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.

Not sure who this artwork is of, maybe the Danish Beatles - also I'm not sure why I didn't bother to take them from the other side either.

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.