Copenhagen, Zealand, Denmark, Sat 20 - Sun 21 June 09

Things I learned about Copenhagen:

1. You can walk the city easily but with so much to see your feet will be killer by the end of the day so hire a bike (something I wish we'd learned BEFORE the weekend!)
2. Copenhagen is the most bike friendly city I've ever visited with cycle dedicated lanes and it's so trustworthy people don't bother to lock their bikes either.
3. The water taxis have a very limited timetable, not so great when you want to use them as a mode of transport :)
4. Everyone speaks English but trying to pronounce Dutch is a fun pastime.
5. Food is delicious, so many great cafes and eateries.
6. It's a party city so walking through the streets in the morning is peacefully quiet.
7. Copenhagen is very green with it's windfarms, recycling bins everywhere, bikes and even a drink cup recylcing programme at the theme park.
8. You can't find a sign with Zealand on it, no matter how hard you look.

We saw so much in Copenhagen, it's a beautiful city. It had never been on my list of places to go but a cheap airfare came up so we took the opportunity and I'm so glad we did. Copenhagen was one of my favourite places yet!

We walked a lot of Copenhagen. There were so many beautiful buildings and places to see. On Saturday we also took a canal guided tour which was a fun way to see the city. It kept bucketing with rain so we'd have to take cover under the little canal boat roof. The best part was going under the low tiny bridges where the boat could only just fit. We had planned to use the water buses to get around but it turned out their schedules were annoying so we just walked everywhere.

We strolled down Nyhavn, the famous quay full of picturesque houses, wooden boats and water front cafes. Beautifully colourful and made for great photos. We walked around Stotsholmen, an island filled with parliament buildings, museums and a gigantic library where we sheltered from the rain. One side of the library is called The Black Diamond, called this because at sunset the water reflects off the black glass of the building and makes it sparkle.

We walked through the Amalienborg Palace where the royal family live and caught the end of the changing of the guard. There is a gorgeous fountain there with views over the river and the opera house in one direction, and the spectacular marble church the other.

We kept walking along to Kastellet (a military fortress) where we passed a beautiful fountain of the Goddess Gefion showing a legend on how the island Zealand came to be.. and damn still no Zealand plaque. I so wanted some proof I'd been to the old Zealand :) And then we carried on to the Little Mermaid, the famous Copenhagen statue depicting the Little Mermaid from the fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen.

We spent Saturday night at the Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen's adventure park. We had so much fun. There was so much to do there. They had amusement park rides, we went on the Himmelskibet, the world's tallest carousel at 80 m. It was pretty scary. I'd like to say we had beautiful views of Copenhagen but you couldn't see much when you're spinning around.

We watched some of a Pantomime show which was kinda weird and there were lots of pretty gardens and lights to look at. On the main outdoor stage they had a jazz band and a team of professional dancers who entertained us for a few hours. It was great music and the dancers were fun to watch while enjoying a tasty cider. It was such a great night.

On Sunday we walked up the Round Tower, an old observatory built in 1642, it had great views over Copenhagen and a really fun spiral walkway. We wondered through the beautifully manicured lawns of the Kings Gardens and admired the Rosenborg Slot (castle), and it turned out to be a pleasant place to rest our weary feet. We then headed back to the Marble Church for a peak inside (it had been closed on the Saturday for a wedding).

Our last stop was Christianshavn, an island full of canals, cafes, boats and pretty houses. We had the tastiest home made pizza for lunch sitting on the side of the canal.

Christiania is also on the island. An 'alternative lifestyle' community it made for some interesting people watching. No photos were allowed in there though. Something a bit different.

We spent the last of the afternoon simply sitting by the canal enjoying the sun. It was bliss. Would love to head back to Copenhagen.