Copenhagen, Part One

So it has been an interesting twenty-four hours!

It started yesterday with a mad dash to the airport. Dash is probably the incorrect word actually. I think everyone else in the south of England was also trying to get to Heathrow. Anyway, I just made check-in and had to push my way though security to make the flight.

I met Jules and Peter once I landed in Copenhagen (they flew from Birmingham) and we caught the train into the city. It was about 11:30pm by the time we arrived at central station and we headed straight to the hotel.

Here is where we had some more fun. Despite advertising 24 hour reception, the hotel was closed. It seems they should have said 24 hour access, as reception was only open between 7am and 11pm. We tried to phone the other two branches of the chain in the city. They had 24 hour reception, but could not help us. They could not check us in and they did not have any rooms for the night (in fact they told us that we would have difficulty in finding anything).

So for the next couple of hours we walked around the city trying to find a room. Nothing at all was available. Not even at one of the most expensive hotels in the city. So we decided to hole up in the train station while we could (it was closing at 4am). We then decided to move to one of the Cab-Inn's that was open and sit in their entrance. Luckily they had a no show and considering it was 3am they decided to let us use the room. So we finally found somewhere to sleep!

We got up the next (well the same actually) morning and went over to our reserved hotel and checked in. We were lucky that they had kept the room open for us. We dumped our bags and then hit the city!

We headed to the central square (the Radhuspladsen) to have a look around. A lot of the buildings were quite old, but a lot of the newer ones oozed the style and sophistication that the Danes (and Scandinavians in general) are known for. We had a look at the Georg Jensen shop as Jules wanted to buy some wedding jewellery. Everything in the store was pretty cool.

By this time we were hungry so we started looking for a nice lunch place. We ended up stumbling across Cafe Norden, which was in a great spot and looked pretty cool inside. Unfortunately they service was not that great and the food was pretty uninspiring, but I would still recommend the place. Its location and interior are fantastic!

We then headed over to check out Amalienborg Slot. This was where the royal family live. Unlike Buckingham Palace, you can get pretty close to the entrance of the palace. They still had soldiers on guard, but it felt like you were closer to the action!

We then headed over to the Marmorkirken and then to Kongens Have (one of the parks). We walked past the Rosenborg Slot (another castle/palace) and finally over to the Little Mermaid. I know it is a Copenhagen landmark, but it was pretty disappointing. We then headed into the Churchillparken and walked around. We finally ended up at St Alban's Church which had a fantastic fountain out the front!

By this time we were exhausted and pretty tired. Jules was also not feeling very well. We decided to take the easy route for dinner and went to Jensen's Bofhus - a chain restaurant all over Denmark. The food was actually quite good! It was a nice surprise.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel. After the fun of last night we just wanted an early night. We were to be thwarted again however. A couple of streets from the hotel we were stopped by the police. They told us there was a stabbing in the area and the streets were blocked off while they look for evidence. We could not get to the hotel at all!

We could feel the call of the SAS Radisson bar, so we headed there. The bar was very funky, a nice place to be. So we sat back and consoled ourselves with expensive drinks. It was just what we needed!

After a couple of hours we headed back to the hotel without trouble! It was nice to jump into bed.


Views of the city.


Someone didn't want their bike!


Town Hall.


Views from the Radhuspladsen


Nyhavn.


The funky new music hall.


Amalienborg Slot.


Marmorkirken.


Rosenborg Slot.


In the park.


Street views.


More street views.


More park!


Me trying to be a windmill!


More park.


Funky pidgeon holes.


St. Alban's Church.


The cool fountain out the front.


Radhuspladsen at night.