Day 4
City Hub was a type of accommodation that neither of us had experienced before, but after spending our three nights in Copenhagen there we now see the appeal. There were rows and rows of double decker pods forming a maze, a couple of very clean bathrooms with amenities provided, and a chill Starbucks style playlist playing at all times. The pods themselves also had the option of music, as well as different coloured themes of lighting which you can alter depending on your mood and are perfect for a relaxing and un-eventful night of sleep. I absolutely cannot imagine what else those features would be intended for. Although come to think of it, there were quite a lot of cheerful couples around.
Unfortunately, the beds were so comfy that it was no surprise we slept in and ended up having a late start to Copenhagen - such a deep sleep that Holly apparently managed to conquer most of the very large bed and was unable to be shifted, despite the many attempts made by Tamsyn.
We first headed to Nyhavn which, as can be expected, was extremely busy but still beautiful. Along with the array of multi-coloured buildings and the collection of boats, the area was also filled with a multitude of waterside restaurants, many of which were not too expensive despite their lovely views. If your Danish skills are a bit caveman sounding, there are plenty of English translations so it is very easy to get around. We then walked further towards The Little Mermaid statue, stopping several times along the way as, due to the heat and the embarrassing fact that we were still unused to the long walks at this point in our journey, a few mandatory stops were needed. This was not a problem however, due to the lovely park that the statue was located in, and we soon found a peaceful spot under a tree to apply suncream. Of course, we immediately forgot to actually apply the suncream.
The area is also home to several statues, along with the Kastellat, which is a star-shaped fortress. We happened upon this quite by accident, taken by surprise at suddenly finding ourselves in a fortress manned by armed guards in the middle of a park. If you are ever at a loss for things to do, or if you are less prepared than you would hope, it seems that it is easy to discover beautiful sights and attractions, simply by aimlessly wandering. However, if you are pressed for time, a couple of planned stops are recommended, which is what we did on our second day.
The Little Mermaid was exactly as described, a bronze statue depicting the character of the original fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, (and the later Disney movie) that Tamsyn loved so much as a child, she grew up alongside a life-sized mural of Ariel on her bedroom walls, painted by a family friend who made the poor decision to take the requests of a 6 year old child.
Day 5
Learning from our mistakes the day before, we left our hostel much earlier, and headed straight for the Tivoli Gardens. When booking your ticket online, it does not specify which day you must go, and instead allows you entrance on any day you choose. As neither of us are huge adrenaline junkies, or ride enthusiasts, we preferred to observe instead of participating ourselves, but the occasional scream of the people riding implied that they were probably quite fun. Instead, we pottered around the area, enjoying the scenery. Of course for lunch, we ate at one of the many local Danish restaurants: Wagamama’s. There were many restaurants and eateries in the gardens and lots of fairground typical stalls with delicious smelling fried things and cotton candy dotted around the place.
After a couple of hours loitering around, we then walked to the Round Tower (Rundetaarn) which, as promised, was very round. There we paid for a ticket which was 25 Danish Kroner, and visited the attached museum exhibit, which had information explained in both Danish and English. The traffic light system for the spiral staircase at the top made us look a bit foolish, with both of us taking the warning to take the stairs at speed far too seriously and zooming up them, much to the surprise of the poor couple left in our dust behind us. It was definitely worth the cardio however, as the panoramic views of the city were spectacular.
The next stop on the days itinerary, was the Rosenborgslot, an intimidating castle, rising in the middle of an extensive park in which we of course took another short stop under a tree. This time remembering to apply our suncream- sometimes we do learn from our mistakes. We did not go inside as our day was beginning to draw to a close but, if you only have a small amount of time like we did, the gardens and park surrounding the castle (as well as the building itself) offer some wonderful scenery.
The end to our day was another classic example of how simply walking around Copenhagen will lead you to come across sights and areas you probably wouldn’t have visited otherwise. Whilst we had planned to walk back to our hostel and collapse in bed, we decided to take the scenic route through a nearby park. This then lead to an hour long detour through the park's botanical gardens and the Palm House. Even though botanical gardens aren’t rare within cities such as these, it was still enjoyable and became the highlight of Holly’s day when she discovered the greenhouses were not just home to a variety of flora, but also butterflies, fish and the occasional brightly coloured frog.
Day 6
Inevitably, our time in Copenhagen came to an end, and it was our job once again to try and navigate the train system. As this was one of the shortest trains during our month-long trip, we started the day quite optimistically. However, no travel day would be complete without some level of complication, but the hour long delay between Copenhagen and Stockholm was not too terrible compared to our other experiences.
We will also only briefly mention our difficulty in discerning between the Metro in Stockholm and the other trains within the station, such as the commuting trains - so as to not make the trip seem more complicated than it was. If you are ever to visit Stockholm, be aware of the distinction between train services. That being said, after realising where it was in the large station, it turned about to be very easy to navigate.
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