Copenhagen – The land of everything being expensive!
Friday 23rd August. Malmo, Sweden.
Thursday 23rd August, COPENHAGEN, Denmark
From the airport I jumped on to train and went into town. Then arrived in “Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen”, and dragged my gear down to my hotel. It was fairly central (only a 20 minute drag from the station) and a great price for Copenhagen – as everything is horribly expensive here. My room was so funny. It was the smallest room I have ever seen. You can sit on the toilet when showering. And could not put my suitcase on the floor open – as it would not fit. Makes a solo studio on a cruise ship look huge! And does make you stay organised.
I started with a tour – and what a civilised tour. It didn’t start until 1am. So – yay a lie in and a relaxed start. But then off to the tour. Of course I went through a few different areas on the way…not so intentional, but saw lovely things.
We drove out through Copenhagen and saw many things.
Crown plaza.
A massive building with the south wall totally covered in solar panels.
The building is carbon neutral.
Past a huge ‘Common’. 270 acres of protected wetlands. Home to deer, protected
frogs and many birds.
And some great buildings.
As we past the airport we learned that the airline here was the first to serve drinks on flights. They wanted to make it special.
During WW11 the Germans occupied and took it over. They built a paved runway and used it as a military airport. It became military, and the changes made it one of the most modern airports in the world.
Then the main attraction.
Today I got to cross the Bridge to Malmo, Sweden. THE Bridge. The one that is
half bridge and half tunnel.
Well, it is actually the Øresund Bridge, and is an approximately 16 km long road and rail link between Sweden and Denmark. But very special. It really is three sections: a bridge, an artificial island and a tunnel. It was opened in 2000.
The bridge is approx. 8 km long, with the two 204 m high pylons (the tallest man made structure in Sweden) supporting the 490 m long bridge span across the Flinte channel. This design is known as a cable-stayed bridge. And it is the longest bridge of this style. The railway runs on a lower deck. It was built as a tunnel/bridge because it was decided that a full bridge would interrupt oxygen levels of the Baltic Sea, and therefore the marine life.
The artificial island of Peberholm, which now had absolutely no human interaction had developed into an important breeding ground for birds as well as providing a habitat for the rare green toad. The island is also home to rare spiders and insects.
The landing on the Swedish side is onto land make of compressed garbage.
Just overt the bridge (into Sweden) is an area of almost exclusively Danish people. 25,000 people. These suburbs are 30 min to Copenhagen. Housing and the cost of living is half the price to live there. Win, win for them.
This area was originally settled by Stone Age people. It had huge deposit of chalk and limestone. Modern times it had a huge industry with a massive quarry. Now it’s the Silicon Valley of northern Europe.
We went to a newish development. Two brothers
decided to build modern houses in the traditional style. There are 500 houses.
Cars don’t go into the houses. Pretty.
And off through farm land. This area is the Bread Basket of Sweden.
We saw the second ever Ikea shop.
And back to Copenhagen. Copenhagen is a huge public transport and bike city
As well as hire bikes, they have hire electric scooters. You use the phone app and take a scooter. When finished you log off and just leave it. Doesn’t matter where. You just leave it on the footpath and someone else will come and hire it. So many business men and women rode them to and from work.
Import tax on cars is 180% – so not a lot of private vehicles. I only saw about 10 motor scooters.
I visited The Tivoli Gardens. 170 years old, the oldest theme park in the world and the inspiration for Walt Disney.
Saturday 24th August. Copenhagen, Denmark.
It’s a theme park with rides, concerts etc. It was
interesting. Many of the rides were very
old and great to see.
I then headed off on the Hop On Hop off bus and saw great building. A boat ride
around the canals and the harbour. Everywhere were people – swimming, boating, dangling
their feet on the edge…..
We went past the old Navy yards. The Navy moved out a few years ago and now the area is very trendy. There were Squillion dollar units, some built out of the old submarine service shed. Others from other boat houses.
Near “Freetown Christiana” the self-declared independent state, is an area on the harbour known as “the Dead Boats”. It is water squatters on old wrecked boats.
We saw a building that is the most modern incinerator anywhere. It’s a huge tall building so to make it interesting they added ski slopes as Denmark is flat. Also climbing wall and even a hiking trail up the slope.
The Black Diamond is a huge Library. The black panels are at a 7 degree tilt and reflect the water. Pretty.
Saw the palace, the Little mermaid, the Citadel – Kastellet, one of the best preserved fortresses in Northern Europe. It is constructed in the form of a pentagon with bastions at its corners.
I walked through Kings Park. Beautiful. But the best thing about all of the parks is the amount of use they get. I guess it’s because most houses are multi-level without yards, so everyone gets out and uses the city.
The park was full of people – sunbathing, sitting in the shade, picnicking, playing bocce, playing some game with wooden pegs – Finska, and everything else. It was great.
It was so like the painting by Georges Seurat – A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
And a visit to the Ice Bar. Glorious! A bar with
s temperature below zero. The furniture and walls are made of ice. There were
sheep skins on the seats. The glasses are made of ice. When you arrive you are
given a warm poncho and in you go. If you were going for a big session you’d
want gloves, but for a quick drink it was lovely.
The barman was worried when I wouldn’t wear the coat. I did put it on eventually.
My cocktail was amazing. Called a “Bear” – whiskey, apple juice, salted
caramel, and a bit more.
I then went and had chicken wings for dinner – $34!!!!!
Looking forward to getting onto the ship where I can afford to eat and drink!
Sunday 25th August. Copenhagen, Denmark.
Embarkation day. Serenade of the Seas. Sister ship to the wonderful Radiance – and soon to head down to Australia.
All the estimators told e a taxi to the ship was going to be about $60. So I tried something new.
My Hop ON Hop Off bus ticket was current till 1pm – and took you to the ship.
So onto the HOHO i jumped with all my luggage. It dropped me at The Little Mermaid. And then onto the shuttle to the ship. Awesome. Boarding was easy and into my room for a nap. My room was an Ocean View on deck 3 and was very handy and lovely.
I then found Lou and Grace, and others I knew and off we went.
Treats were waiting for me in my room.
Monday 26th August. Skagan, Denmark.
Robo – lawn mowers were out at work. Like my robo-vacuum cleaner but out in the parks.
Skagen is a small fishing village. The northern most town in Denmark. It’s been there, relying on the herring trade since the middle ages. It has a population of 8,000 and around 2,000,000 tourists a year.
And talk about charming. Lovely place with lovely people. We wandered around town looking at many things including the supermarket. The produce section was cooled. It was lovely.
The coffee shop had paper tea bags where they filled them with fresh tea. Delicious.
A few ks out of Skagen was The Grenen (The Branch), the headland. A huge sand spit has formed from there and separates the North Sea and the Baltic sea. We went out and walked the spit – to the northern most point of Denmark.
Heaps of WW11 bunkers.
Beautiful walk. The weather was about perfect out there. Around 20 degrees, with a light breeze and so blue.
Jelly fish were all over the beach – Lion Mane Jelly Fish. They get as big as a car.
A young seal was resting and waiting for mum to return at dark to feed her.
Dey Hvide fyr – ‘The White Lighthouse’ was back near the end of The Grenen. Denmark’s oldest brick lighthouse. 21 metres tall. The circulate staircase with well sized steps was much kinder than I expected.
And the views from the top were super.
At the bottom was Skagen Fuglestation. A bird observatory.
Skagen is smack in the middle of some of the migratory routes of many birds. We were a month too early for the migration but had a great look around. A zoology intern doing a summer posting there spent an hour showing us (mainly Lou – as he is a true birder) things, explain the catch and bank program and so much. It was great.
Next door on the original site was The Vippefyr , a reproduction of one of the first lighthouses. A “parrot light’ or a basket of light that would be raised each night.
Then back onto the ship for a beautiful sail away.
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