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Published: April 9th 2007
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Danish Parliment
complete with gold edges and all 4c, rain and wind (Ie - bloody freezing!)
I could pretend that I experienced a lot of Danish culture and saw the majority of Copenhagen, but that’d be a big fat lie. I had merely 24 hours in between flights from Iceland to Finland - that didn’t allow for much ‘Danish time’ but I did get to see Copenhagen.. just.. Go easy on me if this entry doesn't exactly set the world on fire.
I had visions of Copenhagen being a big messy city to get around, instead I was surprised to find a quaint and fairy easy city to navigate. The population is well under a million and all the streets are squeaky clean (even if noisy with the cobblestones). Arriving at 8pm is a pain anywhere, but doing it with a massive wheelie bag and having to walk 3km in the rain was just annoying. I was soaking wet by the time I arrived at the hostel with my ‘pretend’ bag (my real bag is scheduled to meet me in Finland). The hostel was an off-shoot of a large Danish hotel chain and very clean / well run - shame that it lacked any type of
All Sizes
Bikes of all sizes are everywhere in Denmark atmosphere or basic socialising. After several attempts to strike up conversations with fellow travellers I felt content to sit at the bar and enjoy my own company (how much more company of myself can I stand?!? I’m not sure!). I scrolled through Danish magazines and noted that every one had a picture of Princess (Tasmania) Mary on the cover.. and we think we see her enough in Australia!! There were diet tips in some, ‘secret bikini’ photos in another from a holiday and after the second magazine I got bored..
It was Easter Sunday night and Copenhagen was dead - doors shut, lights off and gone home dead. I considered going out but the rain was very heavy and there was nothing to do. Instead I said hello to my rude dorm buddies (a German couple that blankly stared at me like a pair of dumb founded animals when I cheerfully said ‘hello.. how are you?”), I gave up any attempt at socialising and decided to leave early the next day. Game over.
Easter Monday I was up at the crack of dawn wandering around Copenhagen with my noisy wheeled bag. No one was around and I realised why
Canals of Copenhagen
Canals lead you everywhere - Easter Monday public holiday (derr!!). The canal tours were shut along with everything else and the city was quieter than Adelaide on a Sunday morning (that’s saying something!). It was clear that Easter Monday was a ‘do it yourself Matt adventure’. I visited a big square (if I could find a brochure or map I could tell you name), an even bigger square, walked along the canals and stared up at the amazing colours of the houses - from a distance they looked like rows of crayons lined up. There wasn’t a single sole in the centre of Copenhagen at 10am and it felt like I was the only person on earth. I’m sure on most other days it would be bustling with bikes and people but today only the bikes remained, parked long term or forgotten I’m not sure!
In the whole of Copenhagen I found only one café that was open. It was a trendy place that lacked Danishes (what the hell?!?!), call me stupid but I wanted a Danish in Denmark. Instead I settled with a croissant and shared company with a man who dropped in for a long black while walking his dog. I
Ye Old Bridges
exactly what it says... liked that dogs were allowed inside, it was cool. In fact, Copenhagen was cool! Even if fellow travellers were rude as hell, I liked the city and felt disappointed I couldn’t spend more time (to use a cliché ‘I’ll have to come back here with Marg..”). The vibe of the city was similar to Nice, filled with old buildings and different sites on every corner. Everything was well manicured and very ‘proper’, I could imagine Princess Mary and Frederick saying it looked “splendid” (or something like that anyway…).
Walking around an entire city with your bag is not a good idea. I decided to find some shelter for a few hours and headed to the local cinema where I watched the Number 23. Without turning this travelblog into a movie review blog, the Number 23 was alright and filled the void of a few hours - there is only so much you can do when the weather is bad and EVERYTHING is closed.
I left Copenhagen early in the afternoon after changing some money (Denmark is one of the few EU Countries that doesn’t use the Euro, instead they have the Kronur.. aka ‘Crown’), I also wished I
yes.. I was there!
the 'must have' self shot - even if i was half asleep (hey, it was 10am!) knew some Danish when I was trying to buy a ticket automatically.. I searched for ‘airport’ and couldn’t find it, so just got frustrated and bought a random cheap ticket because I was running late (travel tip: don’t do that). Luckily there were no ticket inspectors and I made it to the airport alive. So far I’ve learnt trains and transport is fast and cheap in Europe - very efficient for travelling with backpacks. Everyone speaks English well in Scandinavian countries but I felt bad for not knowing a single word of Danish.. at least in Iceland I knew ‘please’ ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ (plus a few ‘other words’ I got taught.. haha.. but never used).
I wondered what Finland would be like compared to Denmark and got excited about the fact I knew absolutely NOTHING about the country. I had done no prior research but had my accommodation arranged with a fellow Couchsurfer (highly recommended.. www.couchsurfing.com).
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