Advertisement
Published: March 5th 2017
Edit Blog Post
Since my main goal whilst living over here is to see as much of Europe as I possibly can, I spend a lot of my downtime searching web sites such as Skyscanner, Ryanair and EasyJet for cheap flights to all my neighbouring countries - so on the eve of my December monthly pay day when I only had £40 to my name and managed to find £20(!) return tickets to Copenhagen, well, I couldn't pass that up so naturally, booked me a flight - merry Christmas to me! Since I had already organised Prague for January, I booked Copenhagen for a sneaky 3 day weekend on the last weekend of January.
On the 28th January, yet another early morning flight but this time I was flying out of Luton airport so at 4:30am, I begin the trek to the airport - bus just down the road from my place to Blackfriars station then the train to the airport's train station which took just over an hour then a 10 minute shuttle bus from the station to the airport. All formalities at the airport went smoothly and I was awaiting to board my flight. The flight time only took 1.5 hours
and I was there. With 1% battery on my phone and no idea how to get to my hostel, I bought a coffee so I could sit in Starbucks to charge my phone up. Before booking, I didn't know all too much of Copenhagen so I had also bought myself a Scandinavian Lonely Planet guide because my massive Europe one doesn't include the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Finland) and it wasn't until I was a few days out from leaving that I was told Copenhagen can be quite the expensive country. To put more into perspective, my tall latte, keeping in mind it was bought at the airport which as we all know can generally be more expensive than usual anyway, cost 39DKR = approx. £5 = if we want to take it that step further down the converting currency train, approx. $9AUD! Most expensive cup of coffee I've ever had but hey, my flights were dirt cheap.
Getting to the hostel was fairly easy - take a train to Central Station (approx. 20 minutes from the airport) and my hostel was literally a 5 minute walk away - however, I wasn't able to go to my room
until 3pm so I grabbed some lunch and made my way to the hostel and waited in the lobby until the code of my room I'd been emailed let me in to the room. I stayed in in a 6 bed dorm at Urban Hostel, which requires you to check in ahead of time and then at 1pm of the day of arrival, they SMS/email you your room and bed details so you don't actually have to speak to anyone at the front desk. After settling into the room, I still had a couple of hours of daylight left and as it was a sunny day, I wanted to make the most of it so off I set out to explore.
Not only was my hostel in such a central location but on the other side of Central Station is Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park that's been opened since 1843, however, unfortunately it was closed until April 6th so I only got to look in from the outside - I will also have to plan to go back one day when it's open for the Summer season. Walked up to Nyhavn, a 17th waterfront canal lined with brightly coloured
restaurants, bars and townhouses. Continuing on, I ended up at Amalienborg Palace, which is the home of the Danish royal family. From the Palace, I continued on to the Little Mermaid statue - on the way to the statue, I stumbled across a replica of the statue of David, naturally photos were taken since it was Brooke's birthday weekend and I'm known to follow a bit of a theme when choosing her gifts on my overseas trips. By the time I got to the Little Mermaid statue, it was starting to get dark however, there were still plenty of people surrounding the statue taking photos. Afterwards, I made my way back to the hostel for dinner and happy hour drinks before retiring to bed for the evening.
The next morning, after having breakfast at what became my favourite café for the 2 mornings I was there, I set off to explore Christiania. Christiania, also known as Freetown Christiania, was founded in 1971 by squatters on an old military base and is now a self-governed commune, home to approximately 1000 residents. It is also well known for it's open drug trade of cannabis although it's illegal in Copenhagen therefore upon
Hans Christian Andersen
Just chilling on Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard entering the main area, known as Pusher Street, you are presented with a few rules - no photos, no running (as this can cause panic and can easily be mistaken as a police raid - until 2004, they were left alone by the Danish police, who have since cracked down on the drug culture) and have fun! With it's run down post-apocalyptic feel and brightly coloured street art, Christiania is a completely different yet interesting world to the rest of the city of Copenhagen. I ended up going back the next afternoon before I had to leave for the airport to wander a bit further around.
I spent the rest of my day aimlessly wandering the city centre, purchasing my obligatory fridge magnet and finding the Hans Christian Andersen statue, before eventually heading back to my hostel because it was cold out. Unfortunately, for the rest of my time in Copenhagen, it was cold and foggy - definitely had the best weather when I first arrived. Spent the evening hanging around my hostel's bar, listening to some tunes whilst having a few drinks, before retiring to my room for a shower and bed.
I awoke the next morning
Amalienborg Palace
Changing of the Guards and noticed I've officially had something taken whilst sharing a dorm- thankfully it was only a travel-sized body wash that I'd left in the room's bathroom the night before. Once I got over being a victim of petty theft, I locked my bag in the lockers provided downstairs for the day and went and had breakfast before heading back to Amalienborg Palace to watch the Changing of the Guards, which I enjoyed much more than at Buckingham Palace, probably because there was less people and you were able to see everything. It went for about and hour and even after, the marching band marched through the streets to the Rosenborg Castle, which was next on my list so I followed the guards. Unfortunately, the castle was closed however I did stay to watch the guards finish their ceremony back at the grounds away from the public. From there I went to the Rundetaarn, otherwise known as the Round Tower, which was originally built in the 17th century as an astronomical observatory. The observation deck at the top provides a good view over Copenhagen and apparently on clear days, Sweden is able to be seen - I did not have a
Amalienborg Palace
Changing of the Guards clear day. Afterwards, a wander through the shopping strip to waste some time before my wander around Christiania for more photos, away from the no photos zone.
Then it was time for me to pick up my bag and head to the airport to make my way back to London. My flight was a late one so I didn't get home until the early hours of the following morning but I rather enjoyed my quick trip to Copenhagen, I covered a lot of ground and found it to be quite a walkable city - the only public transport needed was to and from the airport. It was a cool little city and I'm very thankful that I stumbled across the cheap flights otherwise I may not have gone.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.064s; Tpl: 0.024s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0257s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb