Denmark's Blue Planet

Our flight home wasn't until 1625 and having "done" most of the city, we decided to visit Copenhagen's Den Bla Planet, Northern Europe's largest and most modern aquarium.  This is not the sort of place we would normally go to, but as it's only 1 stop from the airport and the £22 entrance was covered by our Copenhagen Card we thought we'd give it ago

I don't have anything to compare it to, but I wasn't particularly impressed.  I somehow thought it would be a more inclusive experience, actually walking through vast tanks (within glass obviously) rather than just viewing from in front.  Plus it was full of pushchairs and screaming children.

My camera didn't like it either - far too dark - and as the fish keep moving I couldn't use the hand held night scene facility.  In the end I used my phone but still rubbish pictures.

The building itself was rather interesting.

Our 72 hour Copenhagen Card had now expired but luckily the Blue Planet offered a free shuttle bus to the airport (and then into the City) so another £4.50 saved.

All in all we managed 3 days without any cash whatsoever and by using the Copenhagen Card we not only visited more places than we would normally have done, we also saved around £100 each.  We'll certainly do our research and see if something similar is available for St Petersburg.

We were fairly early to the airport but able to print off our boarding passes and gain access to the lounge which was comfortable enough with a view of the runway and a living wall.  The white wine, on tap, was also very nice.

All in all, Copenhagen is one of the nicer cities we've visited and we thoroughly enjoyed our mini break.

Last Evening

We got back from Hillerud about 1700 and it was a beautiful evening so we just had to get the river bus one last time.  Again, probably duplicates but with different lighting!

And of course we couldn't resist another walks along Nyhavn

A Day out of the City

Having spent a day and a half walking the streets of Copenhagen we felt we'd seen a fair bit so planned a day trip to the Fredericksborg Slot, one of the greatest Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and home to the Danish monarchy for over 200 years.

We could pick up a direct S Train from our local station and the journey should take about 40 mins.  Except when we got on the platform, there were signs of engineering works and no trains appeared to be going as far as we wanted.

So a quick change of plan and we headed for a "normal" train north to Helsingor to visit the World Heritage site of Kronborg Slot - Hamlet's castle of Elsinore.

The train journey was very pleasant and gradually the rain stopped and the sun broke through.  Kronborg Castle is visible as soon as you leave the station, although the view is somewhat marred by what appear to be modern buildings.  

The walk takes you past the ferry to Sweden (Helsingborg - 20 mins) and apparently at the weekends the place is heaving with Swedes over on a cheap booze cruise.

The castle itself was fairly boring in comparison with the others we'd seen and there were actors around doing excerpts from Hamlet.

We made the obligatory climb to the top of the tower and the views were lovely.  The modern structures we'd seen turned out to be old naval buildings, albeit re-roofed.

The Marina with Sweden on the horizon.

According to the Copenhagen Card there was a ferry giving short cruises out to sea to view the castle from the water, but there was no sign of it and someone working on his boat said he hadn't seen it at all this season.  The cultural centre was an interesting building. 

This fish sculpture is made from plastic waste found in the sea.

The Little Mermaid's brother "Han" erected 2012

Originally when we'd been planning the day we had thought of trying to visit both slots in one day, but online train timetables inferred it was a long journey between the two.  However having spent so little time at Helsingor we decided to try and fit Fredericksborg in too.  In actual fact the journey was only about half an hour and we actually got to speak to a railway employee (the first we'd seen) checking tickets.  He was able to confirm that whilst there were engineering works on the line, there was a shuttle running between some stations and all we had to do on the way home was change platforms.  

On arrival at Hillerod we picked up a local bus to the slot (I think there was a shorter way to walk but our feet were complaining!)  It's a lovely castle, with a moat at lake around it.

This time the advertised lake ferry boat was running, it was a tiny thing only holding about 20 people and it just went round the lake stopping at 3 different places.  A nice way to view the castle, town and the wildlife.

Across the lake are formal gardens, half of which are being re-done (my guess is box blight)

Why do people deliberately sit so they spoil other's photographs - so mean!

As well as the formal gardens, there was parkland but we didn't have time to walk around.

In contrast to Helsingor, this castle was very interesting.  The chapel in particular was lovely

I loved this painting Christian IV, I think or Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

We were so pleased we visited this place and the journey back to Copenhagen was indeed easy, just changing trains mid way.

Copenhagen - Day 2 PM

We then headed to the Rosenborg Slot (Castle) commissioned by Christian IV in the early 1600s and then added to by subsequent kings.

Our entrance to the castle was on a timed ticket so we sat in the formal gardens and ate our lunch (from Netto, plain roll for me and a pizza type thing for Ian - cost £1.80)

This chap made me laugh, he looked so furtive - maybe taking photos of flowers is a crime where he comes from!

Back to the Slot for our timed entrance and I was pleased to see a sentry on duty, I always ask before taking someone's photo but when the soldier isn't allowed to speak or make eye contact it can be quite difficult, but I did get a brief nod of assent.

The Castle was very interesting but dark so not really suitable for photos, although I did take these two of Christian IV, not the most attractive of faces but given the number of pictures hanging he absolutely loved having his portrait painted.

From Rosenborg we headed back to the hotel via the Tivoli Gardens which seem to be a cross between Chelsea Flower Show and Dreamland Margate; artificial looking buildings, beautiful planting schemes and heart stopping rides.  It costs £16.50 just to go in (covered by our Copenhagen Card) and goodness knows how much extra the rides cost.

After a short rest at the hotel, we headed back out again to catch our favourite river bus.  The view of the swimming pool from our hotel's scenic lift.

Part of the new futuristic 6km cycle and electric scooter track.  

All around the city there are bikes and scooters for rent via an app and many of the scooters are then just abandoned when they run out of power.  There is a scheme whereby residents can earn money by recharging them and presumably parking them somewhere.

Unsurprisingly the views from the boat were the same but it didn't stop me taking more photos - some better, some worse.

At first we thought this lad was going to strip off for a swim like his mate, but then he hopped his way across the concrete posts.

The Maersk HQ is known as the Blue Eyes Building.

We stayed on the river bus as far up as it went, although it was very cold and overcast.  On the way back we got off at Nyhaven and walked to an Italian restaurant we'd passed earlier in the day.

It was a nice restaurant, with friendly staff and we were hopeful of a nice meal.  However Ian's ham and mushroom pizza turned up without any mushrooms and my tuna pizza was tasteless and cold and also lacked a couple of the advertised ingredients.  We complained and were told that the kitchen had run out of mushrooms, rocket and chilli flakes, so I asked if they were going to reduce our bill accordingly

"Unfortunately, we can't do that, but we can offer you a complimentary glass of wine or a coffee"

So instead of knocking a bit off the food bill, they gave us wine worth £16 which we happily accepted - although would far rather have had a nice meal.