[Still catching up on the journal from our basement apartment in Örebro]
Day 0 = Thu 12 Dec
After we'd found our accommodation, I was sent off to get supplies. There was a Danish supermarket near our place called "Netto", and so I headed there for the first of many visits to foreign supermarkets, since we're mostly self-catering on this trip. The coolest thing about Netto is the "Pølsehorn", which is a Danish smoked-pork sausage baked into a soft bread roll. These were sold loose in the Netto dangerously near the cinnamon scrolls, but you did have to wear a big plastic glove when you grabbed it. They're basically a frankfurter, but with a nicer peppery/smoky flavour. Plus "I'm off to the Netto for a sausage roll" sounds so familiarly Aussie.
After that we pretty much hit the sack, expecting to wake up early with jetlag.
Day 1 = Fri 13 Dec
And we did wake up early, though it's more of a "jet-lead" than a "jet-lag", since at about 3:30am my body clock was telling me it was early afternoon and I'd slept enough (despite having had less than an hour's sleep on the whole trip, which started at the end of a full day of packing). Since the 5 of us were packed into a small apartment, with Granny on the couch, I snuck into one of the two bathrooms to read while I waited for everyone else to stir.
Once we stirred and had breakfast, we opened the curtains and discovered we were across the street from the open-plan offices of Københamns Borgerservice (Copenhagen Council). Looks like I'll have to wait a few more days to get away from "Teh Office".
After that I went out for a solo walk to scope out the local area, since nobody wanted to come with me. I started through the local park (Ørstedsparken), with its nice lake - enjoying the European winter air and testing out my warm clothes (which are basically the same fleece and jacket as last time, since they haven't had much wear in Australia since). At the other end of the park I found a nice Market Hall (Torvehallerne) - basically a big deli with various meats and breads and fruit and veg outside in nature's fridge. Then I headed back to the canal to check out the interesting pavilion we'd seen the day before (Søpavillonen). It was closed, but an interesting wooden drinking establishment from probably the early 1900s. The buildings lining the canal (which is a few hundred metres wide and more of a watter-filled boulevard) were the lovely 5 story townhouses that dominate the cities in tghie part of the world. I'm not sure if the uniform height is through regulation or the simple biomechanical result of relying on stairs, but it makes for a pleasingly tidy sight.
Then it was back to the Netto for more grub and sausage rolls #strewthmatebycrikey.
That evening we headed off to Nyhavn ("new" harbour), the quaint old quayside street with the pretty buildings that you'll see in most shots of Copenhagen. I'd since learned not to wait around for Emma to heroically get everyone ready, since that usually results in frustration and not spending as much time seeing things, so Erica and I headed off early for a stroll down Gothersgade, past Rosenborg Palace to Nyhamn. Except we didn't even notice Rosenborg Palace because it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and so was fully nighttime by then. But we did stop at a Danish hotdog stand for a couple of hotdogs and a beer. Denmark is fairly liberal when it comes to vices like drinking and smoking. It's like they never quite moved on from the 80s. I haven't smelled so much cigarette smoke in decades and it was nice to be reminded of how far Australia has progressed. And maybe it's my mercifully fading memory of what cigarettes smell like, but I feel like the Danes smoke a rougher tobacco, more like cigar smoke. If Aussie ciggies are treble, the Danse are addicted to bass. In fact, the Danish language sounds a bit like Swedish plus cigarettes and alcohol, with a harshness to the pronunciation - possibly drifting towards Dutch via German.
Erica and I got to Nyhamn and watched kids skating on the outdoor ice rink. We found a spot halfway along Nyhamn to see the Lucia kayak parade. I appear to have neglected to explain what was going on and why we were there. Luciadagen is the feast of St Lucia (see one of the posts from 2008 for an explanation), where they grab a pretty girl and stick candles on her head to commemorate an Italian saint who was matyred in the normal abnormally gruesome way, probably because she didn't want to marry some psychopath and couldn't find any wild bears to protect her. But that aside it's turned into a lovely tradition in the Yuletide season and this particular parade was to be conducted via a flotilla of suitably illuminated kayaks because why not. Erica and I found a spot about 3 rows back from the dockside with a view between a couple of moored boats. And it was quite nice. There was a big boat with a choir singing jazzy Xmas carols, surrounded by the kayaks, all having fun being allowed in the harbour/canal.
After that we met up with Emma, Chris and Carl who arrived just after and kinda missed the main event. But we got some gløgg (mulled wine) and hot chocholate and then headed home via Strøget - the main street which is a pedestrianised mall. By then my hands and feet were quite cold and I resolved to wear my woolen socks from then on.
Day 2 = Sat 14 Dec
The next day I headed out looking for baked beans and berries for Carl, and to reset our Wise card, which had been locked when Emma accidentally put her regular pin in the EFTPOS machine at Netto the night before. We'd reset the card on the internet, but I needed to use it in an ATM to complete the reset. On the way I stopped in at another supermarket and (with the help of the lady working there) found the baked beans, which I hadn't realised are sold in rectangular tetra-pak cartons here (like a poppa but slightly bigger). This is great because it makes them lighter and easier to pack together. Their name in Danish (and Swedish) translates as "white beans in tomato sauce", which makes way more sense since "baked" beans aren't even.
After more trying (and one failed attempt) I found an ATM at the markethall from yesterday and took out the minimum DKK 100. I also grabbed the berries at the outdoor market and, weirdly, they don't sell the punnets with lids on. Not sure if that's so people can inspect them or to deter shoplifters, but it makes it a bit harder to transport (they do pop the lidless punnets in a paper bag when you pay for it, at least).
After I brought all that home we all headed off to Rundetårn (Round Tower), which (as blogged about in 2008) is a tower in the University built in the Enlightenment period as an astronomical observatory, but which you climb via a spiral cobbled road - reportedly because the King wanted to be able to drive his horse and carriage up there. The view from the top is nice though, except by then it was cloudy and starting to rain.
After that Emma took Carl home for lunch and Chris headed off on her own, so Erica and I found some lunch in town. We spotted a chalk sign advertising a Smørrebrød restaurant ("Restaurant 1899") and figured we'd tick another Danish delicacy off our list (after the hotdog the night before). Smørrebrød (buttered bread) is a Danish open sandwich with typically fancy toppings. And they took great care of us. Erica had the roast pork and I got the meatballs, both with red cabbage and pickled cucumbers, washed down with a delicious Xmas beer (Grimbergen Brassin de Noel - malty and very nice) and homemade apple&rosemary snaps that tasted exactly like that, plus a local Danish lemonade that I didn't catch the name of for Erica. And I got to eat Erica's crackling because we didn't want to risk her braces, and it was the best crackling I've had in years. Oh and we had a choice of butter or lard, which had salt and little chunks of apple in it. All in all it was a fantastic father-daughter lunch that we both relished. I even uncharacteristically tipped the waiter 50 of the 100 DKK I'd taken out to show my genuine appreciation (I should have given him the whole 100 since the other 50 is still in my wallet in Sweden where it's of no use to anyone).
That night we went to Tivoli - the fun park and pleasure gardens just outside the city centre of Copenhagen and so much nicer than the eponymous lower-socioeconomic suburb of north Ipswich where I spent a few years in the 80s. The queue was down the block, but it moved fast enough and soon we were in a gorgeous wonderland of (tasteful) fairy lights, markets and rides. Erica and I got ride passes and went on the spinny-hanging-chairs thingy, which gave me a good view of the park while trying not to look down at the rapidly approaching and receding ground below, and then spent about half an hour lined up for the "Dæmonen") roller coaster (The Demon) which was quite fun. After we got off, though, we got Emma's message that Carl wasn't enjoying himself and they were going to take him home. This caused Erica to have a minor meltdown that her plans were ruined (and me to bemoan the wasted entry fee), so we charged off through the crowd to the gate to discuss and remonstrate. In the end, Granny took Carl to the Leggo shop and Emma, Erica and I walked back the way we'd charged past the lake, the bejeweled willows and the "firefly" garden, with its pretty LEDs waving about in the wind.
So in the end we managed to salvage a lovely night, which was a relief.
Day 3 = Sun 15 Dec
Our last day in Copenhagen started with us getting the train out to Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid) statue. We got on at Vesterport station and went through Nørreport to Østerport. I later found out that those are the old gates to the city (Westgate, Northgate and Eastgate, respectively). We walked past the Swedish church (not sure what that's about) and around Kastellet (more on that later). We walked past the Swedish church (not sure what that's about) and around Kastellet (more on that later) to Den Lille Havfrue. I'd prepared the kids to be underwhelmed, and I succeeded in lowering Erica's expectations enough that she liked it (even more than the awesome Valkyrie statue on the other side of Kastellet, which I apparently talked up too much). But Carl was still underwhelmed and more interested in the (probably) German battleship that was docked in the harbour nearby. Boys eh?
After Den Lille Havfrue, we walked through Kastellet (The Castle), which is the Napoleonic-era fortification that guards the entrance to the harbour, situated where the northern end of the canal/moat defences meets the waterfront. More of a military base (with earthen ramparts and a moat) than a castle, it's even more of a park these days even though it's still technically still a military site, with people jogging and walking their dogs along the ramparts. Anyway, Carl enjoyed this more than just about anything else on this part of our day's sightseeing. Double boys eh?
After seeing the Valkyrie and other statues in Churchill Park on the other side, we headed back towards town. We stopped at a souvenir shop to look for T-shirts (I didn't have a good Denmark shirt from last time, just one from the self-declared anarchist microstate of Cristiania) and Erica bought a knickknack for one of her friends. We then quickly returned to the souvenir shop when it started raining to buy some umbrellas. We passed Frederiks Kirke (Frederick's Church), which has a lovely dome a la the Pantheon in Rome, but it wasn't yet open for visitors and it was still spitting and the kids were tired so we didn't bother to wait and headed over the street to Amalienborg palace to say g'day to Queen Mary.
They happened to be doing a changing of the guards there, which was interesting for a bit - partly because they were blue (their uniforms, it wasn't that cold yet) and partly because of the irony of seeing a bunch of teenage recruits (probably on National Service) faffing about as "guards", while a middle-aged woman in a "Security" uniform made sure the tourists didn't stray past their allotted viewing space with some polite but expert hand waves. It certainly called into question the very concept of "guarding".
Anyway, Mary must have been out Queening, so we continued on to see Nyhavn in the daytime. And it was still nice and pretty, even without the sparkly kayaks (good band name up for grabs there). So we continued on through town and back to Restaurant 1899 so that Erica could take Emma and Granny there for more smørrebrød, while I took Carl home. And apparently the waitress recognised Erica and they all had a lovely lunch (they'd had a decent-sized vegetarian and cheese section in the menu, so I was pretty confident they'd be well looked after).
Emma had been trying to tee up a catchup with her young cousin Victor, who was in Copenhagen for the day at a course - but unfortunately the stars didn't align. So there was was just enough time to head back towards Tivoli for some souvenir shopping in the nighttime of afternoon. I'd seen a really nice maroon T-shirt with "HYGGE" on the front while we'd waited in line for Tivoli, so I managed to buy that, along with some other stuff. "Hygge" is a Danish (and Norwegian) concept for contented convivial comfort - a bit like a warm chill-out, without the tepidity. And this is now my house shirt while I'm travelling because I don't want to be so gauche as to wear a Danish souvenir in Sweden or Finland.
And with that T-shirt, we said "Farvel" to Copenhagen, having enjoyed staying there for the first time - rather than just doing day trips from Malmö. Speaking of Malmö, that's where we head next.
Day 4 = Mon 16 Dec
The last day we took a cab to the central train station ("København H", or "Københavns Hovedbanegård") to avoid a repeat of dragging our suitcases across town (even though København H was probably closer than Forum and with functional lifts).
The train to Malmö is a bit like the train to the Gold Coast - pretty much an extension of the suburban rail network. Since the opening of the Öresund Bridge in 2000, people regularly do the 40min commute between the cities, often living in one country and working in the other. But I'll save that journey for the next post.
