Advertisement
Published: March 9th 2012
Best view in town
View of Copenhagen's waterfront from atop the FrederikskirkeWell what an effort it took to finally get out of Sweden! First I had to get up at seven in the morning (saturday 5th July) to get out to the airport for my flight from Visby to Gothenburg; only because there was no public transport service I had to walk for an hour fully loaded up to get out there! :-( Then having landed at Landvetter Airport I had to take a bus into the centre of Gothenburg, and then walk for another twenty minutes fully loaded up to make it out to the ferry terminal, not even knowing whether there were any seats left because I couldn't book a seat over the internet thanks to my useless 'emergency replacement' mastercard!
Thankfully though there were still seats available, and the ferry ride from Sweden to Denmark was made even more enjoyable by the fact that not only was there a duty-free shop on board - but that I was able to sample the goods I had purchased on the way! Unfortunately the sale of alcohol was not allowed until forty-five minutes into the journey (which was only two hours in total), but that still gave me time to knock
Leaving Sweden behind
Looking back from the Gothenberg - Frederikshavn ferry back a couple of well-deserved and oh-so-sweet tasting Scotch and Cokes; which I must say did an admirable job of washing down the king-size duty-free toblerone and two slices of pizza I had for lunch!
And so I arrived in Denmark weighing considerably more than when I had left Sweden - courtesy of the carton of Carlsberg beer and half litre of Scotch I had also picked up from the duty-free store! Unfortunately in all the excitement I had forgotten to swap my Swedish kroner for Danish kroner at the on-board currency exchange bureau; however this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as not only was I able to swap my money over at the central train station in Frederikshavn, but I was able to buy a nice cold can of beer for the walk to the hostel as well! What a country!!!
Even more good news was to come when I was only charged seventy kroner (less than half what I had paid at every other hostel in Scandinavia) for my bed for the night; although I soon found out why - they had put me in a thirty-two bed dorm!!! Given that I could
only see evidence of one other person having checked into the room though, I decided to give it a go - at least there was plenty of space for my things!
So after stashing my supply of booze behind the bed, and with the day being probably the warmest I had experienced in Europe (close to thirty degrees), I walked to the nearby Palmestrand - a palm tree-lined beach, of sorts - for my first dip in the sea since leaving Australia. And despite the water being so shallow that after walking out about a hundred metres my knees still hadn't even gotten wet, the water was nowhere near as cold as I had expected.
Next on the agenda was a train trip up to Skagen, from where it would have been about a half hour walk to Grennen, the most northerly point in Denmark; that is, if I hadn't gotten on the wrong train and ended up heading south instead! Some quick thinking (along the lines of 'hey, how come the sun is on the right-hand side of the train instead of the left?!?'😉 averted a complete disaster; and when combined with the information contained in the
Split down the middle
Breakwater at Palmestrand timetable I had picked up from the station, I was able to hop straight off my south-bound train and onto a north-bound train at the next station!
Unfortunately though this little side-excursion had blown any chances of making it up to Skagen and back before nightfall; and as if to rub salt into the wound the shop at the train station that sold the beer had closed by the time I got back! Undeterred, I simply had to walk a couple of minutes down the road to pick up a frosty can of beer from a service station instead, before returning to the hostel for the night!
The next day started with a train ride from Frederikshavn to Århus (first making certain that I was on the right train this time!), where the hostel was located in the midst of a large wooded park called Riis Skov a couple of kilometres north of the city centre. With the weather having taken a nose-dive, there wasn't much to do but spend a couple of hours at the local internet cafe (which just like in Sweden was more like a gaming parlour - hence the name 'Boomtown'😉, followed by a
Boat cruise
Cruising the River Å in Odense leisurely stroll through the park surrounding the hostel - and with half a dozen cans of beer and a camera to keep me amused, how could I possibly go wrong?!?
The following day I had hoped to hire a bike for a few hours to explore Århus further before hopping on a train to Odense, but unfortunately things didn't exactly go according to plan. Having been assured only two days before by someone from Mastercard that instead of having to arrange another emergency cash advance all I would have to do is go in to a bank with my mastercard and passport to withdraw money over the counter, I proceeded to try five different banks - all of whom were unable to help me because the magnetic strip on my temporary replacement card could not be read. :-(
To make matters worse I couldn't even buy a ticket for the train for exactly the same reason. So having called Mastercard to belatedly arrange an emergency cash advance - and with only one krone (equal to about twenty cents) left in cash - all I could do was sit and wait at the train station, hoping my money would
Mirror-still waters
Not exactly a raging river... be ready to pick up by six o'clock in the evening; as after that time not only would the local Western Union office be closed, but it would be too late to check into the hostel in Odense by the time I had arrived there from Århus two hours away.
So having been told to call back in four hours if I hadn't yet received a response from Mastercard, I could do nothing but sit at the train station and wait; and if that seems bad enough, imagine my reaction when I called them back four hours later only to discover that the Commonwealth Bank with whom my account is held had not yet recieved any request for an emergency cash advance on my behalf - meaning that I had been waiting there for four hours for nothing!!! :-(
So after sitting around for yet another hour to allow the folks at Mastercard enough time to pull their heads out of their arses, I called back to see if any progress had been made; and when I was told that Mastercard still had not yet received a response from the Commonwealth Bank, well, let's just say I let
Odense's favourite son
Statue of Hans Christian Andersen in front of Saint Knuds Kirke it be known in no uncertain terms (but without using any rude words - if you can believe that!) just how urgently I needed the money, and was able to persuade the woman at Mastercard to phone the Commonwealth Bank and get authorization immediately!
Unfortunately this left me with only fifteen minutes to pick up my cash, buy a ticket for the train and make it to the platform in time - which may not have been a problem if the Western Union office across the street hadn't had a problem with their computers, meaning they would not be able to process any transactions until the following day! Thankfully though the post office on the other side of the train station was also a Western Union branch, and against all odds I was able to collect my 2700 kroner advance, buy a ticket to Odense and make it onto the train with two minutes to spare! :-)
I guess it goes without saying at this point that a healthy dose of duty-free Scotch found it's way into the bottle of Coke that I purchased from the food cart on board! With great relief I finally made it to
Holy vision
Tower of Saint Knuds Kirke Odense ten minutes before reception at the hostel was due to close, and in a further stroke of good fortune I found the hostel right next door to the train station - talk about a convenient location! After a refreshing shower, a decent feed and a couple of hours at the local 'Boomtown' internet cafe/gaming parlour, I was ready to face a new day - though I'm not so sure I was ready to face the naked hairy man sleeping completely uncovered in my room when I got back...!
Tuesday started with the familiar breakfast buffet that I have come to know and love, followed by a relaxing boat cruise along the River Å (which is actually more like a meandering stream), and a leisurely stroll through town (Odense). After stopping for a long-awaited iced coffee (my first in Europe - but definately worth the wait) and another visit to Boomtown, I was on a train bound for the capital, København (Copenhagen)...
Of course I arrived in the middle of a downpour, so by the time I made it to my eighteen-storey, one thousand bed high-rise hostel everything was soaking wet. So basically my first evening in Copenhagen
High-rise hostel
Copenhagen Danhostel - all eighteen floors and one thousand beds of it! was spent gathering brochures at the local tourist information centre; enjoying a couple of pints of Guinness - served by an Australian - at an old English pub called, funnily enough, The Old English Pub; and updating everyone on my latest news at yet another Boomtown internet arcade.
The next day began with a walk around the pedestrianised streets in the centre of town, followed by a visit to the top of the Rundetårn (Round Tower) for a view of the city. This was followed by a much needed trip to a photographic shop to have my first six weeks worth of holiday photos (all seven hundred of them!) burned onto a dvd; and while I was waiting I went for a walk out to the Frederiksberg Slot (Castle) and gardens, and also found an outdoor miniature replica of Copenhagen from the seventeenth century outside one of the local museums. From there it was back into town for some lunch and another couple of beers at the Old English Pub, before taking an open-top double-decker bus sightseeing tour; which as usual was followed by an open-top boat tour of the harbour and canals.
Next it was time to
Winding waterway
Gammel Strand in Copenhagen hire a pushbike and see the city my way, which began with a visit to the Christiansborg Palace on Slotsholmen; then past the busy Nyhavn quay area and onto Amaliensborg Palace, and the nearby Frederikskirke - also known as the Marble Church - which is famous for it's magnificent dome. From there I was on my way to the Gefion Fountain and Little Mermaid statue, when my bike started giving me problems; and it wasn't long before the damn thing had packed it in altogether.
Having only narrowly avoided the temptation of throwing the bike into the harbour (which given that the bike shop was miles away and had already closed for the day seemed like the most sensible option) I had little choice but to walk the bike all the way back; but not before leaving an abusive message on the shop's answering machine. So apart from a detour past Rosenborg Slot (Castle) and the Kungen's Have (King's Gardens) on the way home, there wasn't much else I could do but curse the bastards that had hired me the bike; although my mood was lifted somewhat by the performance of a couple of musical street performers who kept
the passing crowds entertained on the main pedestrian thoroughfare, Strøget.
After the disappoinment of the previous day, I woke to a sunny day on thursday and set out to take full advantage of it. After checking out the 'Black Diamond' - a recent extension to the public library - I walked through the grounds of Christiansborg Palace to Gammel Strand, where I took a canal boat to Nyhavn. From there it was only a short walk to Frederikskirke, to check out the impressive interior and massive dome; before taking another open-top boat across to Christiansberg - the island on the opposite side of the harbour to the rest of the city - where I saw the Von Frelsers Kirke (Our Saviours Church) up close, and then went for a wander past the Opera House and back through the 'free town' of Christiania.
Another boat cruise brought me back past the 'Black Diamond' - and under another three or four perilously low bridges - to Gammel Strand; from where I walked through the grounds of the nearby Amaliensborg Palace to the Nationalmuseet (National Museum) - where I spent the next hour wandering around aimlessly with no idea what I
Where the action is
Nyhavn in Copenhagen was supposed to be looking at! Next was another open-top bus tour, though for some reason the driver returned to the starting point twenty minutes ahead of schedule, without having driven through Christiania - which was supposed to be the main focus of the tour!
So with a spare twenty minutes to kill, I took a quick look around inside the Rådhus (Town Hall), before high-tailing it back to Frederikskirke for the three o'clock admission to the top of the dome. As if the view of the church's interior from a walkway around the base of the dome wasn't impressive enough; a couple of hundred more steps inside the roof of the church led to a small observation deck at the very top of the dome - which provided an unbeatable 360 degree view of the entire city! Definitely the highlight of my stay in København. :-)
From there, I walked out to the Staten's Museum for Kunst (National Art Gallery); and then after wandering around the Botanisk Have (Botanic Gardens) and Kungen's Have (King's Gardens) again, I ended up at the Erotica Museum - which was definitely more interesting than the National Museum! :-p By this time
Impressive dome
Frederikskirke (the Marble Church) it had started raining and the blood blisters on my feet were telling me it was time to call it a day; so having finally gotten to see all of the sights that I had hoped to, I limped back to the hostel tired but well satisfied!
So it's now almost three o'clock at night - which means I've been up for nearly twenty hours - and I have to be out of the hostel by ten o'clock in the morning; so no doubt I'll sleep well for the next six hours, and then tomorrow I'm off to Hamburg in Germany.
Stay tuned...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 10; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0292s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
