In January of 2018 Myself and the (future) wife took a trip to Copenhagen. Our first excursion was in fact to take the train from Copenhagen to Malmö in the south of Sweden, crossing over the magnificent Øresund bridge we arrived at our destination. Malmö turned out to be a delightful little city and we found plenty to look at during our day trip there. Walking down towards the coast from the train station we headed to Malmö castle in Kungsparken and enjoyed a short stop and look around, though a rather high entry fee rescinded the prospect of a good gander. In Slottsträdgården part of the Kungsparken, behind the castle complex stands a beautiful little windmill which I enjoyed photographing and we enjoyed the park itself very much and spent plenty of time there. We then worked our way back on ourselves to Lilla Torg for a coffee in Folk å Rock. Folk å Rock was a very nice cafe with vinyl records all along the walls many of which were for sale, any fan of rock and roll would feel comfortable and at home in such a place. At the time in the centre of Lilla Torg stood a very large lamp pictured below. I could not quite figure out why it was there but it was certainly a striking and different sculpture to find in a Scandinavian square.
Being early January, Christmas trees and decorations were still subject to the cool crisp air and made for delightful decoration. We continued to have a good wander round the shops and surrounding area. The old buildings in Malmö were lovely to behold and still with shops inside. We made our way to the Plaza Stortorget with the statue of Charles (Karl) X Gustav and to our final destination of the day, Sankt Petri kyrka (St. Peters Church). The church itself was an imposing structure built in the Gothic design in the 14th and 15th centuries. Inside the walls are a clear white and adorned on each are plaques and other religious items, of course all gold. The baptistery, found in the back left corner of the church, still had its original painted ceiling which was indeed a sight to behold. Finally we headed back to the train station and back to our accommodation thoroughly delighted with our little visit to Sweden.
The next morning we set off early to explore Copenhagen and after a short train ride we had arrived. Naturally, we headed for the famed Little Mermaid statue and upon arrival we were slightly disappointed at the masses gathered to take photos of the somewhat smaller than imagined sculpture, though this did not stop us from joining said masses. Traversing round the Kastellet, a star shaped fort near The little Mermaid, we followed the coast line round to Amalienborg for a few pictures of the surrounding area and down to Frederiks Kirke (Frederik’s Church). Slowly we made our way down to the famous colourful buildings adorning either side of Nyhavn (Københavns Havn) and up to Kongens Nytorv (King’s New Square) for a rest.
Moving on we headed round to the Church of Holmen and were faced with a lovely old building with a rather strange spire atop. The building is pictured below and Google assures me this is Børsen, a historical palace which is also described as 17th century former stock exchange! Go figure. Continuing on we went to visit Christiania, passing Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of our Saviour) along the way. The church, once again has an interestingly designed spire that can only be described as a helter skelter slide! After numerous photos we were about to enter Christiania. Photos in Christiania itself were strictly prohibited and it was not long until we found out why. Upon entering you pass under a sign that simply says Christiania and on the reverse states, ‘You are now entering the EU’. The first few vendors were selling all sorts of smoking paraphernalia and other devices for grinding marijuana and bongs. Walking further into the area we found many vendors selling marijuana and other such drugs freely on the street. Understandably the strict rules of no photography were in place and therefore I have no photographic evidence of the area. After a short visit we decided to leave, somewhat dumbfounded about what we had just witnessed in a European country. We walked back up to Nyhavn and Kongens Nytorv as the sun had now set and the area all lit up made for some lovely photos and then headed back to the train station, and to our accommodation for the night.
Our next adventure was to Copenhagen Zoo, as those who have read previous blog entries will know, I love hippos! Copenhagen was in fact the first time I had ever seen hippos in the flesh and I was certainly excited for our visit. Upon entry we realised that with the number of animals that Copenhagen Zoo possessed and with the amount of land that it covered there was sadly little space for many of the animals to roam! As a lover of animals and an employee at a zoo previously I was deeply saddened to see the animals unable to enjoy their enclosures. The larger animals naturally had a larger space to roam, however this was still not adequate. At the time a new enclosure was being built in preparation for the arrival of some giant pandas. Happily the size of that enclosure was in fact very large so it seemed that there was progress being made by the zoo on this front. The hippo enclosure was an adequate size but as always could be much bigger to accommodate such Goliath like animals. I would like to state though I personally felt the enclosures were smaller than they should have been, I am no expert when it comes to the roaming space needed for each animal and I am simply speaking on my previous visits to other such establishments. I, in no way, think that the animals were poorly treated by anyone and am certain that all the staff had the best interests of the animals as a priority.
The whole day was taken up in the zoo as we had walked from our accommodation to get there and proceeded to walk back. Our trip to Copenhagen was drawing to a close as the final day dawned. We headed back into Copenhagen city centre and tried to gain access to the Tivoli Gardens which were sadly shut. Instead we wandered around the outside peering in through the fence to catch a glimpse of what we were missing and retired to a coffee shop to wait for our train to the airport. Denmark, like the rest of Scandinavia, is rather expensive and as with the majority of my travels, budgeting is always a priority. Overall we had enjoyed our visit, Malmö was a delightful city, Copenhagen was nice, but, if I am honest, to me nothing special. The zoo was also nice but as stated before the enclosures could do with a few extensions. However, we were contented with our visit and flew back to the UK happy.
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