Blogs from Helsingør, Region Sjælland, Denmark, Europe

Incredibly, our sixth and last full day in Copenhagen brings almost clear skies and some sun. We had originally planned to go to Frederiksborg and Kronborg in one day but, due to the hiccup in not finding the car rental place where it was listed to be and Frederiksborg needing more time than anticpated, we simply couldn't get to Kronborg before closing time (1700 hours). So we had to do go to Kronborg, aka as Elsinore, today. Kronborg is in the coastal town of Helsingør. Getting there requires taking a mostly one-lane road that meaders along the coast (there is a faster but less scenic way inland but I was highly advised by the locals to take this coastal road). As luck would have it, I got stuck behind some pensioners driving a 1000-cc Hyundai at ... read more

New Danish beginnings Though I have been in Denmark a fair few weeks now, I have only just gotten around to updating this blog for the first time since last year when I left Chile. The story is now unfolding in Denmark's capital, Copenhagen, where I will be studying for the next year. My aunt and uncle, who live just north of the city, have graciously welcomed me into their home, which will be my home also until May 2010. I'm slowly settling in and becoming more Danish by the day; I have a bicycle, Ikea furniture, and a CPR number. I have done so many fun things since arriving in Denmark that it is difficult to recount them all. Much of the first week or two was spent with family, whether that was celebrating my ... read more

Our "Castles trip" was very nice. We had a good weather and everything went as planned. At 9.20 we hit the train to Helsingor, about 45 min from Copenhagen, the trip was partially along sea side. Then took a short walk to the castle, which we could see from the train station. There were two reasons we went to this place, first our own city is named after this city, and the famous Hamlet lived in this castle (not really). Every August on the courtyard there are performances of the famous play in all kind of versions including Japanise Traditional Theatre and a very modern one. It is also called Kronborg Castle and it was build the late XVI c. and rebuild in in the beginnig of XVII by two danish Kings, as a residence and ... read more

Once we got to Helsingor, we looked at one hotel called the Marienlyst Slot that was recommended by the guide book. It was VERY expensive and under construction, so we decided to find another place to stay. I had done some research before we left and found a hotel called the Sleep2Night. We decided to grab some dinner in the city before heading off in search of a place to stay for the night. We had an excellent Thai dinner at Lemongrass Thai, but we were sad to see that there was nothing but restaurants open in town. We found the Sleep2Night with relative ease, and Mom said it looked like a slasher movie since it was more like a motel than a hotel. She's spoiled and we both ended up in agreement that it was ... read more

After spending a day in Copenhagen (refer to the previous post), we decided to spend our 2nd day by travelling north to Helsingør, cross the sea to Helsingborg (Sweden), go south to Lund & Malmö, and then return to Copenhagen by train. Initially we wanted to get the "Around the Sound" ticket, which allows 2 days of travel around the Oresund region. However, at Nørreport Station, we were told that the "Around the Sound" ticket was only available in Sweden. In the end, we had no choice but to buy a single ticket from Copenhagen to Helsingborg (including the ferry from Helsingør to Helsingborg). In Sweden, we would buy a single ticket to Lund / Malmö, and later we would decide whether we would take bus or train back to Copenhagen. Because of the long walks ... read more