Den #4: Copenhagen

While the most of our group of Finns were travelling to a zoo nearby, we decided to see some of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, instead. We had seen Kolmården already in Sweden, and our lady guide told us that it was much the same. Luckily there was a railway station in Vejle which had a straight connection to Copenhagen. Since we were in mainland, we had to cross some bridges and islands on our way. It took about 2,5 hours to get there. A lot of modern times windmills escorted us along the way.

At first, we checked the map to find out where the famous statue of small mermaid would be lying. Or sitting down actually. There was an arrow up in our map, pointing that the statue would be just out of range. Hell, it was several kilometers out of range! We walked and walked along the harbour, and it started to rain. Finally, when we were ready to give up, we saw it in the distance. Normally I wouldn't go to great pains for a statue. It just had turned into a challenge during the search.

Another thing we wanted to experience was a Danish bread, smörrebröd. That was a huge disappointment. We have had the same kind of bread and butter with a lot of topping on it in Finland for ages, so this wasn't that new an experience. To know better is to judge better, LOL! Granted, it was just one sample, but we saw pictures of other Danish bread slices, which weren't any dissimilar.

It would have been stupid to stay in Vejle on Sunday, because everything was basically closed. Our famous male guide told us that in Copenhagen the shops are mostly open on Sunday as well.

Ströget, the pedestrian shopping street area in the centre was a nice place to wander around. The prices were high, even higher than in Finland. Sadly the second-hand record shops were all closed. Not that I checked them all out. An old round tower in Ströget was a nice place to visit. We simply had to climb there (no steps, no elevator; just a diagonal road almost to the top), to see the view of course.

Suddenly it came to me: is there a Hard Rock Café in Copenhagen? I had chased HRC souveniers in Rome, Paris, London, Reykjavik and Stockholm already. I have now 3 guitar-shaped bottle openers which also pass for ice-box magnets - sad thing I didn't start collecting them from the very beginning. They probably didn't exist in 1996? My wife also took a traditional picture of me (with our daughter), standing in front of Hard Rock Café.

The weather was sunny most of the time, ever since we left the harbor and the mermaid. We also walked to see the royal castle and watched the guards standing in their posts. Our kid asked me: "Why do those guards wear such funny hats?" I couldn't really tell, so I speaked some jargon about old habbits and fashion trends. All I could say for sure, was that those hats must be pretty warm to wear in hot weather. And, that too, is based on assumption.

Tivoli, the amusement park stood the opposite of the main railway station. We had no time to visit there, but it is plain to see that the next time that one will be our main target. And there will be a next time. We definetely want to see more of Copenhagen. More than just 8 hours. And maybe we want to sit on the lap of H. C. Andersen's statue once more. That was very slippery by the way.

They have a weird but working system with the trains. If you travel to a certain place, you must enter a correct carriage. That way the train conductor can easily check new arrivals. Also, if you're in a wrong carriage, the doors may not open at your station. In that sense, it was a bit tricky. Then again, tickets were easy to buy in ticket machine via credit card. And there was no time and date in the ticket. That's a plus compared to Finnish system. I hate it when I have to know in advance what precise train I'm going to use on my way back. And, the trains were right on schedule!