So yes, ironically, the first new city I visit on my (GERMAN!) Year Abroad was Copenhagen (Denmark).
To be honest, since I learned I would be living in Lübeck this year, I knew I wanted to go to Copenhagen, because it is a beautiful city, plus it is not far away at all. Being in the most northernly state of Germany offers many opportunities to travel to Scandinavia, which is somewhere I have always wanted to discover. Hopefully this year abroad will give me a chance to do this.
I organised to go to Copenhagen with two other language assistants in Lübeck, so we could all travel and stay together. This is something I would definitely recommend when going to a new city/country, try to have some you know with you, it’s so helpful and certainly made me feel more relaxed!
Day 1
We left Lübeck at around 9am, taking the FlixBus. FlixBus is like a European equivalent of National Express, so cheap coach travel but throughout Europe instead of just in the UK. I would recommend this to anyone travelling within Germany particularly, as the trains can be expensive. Yes, it takes longer but it is still very reliable and comfortable. The buses have Wi-Fi and charging points, so good for a long-ish journey like ours (nearly 5 hours).
When we arrived in Copenhagen, we walked to our hostel and checked in, meaning we could dump our bags and start exploring. Also, when we checked in, the receptionist told us that we had chosen a great weekend to visit, as the Friday night was Culture Night.
Before we attended the Culture Night, we walked around the city taking in the sights, including Nyhavn (New Harbour), which is probably what most people think of when they think of Copenhagen. The colourful houses on the canal.
On way back to the hostel we bought our tickets to the Culture Night. It cost us around 11€ each for a ticket. This night was very similar to Lübeck’s Theatre night, just on a bigger scale with all the museums and churches involved, as well as transport included. So slightly more expensive, but also getting a lot more for our money. We decided to start our evening with a harbour boat trip to see all the city by water. Sadly, it absolutely tipped it down that night. Just to explain how bad it was, my clothes, coat and boots were still wet 2 days later. We kept waiting and waiting for this boat, which never showed up. And the only place we could escape the rain, was under a bridge...
We eventually moved on, and visited some of the Royal sites, including the Chapel and the Palace. At the Christiansborg Palace, we saw the kitchens, the stables (and the horses) and the dungeons, which held lots of history about the history of the palace. So, despite the washed out start to our evening, we managed to make the most of our money and see many sights.
We got back to our hostel and turned in for the night, unfortunately I didn’t sleep much, since the person next to me snored like an aeroplane…
On to Day 2
After our continental breakfast at the hostel, we headed out to walk around the city during a drier spell! We headed back to Christiansborg Palace to get some photos in the daytime, as we had no chance the night before in the pouring rain and darkness. Afterwards, we visited the Black Diamond, which is Copenhagen’s Library, and was a real mix of olde worlde library and contemporary glass architecture. Outside it had a beautiful pond, home to one solitary duck and its house.
Next, we headed into the city centre and to a poster shop, that a blogger I follow had been to the week before! So, I wanted to discover it for myself. This store was 2 storeys of artwork, prints and postcards. It was amazing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t buy anything because I didn’t have enough space in my case, but it was so fun to look around.
Back we went to historical Copenhagen and headed to the sight of the Little Mermaid statue. Before we saw this monument, we stopped in St. Alban's Church, which had been founded by King Edward VII of Great Britain and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark. It was amazing to see a traditional English church in a Danish city (definitely something I had never expected!)
We made one more stop before the Little Mermaid, for lunch. I had a Lobster Hot Dog and Chips for my lunch. I had never heard of anything like it before and it cost the same as Fish and Chips, so I though why not? It was delicious.
We finally headed to the Little Mermaid statue; at the same time a deluge of rain came down (we could not catch a break!) But it was worth getting drenched to see. The sculpture is beautiful and actually sitting on a rock in the sea. It was incredible.
Back to the hostel we went, soaked again. We decided to check out the hostel kitchen and cook in this evening. Our luck changed at this moment, as when we arrived, a chef was putting an Indian banquet in the fridge, which was free to anyone to eat. It was a very welcome dinner after another damp day and was completely delicious! And the brownies…I can’t even describe! So good!
After dinner, we went for a walk and saw Tivoli lit up. Tivoli is the second oldest theme park in the world and is beautiful when its lights shine at night. (Impossible to get photos of though!) After this we grabbed some drinks and headed back to the hostel and played a good hour of table tennis to finish our day. Unfortunately, the snorer returned that evening, so not much sleep for me. Especially, as another person arrived at 3am with 2 suitcases, had to make their bed and snored even louder!
Note to self: bring ear plugs next time you stay in a hostel!
Day 3
Sunday, we had ourselves a shopping day. After an all you can eat brunch at Café Vivaldi, our shopping day started with Flying Tiger. We had to really, as this is the city it originated from. Next, we headed into (what we thought was) the Lego Store. Lego also originated in Denmark, so it would’ve been rude not to. This store had areas where you could build your own Legos and some designs on the walls that you had to fill in. And I am proud to announce that three people in their 20s spent nearly 2 hours completing a Lego city man wall, in what turned out to be a random toy store and not the real Lego store…
So, after our work was complete, we headed to the real Lego store and saw the Lego constructions of Copenhagen – which were stunning. Easy mistake to make!
After, we tried to go to the Botanical Gardens but sadly they had just closed. 4pm on Sunday was the cut off point. So, we went back to the hostel and the free curry. And had an early night.
The Last Day
For breakfast, we decided, as we were in Denmark, to have Danish Pastries. I had a Cinnamon Roll that had a Chocolate drizzle on top. And I must say it was one of the best things I have ever eaten. It was so tasty and delicious. I wish I could go back right now and get another one!
After this, we returned to the Botanical Gardens and had a wander around the grounds, which included a beer garden. Not an actual beer garden that we would see outside of a pub, but a garden that grew plants related to beer and told the story of beer as a drink. Sponsored by Carlsberg, of course!
For lunch, we headed to a games’ café, named ‘Bastard Café’. (Yep, genuinely!) We played a game called Copenhagen, where we had to build our own house on Nyhavn by collecting coloured cards and trading them for shapes. The rules were a lot more complex than that, but we didn’t understand so we made a very basic version. It was lots of fun and a nice way to round off our trip.
Back we went to the hostel for the final time to collect our luggage and off we went to find our bus. We left Copenhagen around 4pm and got back to Lübeck around 9pm. So, we managed a full four days in Denmark!
In summary – it was a great weekend and would’ve been perfect with more sleep and less rain!
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