Denmark: Copenhagen and North Zealand

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Date of Travel: 9-10 May, 2008
Duration of Travel: 2 days
Main cities visited: Copenhagen, Helsingor, Fredensborg, Elsinore

The Scandinavian Adventure begun with Denmark. Having only 2 days set aside for Denmark, Copenhagen and North Zealand were pretty much on the agenda of what time permitted us to do.

Copenhagen, the vivid and cultural political capital of Denmark was quite truly an eye opener, especially since it was my 1st time in Europe. Low rise colonial structures were aplenty and particularly fascinating was a lane created especially only for cyclists which made me jealous considering how cyclists and motorists consistently struggle for lane space back home on the roads. First stop was down to the harbour to find the Little Mermaid. This was really quite a fairy tale come true and she was quite magnificent. Didn't look a thing like what we see on Disney but still her location by the pier really made it quite a spectacular photography shot. Following which we headed further down the harbour for a nice stroll and a breath of fresh air along the Danish coastline. The weather was fantastic that particular morning and it was certainly refreshing to just sit by the edge of the coastline soaking up the nice quiet atmosphere around.

In the afternoon, we headed down right into Copenhagen city. I absolutely loved Tivoli Gardens. It is Denmark's renown amusement like theme park with Chinese Pagodas, roller coasters ... an entire marche of cultures across the globe. Regrettably, we didn't really have much time to spend inside but even within that limited 1.5hrs we had inside Tivioli, it was a really pretty and lively theme park and I believe it is also listed as 1001 things to do before you die. Right across Tivioli gardens is the main city square where the famous Hans Christian Andersen's statue reigns. In the evening we headed down to the Amalienborg Palace, the winter palace of the Royal Danish family. Right in the center of the Palace square is the statue of Frederick V. To the rear of the palace, the two mansions and the marble church provide a really Renaissance feel to the entire square. Headed back outskirts for the evening where our hotel was.

The second day was all about North Zealand and its magnificent castles. Headed to Fredensborg Castle – the summer residence of the Royal Danish family in the morning. Next, we visited Hamlet’s Kronborg Castle in Elsinore. It was a pity we didn’t get to go inside due to insufficient time as apparently its Knight Hall is the longest in northern Europe. Comparatively, Fredensborg Castle is certainly much prettier and classy. Unlike Kronborg which is surrounded by high barricade walls, Fredensborg is situated almost on a little island by itself in the middle of a lake. Surrounding it instead are well-maintained and sculptured gardens which certainly makes the atmosphere more relaxed. Also as it was the start of summer when we visited, many of the flowers were already starting to bloom and hence the scene around Fredensborg just felt a little more colorful.

In the late afternoon, we transferred to the Copenhagen Pier to board our overnight cruise on the DFDS Seaways headed for Oslo. The seafood spread for dinner on board was really good but still somehow being on board a cruise just makes you feel locked up at sea where there really isn’t anything much to do on board made worse by the fact that the cabins are always small and crammed!

Next Stop: Oslo Norway!

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