Mermaids, Fairgrounds and Hotdogs in Copenhagen

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A city break was needed to get away from all the 'stress' of big city living, so five of us Kiwi's took off for Denmark to spend a long weekend in the country's capital - Copenhagen. We arrived at lunch time on the Saturday to be greeted at the airport to a warm welcome from Mette, my Danish friend, who I had met in South Africa as an exchange student 10 years ago.

Mette took us into Copenhagen city centre for lunch and our first taste of Danish culture, a traditional hot dog from the hotdog stands. These Risted hotdogs included fresh onions, deep fried crispy onions, three types of sauce and pickles, it was great takeaway food, and not too pricey for a country not known for its budget travel.

The city center was buzzing with atmosphere as a Football World Cup qualifying match of Denmark vs Sweeden was to be played in Copenhagen that evening. The streets were lined with supporters in their team colours and all were in great voice and roucus spirits.

Our first tourist activity was to head out on a canal boat tour of Copenhagen. It was bitterly cold out on the water but still a great way to see the sights. There was a good blend of old and modern buildings including the ultra modern Opera House and National Museum and the ancient Palace, Marble church and Stock Exchange. We also passed the famous Little Mermaid statue, a tribute to the fairy tale author Hans Christian Anderson.

In the evening we found a spot in a sports pub on the main shopping street and packed in with all of the football supporters. There were more Swedish than Danish in the pub and were in great voice, that was until Denmark scored the only goal of the match. After this there was a lot of Danish singing 'its quiet in Sweden tonight', Denmark had just qualified for the World Cup 2010 so there were great celebrations.

Our second day in Denmark was a cold and drizzly day, but like good tourists we didn't let the weather get in the way of our sight seeing. We visited the Round Tower with 16th Century Observatory at the top for a view of Copenhagen, we also visited the dome church and the palace. In the evening we headed into Tivoli Gardens, a 160 year old fair ground in the centre of Copenhagen. It was School holidays and they were set up for Halloween, there were pumpkins galore. We went in as the light was getting low and the place really lit up with a kind of magical fair ground charm. Although we didn't go on any rides (avoiding the Scandanavian price of activities) we had a go at some arcade games and watched the wide eyed excitement of all the kids that were enjoying themselves.

Our final day in Copenhagen started with a bit of sunshine and a trip to a top bakery to try some Danishes and enjoy breakfast canal side. After breakfast we headed in to the hippy town of Christiania, free town. It is an interesting community that developed on the site of old Army baraks in Copenhagen. There are a lot of myths that surround the community including that they don't pay taxes. One myth that was a reality was that there were plenty of drugs freely available on the main road "Pushers Street", this was pretty creepy, but luckily we delved further into the area and found some great little hippy houses on the banks of the canals. There were also a lot of three wheeled bicycles with a wheelbarrow like carriage on the front that are iconic of the area and their main "export".

For our last afternoon we took a very chilly walk along the waterfront to get a view of the little mermaid from land, she is a small monument,, but captures the spirit of the sailors tales that must have been prevelant in Copenhagens ports. It was a lovely way to end our relaxing city break.

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