Copenhagen

Hello again from Oslo.

I think my body may be slightly confused. First, more snow than it has ever seen before. Now, sunburn, with a pale line indicating the outline of my treasured sunglasses.

Sunburn!?! Oslo!?! I can hear you exclaim, thousands of kilometres away as you descend into winter. I'll wait a minute for your blood pressure to decrease whilst I explain that my sunburn actually comes from some place slightly further south, a place where Spring has emerged in full force with temperatures exploding joyfully into the teens, a place where Australians can buy their flag in tourist shops and dine on Kangaroo in gourmet restaurants, a place where continental Europe meets Scandinavia: Denmark.

Our (Lenka, from Slovakia; Lena, from Germany; Jessi, Australian; and I) journey to Denmark began on a less-than-sunny Oslo afternoon as we made our way to our home for the night, the Crown of Scandinavia. We boarded, descended to our cabin below the car decks (now I know why it was so cheap) and dumped our bags as we set off to explore the 11 floors of the Crown. And oh, what a ship, filled with opportunities to spend money in the discotheque, the indoor and outdoor bars, the cinema, the swimming pool (ten dollars a head), the cafes and restaurants and, of course, the reason many Norwegians take day trips to Denmark, the on-board duty free shops. Staying on deck to enjoying the fjord air as we set off from Oslo, we were already starting to count the drunk Norwegians enjoying every second of the 'cheap' (in Scandinavian terms) liquor. Their beers (at 6-7 dollars a glass) got emptier as the sun got lower, and so we headed inside, amidst the smells of steak (at close to $100 a head) to enjoy our prepacked dinner of apples, mini carrots, rolls and chocolate biscuits.

Our dinner finished, we strolled around the duty free shop to select our purchases for the return journey, before heading to the cinema to view Marley and Me. This was perhaps a bad choice, as two hours later we emerged blubbering and had to quickly descend to our cabin without being seen in public with our red eyes and runny noses. Mission succeeded, we folded our bunks out from the wall and, with the melodic lullaby of the engines, drifted off to sleep.

The next morning we rose and ate a quick breakfast of the food we had left over from our gourmet meal the night before, packed up and joined the throng disembarking in the port of Copenhagen. Sometime later, thrilled by the sunny and warm weather (around 15 degrees), we made it to our accommodation. Having booked our accommodation on Hostel World, I had low expectations of our accommodation, but on arrival we discovered it was a hotel in which we had a four bed room in an apartment with a shared kitchen and bathroom. The location was also fabulous, just down the road from the central station and Tivoli. Definitely nicer than many places I've stayed!

Having checked in and consulted the many maps we'd somehow accumulated, we set off for the tourism information place down the road...and got more maps. We managed to find out about the free bikes and even managed to pick up four just outside the tourism place. The bikes are attached to a stand via a chain which locks into a mechanism mounted on the bike, similar to the ones in supermarket trollies in Australia. A 20 kroner coin ($5) will unlock the bike, which you are free to use for as long as you wish within the confines of the city centre. Once you arrive at an interesting destination, you simply reattach the bike to a stand and receive your 20 kroner deposit back. Whilst these bikes would quickly disappear in Australia, it strangely seems to work in Copenhagen, a city of bicycles, in which few are locked up.

Having obtained our transport for the day, we set off to use it. If you're going to Copenhagen (which I highly recommend) definitely spend some time seeing it the way the locals do- by bike. You may ask why I should recommend this when there are perfectly good buses, but here are a few reasons:
1) the city is made for bikes: wide bike roads are separated from both the car roads and the pedestrian streets and are not intruded upon by buses, parked cars or other pests. Bike riders get their own traffic lights and hence you feel very secure even driving on the other side of the road on the maddest, craziest streets
2) As well as going on the roads and seeing all the gorgeous squares, cobblestoned streets and canals at your own pace you can also go off road to the beautiful parks and gardens scattered liberally throughout the city
3) bikes are free to hire, good for the environment and fun
4) it's flat
5) you get a lot further, faster than if you were walking
6) helmets are not compulsory so you will not ruin your hairdo

We had a wonderful day seeing all the sites: Christiania, the historic 'free (as in independent) town' with its hash shops and cafes; Nyhavn, a gorgeous area of town on a canal filled with cafes and restaurants (and tourists); Kastellet (the castle) in its own moat surrounded by lusciously green trees, tulips and grass; the little mermaid statue; the gardens with their lakes and willows and the beautiful historic buildings everywhere we looked, from the town hall, to the palace, to churches, fountains and museums. All of these were viewed from wide streets, empty cobbled squares, paths alongside canals, bridges and jogging tracks running through parks.

We stopped for in the mid afternoon and stocked up on strawberries, grapes, bread and cheese which we enjoyed in the green grass near the castle. I don't know if I've said it before, but there is something about Scandinavian berries (and jam) which I think will spoil strawberries in Australia for me for good.

The Danish language is similar to Norwegian, and so we were able to read a lot of what we saw around us. Both groups, however, would suggest the similarities stop there. Norwegians say that the Danish speak like they have hot potatoes in their mouths, and I think the Danish see the Norwegians as being rich and keeping people at a distance. Being an outsider, I couldn't hear the potatoes thing, but I must say I found the Danish people more friendly. I was shocked when someone approached me and gave directions without me having to come to them and ask!

Our glorious day of cycling in the sun ended with a delicious dinner of spaghetti bolognaise cooked in our little kitchen and washed down with a 29 kroner (7-8 dollars) bottle of wine. We briefly considered going out, but exhausted by our exertions we did not have the stamina and so spent a quiet evening reading and chatting in our little room.

The next day, May 1, is a public holiday for labour day "all over the world" (according to my anatomy teacher). Whilst labour day had less significance for us, we hoped to celebrate something else: the Hans Christian Anderson festival held every year at this time. Grabbing our trusty cycles once again, we set off to the festival and wandered round the stalls selling old fashioned goods, admired the ladies and gentlemen in their olden days costumes and ate an icecream in the sun as we listened to the words of Hans Christian Anderson in Danish, recited by a guy dressed up in a suit with tails.

Sustained by our icecream treat we strolled back to the town hall via the pedestrian streets, stopping occasionally to check out the shops from the Hermes shop to the wedding dress shop. We ate sandwiches in the sun, constructed on the spot with bread sliced with a swiss army knife and the cheese and sliced chicken placed elegantly on top. Then we set off across the road for the Tivoli, a famous amusement park in the heart of Copenhagen.

The Tivoli only opened for the season a few weeks ago and it was gorgeous. The flowers that are planted in neat flower beds are so pretty and the well maintained buildings, such as theatres, restaurants and decorative structures fit the beauty of the gardens. There's a big lake in the middle with ducks, ducklings and little houses for the ducks. The grounds feel happy as you hear the screams from the roller coaster and the new scary attraction with lets you control the speed, direction you spin and orientation of the aeroplane you sit in as you spin 360 degrees. We had a nice afternoon walking through the grounds and enjoying the scenery and the people, but whilst the roller coasters were tempting, they were 10-15 dollars each (on top of the $20 entry fee into the grounds) for even the tamest. With the thought of going out that night, we thought that saving our kroner would be prudent.

After an afternoon in the sun, we set off back home for a shower, a quick dinner of a delicious pesto pasta and some after sun gel! We'd read about a free drag queen show in the April 09 and May 09 editions of the guide to Copenhagen we'd picked up, and thought it sounded like a fun and cheap night. Unfortunately, we left the hotel without remembering to bring the guide, but upon discussion I was able to recall the address of the club and some letters of the name. So we were set, or so we thought. We got to Raadhuspladse and found out that number 1 Raadhuspladse was not a gay club, but in fact the town hall (Raadhus means town hall). Never mind, the friendly waiter who helped us out told us there was another street called Raadhusstraede. Although he hadn't heard of a club called COCK (as in the chicken!), which was how I remembered it, we headed that way anyway. Arriving at CODE on number 1 Raadhusstraede we found it dark and locked. It was definitely the right place, but it seems drag queens take May 1 as a public holiday. Never mind, we stopped off at another place the navigator had seen (and luckily managed to find again), claiming to sell the city's cheapest cocktails, and enjoyed a Strawberry Dacquiri for the price of a beer in Oslo.

So, another earlier night than intended, but it meant we were up early the next morning ready for our last day in Copenhagen. As we all had different wish lists we split up. I set off on my own to visit a castle we'd seen stunning pictures of on the back of one of our maps. A half hour walk later (no bikes available on the way) I arrived at Fredricksberg Slot (castle), which while also pretty, looked a little different from the pictures on the map. I strolled round, confused, even seeing the elephants in the nearby zoo, before I realised that Fredricksborg Slot was on map 2, on which Copenhagen was but a tiny dot. Ah well, another excuse to come back.

Fredricksberg Slot had a beautiful park to stroll around and I was glad I'd come, though after half an hour or so I set off back to the city with hopes of seeing the National Museum before we met up to head back to the ship. I made it to the National Museum, but after an hour of a very academic history of Denmark, the thought of the sun outside was too much and I enjoyed the rest of my time outside, before meeting the others for our journey back to the ship and the 16 hr boat cruise back to Oslo.

So I loved Copenhagen and am waiting for Mary to return my call so I can ask her if there are any more Princes available. I would also recommend travelling to Copenhagen by boat: you go to sleep in Norway and wake up in Denmark; you can stroll around or laze about and read and your duty free shopping is not completed under time pressure!

Bit behind on photos, but my computer is being a bit mischievous lately so I hope to have them up soon.

Anneke