Denmark

As soon as I woke up the next day after being back from Paris I booked my flight to Copenhagen Denmark. 3 days later I was on a plane again and heading north. The main reason for going to Denmark was to visit a friend that I had had contact with since around 2006. We met over Myspace (yep, thats how far back we go, to the Myspace days.) and have been on contact ever since. I must admit I was a bit nervous about finally meeting Stephanie and her boyfriend Alex but I knew I had nothing to worry about. Surely if something was suss I would have picked up on it in the last 4 years. After an hour long flight I arrived and met Stephanie for the first time. It was weird. To finally be able to put a voice to the person in the pictures and apparently I was once again a bit of a let down because I didn't have a true blue Aussie accent but we were so happy to finally meet each other. That night we just took everything easy back at their place which was really great. They had recently renovated and I for one really loved the place. I also met Chloe this night. Chloe is Stephanie dog and we became best friends really fast. I hadn't been close to a dog for almost 8 months and really missed it so Chloe was getting all my attention and hugs.

The next day we went into Copenhagen via bus as they lived a short way out of the city in the North Zealand area. I really loved Copenhagen. The was a certain atmosphere about the city, actually this went for most of Denmark. It was far more relaxed and more positive than Germany could ever be. Plus the TV shows were all in English rather than being dubbed, so every Dane knows their English. But back to Copenhagen. We walked down købmagergade which was the shopping street where we also found and walked up the circle tower.
This tower had a ramp instead of stairs, apparently horse and carriage up there. Because why should a King have to walk? The view from up there was pretty cool, you could see Sweden!
This bridge connects Denmark and Sweden and it takes about 10- 15 minutes to cross.
We then decided to go on a boat tour which showed us around the harbour and some canals which were all really nice. Another nice this about Copenhagen was all the copper roofs, it was a nice change to the boring black or just flat roof.

It's so great sometimes what you can find out on tours like these. For example the dome in the picture above was made out of the Danes old copper pots and pans because there was no other copper left. And I would have never spotted these old Christianborg Palaces on top of these lamps.
We then had lunch on Nyhavn which could be the most popular canal street in Denmark. It really had all the character I thought it would with the restaurants on the side of the street and all the boats in the centre.
Afterwards we slowly walked towards Amalienborg Palace where Prince Fredrick and Princess Mary just had their place renovated.
In the side of these guard boxes is a heart, it's so cute. Before checking out the new renovations we walked a little further to get an ice cream and to see where the Little Mermaid would be. Right now she is in China for a world Expo. So where she should be is a TV screen with a live viewing of her in China. Which, if you think about it is pointless because in the day in Denmark it is night in China so you can't really even see her. It was a bit depressing. Princess Mary's new house was not though. The wall painting in the palace her completely downright amazing and so modern. It was cool to see their offices and studies and where they'll have their meals. Some things also had a bit of an Australian twist so it was special in that way too. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos. Shock Horror as always. Slowly we made it back to where the bus would be. We also stopped at a supermarket before getting home and here I made a new discovery. In Denmark they had electronic price tags on things. So instead of someone going around and changing all the tags for specials or so on they can just do it on one computer. I thought this was super clever.
We just took things easy that night and the next day. We played some Wii, did some shopping and took Chloe for heaps of walks. Also while shopping I tried this funny dish which had mince, lasagna, corn, peas and a creamy sauce in it. So weird but actually quite nice. Then that night we went back into Copenhagen and went to the small amusment park Tivoli which the Danes pronounce as Toolee. This place was so cute it's very old. Here there are some new rides like the rollercoaster we went on. It cost about 10€ to go on and lasted for about 15 seconds but was so much fun.
Every night at Tivoli they have a little marching band of boys and a princess in a carriage go through as a tradition. I've used this word too much in the post already but it was, cute.
There was another ride there which had you in a small plane and spun you round, upside down and everything. There was no way I was going on that. Though if you do go on it when the plane reached the end there's a little ad saying that if you liked this ride you should consider joining the Danish Air Force as the ride is sponsored by them.
Whilst in Tivoli I discovered the amazing designer Lisbeth Dahl. She's a Danish actress that does mainly comedy but had come out with this line of decor which is so pretty, definitely worth a look. Tivoli is also where I bought my first Dala Horse which I'm so proud of, where I had my first BokBok. Well, this is what we called it because I couldn't pronounce the Danish name for the food but it was like waffle chips with ice cream. Here we had our dinner in a tree house too which was cool and it was all Viking inspired. We walked around a lot, fed the Koy fish and once the lights came on it felt like a completely new place.
Just before midnight there was fireworks, extremely loud ones at that. They really topped off though and straight after we headed home. The next day we went to see the beach. It wasn't as great as Australian beaches but you could see Sweden again which I still thought was downright cool.
We picked up Stephanie and Alex's other dog Bolle as well. He was crazy but cute. Later that day we went for a walk in the forest and I really realised how beautiful Denmark is. There are lakes and forests and beaches all close together and it's all so peacefull.
On my last day we just played some Wii and laid back before my flight. I really love Denmark and reccomend to anyone for just a couple of days. Also the airport in Copenhagen has the best and biggest duty free shopping area I've ever seen. I already miss Denmark as well as Stephanie, Alex and Chloe, they were the best hosts I could have had and I'm so happy that I've finally met Stephanie.