew it there was a man holding an automatic weapon telling us we had trespassed! We promptly got escorted away! Luckily he was kind enough to point us in the right direction of the windmill! After that experience we decided to head off and find a café - mainly to escape the cold!
Before we knew it, it was time to head back to airport and back to London. Next weekend should be an easier one as we are headed to Leicester for Roseanne!
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Nets
non-member comment
i see a pattern, a pattern of falling down! if only there was pictorial evidence!! but the rest of the pics are good too haha xx p.s matt, i'm glad to see you're grabbing somebody else's boobs for a change! (am i allowed to say boobs?!)