Definitely Denmark
Days 1 to 5 - Copenhagen, capital of Denmark
We arrived in Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, in the late afternoon after a 5-hour train ride from Stockholm, Sweden. We were greeted by a sweltering heat that seemed to be clinging to much of the world these days. We discovered that our hotel room had no air conditioning, causing us much consternation as we had booked it for five nights and there was no sign of the heat abating. Although the window in our room opened, there was minimal circulation, as we overlooked a small inner courtyard. Copenhagen is similar to England, where it is usually cold enough to not actually require air conditioning and we were reminded by locals how rare and welcome this heat was, as summers are often cool and rainy. After one, sleepless night, Colin approached reception, to see whether they had a fan we could borrow or knew somewhere that we could buy a fan at our expense. While the hotel couldn’t control the unexpected weather, they really went out of their way and not only provided us with a fan, but they arranged for us to have an air-conditioned room for the rest our stay. To say we were grateful is an understatement!!!
Ship flying the Danish flag at sunset (9:30 pm)
During our stay in Copenhagen, our plan was to take it easy in the heat, while visiting as many sights as we could. We arranged for a hop-on, hop-off bus and boat tour, which we leisurely took over two days. This brought us to sights such as the Little Mermaid, which is arguably the most popular monument in Copenhagen as well as to the Børsen, which is the old stock-exchange, with its stunning twisted dragon-tail spire. We also were staying close to an area called Nyhavn, which is a picture-perfect touristy street alongside a canal with colourful houses and storefronts with a boardwalk that extended to the Royal Palace. We took many walks along here, including a late evening stroll which happened to coincide with the changing of the royal guards.
We chose to visit the National Gallery of Denmark (‘Statens Museum for Kunst’ - SMK), where we viewed some works by Danish artists, as well as some by Matisse and Picasso, then walked the length of Strøget, which bills itself as the longest pedestrian shopping street in the world at 3.2 kms. In the mood for shopping, Melissa bought a pair of sturdy walking shoes as well as a warm, waterproof jacket in anticipation of the rugged Icelandic terrain and climate that we expect to encounter later in our trip. The pedestrian street ended in front of the Central Train station, where we indulged in a Danish hot dog from John’s Hot Dog cart, which was made popular in an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s ‘Parts Unknown’. After savouring this meaty treat, we began trekking the three odd kilometres back to our hotel.
One of the more popular (and delicious) lunch dishes (aside from hot dogs!) in Denmark is an open-faced sandwich called ‘Smørrebrød’. Typically, this is a half-slice of dark, European style rye bread, topped with shrimp, fishcakes, brisket, pork, cheese, etc. Basically, anything you stuff in a sandwich the Danes will put on top of a slice of bread! It is recommended to have an assortment of two or three of these for lunch, but we quickly found out that even just two were too much. Another local favourite is eating at the 7-eleven. Now, before getting all judgmental, be aware that the 7-elevens in Denmark are noticeably superior to those in North America, with healthy, fresh economic prepared meals of yoghurt, chicken skewers, salads along with the usual fare of hot dogs and pizza. Given that food prices were dear in this part of the world, this was kind to our wallet! Of course, we supplemented this with the gorgeous pastries (mmm cinnamon rolls!) from the bakeries, paired with coffee from Espresso House, a coffee chain which can be found on nearly every corner. Oddly, you cannot buy the pastry known as ‘danish’ in Denmark, but I guess it could be said that all pastries from this country are considered Danish.
As with Tallinn, Helsinki and Stockholm, the sunrise was early, and the days were very long, with it still being daylight after 10 pm. It was a very photogenic city that was filled with tourists, quite like us!
Concert held in Christiania by Danish artist Carl Emil Petersen
Also, on our travels,we wandered past a statue of a gentleman in a top hat and wondered quizzically who it represented. In fact, this was a statue of the most beloved children’s author Hans Christian Andersen, who was born in Denmark. He wrote many classic fairy tales such as ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’.
Late in the evening, as the temperature cooled a little, we headed out for a walk with no particular destination in mind. We found ourselves walking towards the ‘Church of our Saviour’, which is famous for its helix spire which contains an external winding staircase. After admiring and photographing this church and by happenchance, we found ourselves not too far from Christiania. “Free Town” Christiania, is located within Copenhagen and is inhabited by about 1,000 residents who are generally free spirits, hippies and alternative/enlightened thinkers. We went into this relaxed community and came upon a free rock concert, enjoyed by residents and visitors alike. This gave us the opportunity to sample some really good Danish music and we sat and listened for some time, before making our way home again.
Days 6 to 7 - Outdoor Art & Music in Aarhus
After enjoying our last breakfast of coffee with pastry in Copenhagen, and taking one last stroll along Nyhavn, we caught a train to Denmark’s second largest city known as Aarhus. Immediately we could tell that this town was slower paced than Copenhagen, as there were noticeably fewer tourists. We walked ten minutes along a pedestrianised shopping street to our hotel which was lovely, if not a bit peculiar – it contained a few antiquated rooms/ball rooms, dining halls and seemed to be very much of a different time. This, together with the strange murals and statues made the place a little bit creepy (We joked: Do Vampires live here?!) Despite all this, our accommodation was very comfortable and breakfast was quite scrumptious. We did however avoid using the central lift, which was claimed to be the oldest in Northern Europe, even though the receptionist assured us that it was safe.
Ron Mueck’s Boy at the ARoS museum
Aarhus had a lovely canal system running through its downtown, which allowed for riverside patios and lovely shops that were very popular in the hot sunny weather. Indeed, we enjoyed a lovely ‘linner’ (late lunch/early dinner) at one of these venues and then had coffee and ice cream later in the evening.
The next day we visited ARoS, the Modern art museum which was one of the highlights of our trip so far. In recent years, they installed a permanent piece of art on the top of the museum called ‘Your rainbow panorama’. This work consists of a circular walkway made of glass whose colours change as you walk along, giving an amazing view of the city through the different shades of glass. Inside the museum were thought provoking paintings and sculptures including ‘Boy’, by the Australian artist Ron Mueck. This boy was a complete giant! Even crouched, he was 4.5 metres tall and 500 kg in weight!
Sunny day in Old Town
After enjoying lunch at the museum, we headed over to ‘Den Gamle By’ (The Old Town), which is an open-air museum, a concept popular in Scandinavia. These museums generally recreate a small village by transferring old buildings from the countryside and the city (e.g. post office, garage, bakery, etc.). This particular museum was charming and recreated market streets from about 1550 – 1900, with a separate area that captured town life from the periods of 1965-1990. While it was interesting enough to admire the external architecture of the town, many - if not most - of the buildings were open and decorated inside as they would have been in the day.
Day 8 - Traveling to Fredrikshavn
In order to catch our ferry to Oslo, Norway, we had to first get to the departure port which was located in Frederikshavn. This border town was located only about 200 kms north of Aarhus but involved a 4-hour journey which consisted of first a train, followed by a bus and then another train, with transfers in-between that were so short we had to be sure to hustle! Fortunately, we didn’t miss our connections and arrived at our simple hotel across from the ferry terminal and had a filling American style dinner at a BBQ restaurant called Bones, before settling in for the evening where we had a good night’s rest before setting sail the following morning.
The port town of Fredrikshavn
Next up: Norway
