So today marks the longest I've *ever* been away from home (previous record was USA in 2004 at 42 days).
Last night I thought I'd try and do a web check-in for my flight from Billund to Copenhagen. So I googled the airline to find it, and saw some articles about it going bankrupt. Uh-oh. Clicked on the airline's webpage, and there's a single page there in Danish. Got Google to translate it, and sure enough, they went out of business a couple of weeks ago and all flights are cancelled. You're freaking kidding me right? No!! Fail!! Well at least I found out the night before and not in the morning!! And thanks heavens for http://www.rejseplanen.dk/ which is a brilliant site for working out transport around Denmark.
So this morning I had breakfast and checked out, then hopped on a bus to Vejen. 58 kr - not too bad.
Vejen station
At Vejen got to the platform and some Russians were also trying to get tickets to Copenhagen. They got themselves a family ticket. I just got an adult single. 346 kr. Fricken ouch!! Good thing the machines take credit cards! So the train came but it was a tiny little train of three carriages, one set aside for families and NO FRICKEN LUGGAGE RACKS!! (except overhead ones). So I had nowhere to put my bag. And all the seats are groups of four, not two. So me and my suitcase took up three seats! Denmark trains fail! Fortunately it didn't get full enough to need the extra seats, but it came very close! Was very stressed about it for most of the trip :( I also finished my book - sad making! (both the book itself and the fact that I've finished it).
Arrived in Copenhagen, tried to figure out how to get out of the station in the direction I wanted (getting grumpy at Denmark already). Got out and had to walk the long way round the station to get to my hotel. Checked in (yayy!!), dumped my stuff and headed out again.
My room at Hotel du Nord
Found the entrance back into the station that I probably wanted on the way out. But there's no sign, just a small doorway. When in doubt, follow the crowds. I'll try and get a picture of it tomorrow.
Then to try and get a ticket on the metro. The ticket machines are very confusing and the signage is worse than Paris. Much worse. I asked a local what sort of ticket I needed (apparently a 2 zone, even though I was staying in the zone 1, 24kr) and managed to get on the right train.
So off to Osterport and a walk to find the Little Mermaid (I also walked around some of Kastellet which is this little star shaped fortress which is pretty cool).
Kastellet
Canal at Kastellet
View to Copenhagen harbour
Kastellet and cannon
I knew there'd probably be a few people, but I thought the statue would be a little bit further out of reach and you'd view it from the shore. Turns out you can go right up to it, as dozens of people from multiple tour buses were trying to do. hrmmm.
The Little Mermaid by Edvard Eriksen
The Little Mermaid by Edvard Eriksen
The Little Mermaid by Edvard Eriksen
Crowds around The Little Mermaid
Crowds around The Little Mermaid
From there on it was a really long walk zigzagging my way back through Copenhagen.
Iver Huitfeldt Memorial
St Alban's Church and Gefionspringvandet (Gefion Fountain)
Gefionspringvandet (Gefion Fountain)
The Royal Yacht Dannebrog
HDMS Peder Skram
Past our good friend Mary's house..
View through Amalienborg towards Frederiks Kirke
Brockdorff's Palace (east palace)
Rytterstatuen in Amalienborg
South gate of Amalienborg
Into the Marmonkirken (just missed a dome visit)..
Frederiks Kirke
Dome of Frederiks Kirke
Interior of Frederiks Kirke
Organ in Frederiks Kirke
Up past the Rosenborg palace..
Rosenborg Slot - Rosenborg Castle
Down Kobmagergade and up into the round tower (I was almost not going to go into this one. It was only 25 kr but wasn't really in the mood. Luckily I decided to, it was pretty worth it)..
Rundetaarn
Interior of Trinitatis Kirke
Spiral walkway up Rundetaarn
View northeast from Rundetaarn
Frederiks Kirke from Rundetaarn
Royal Danish Theatre from Rundetaarn
Nikolaj Kunsthal and Vor Frelsers Kirke from Rundetaarn
View towards Christiansborg from Rundetaarn
Vor Frue Kirke from Rundetaarn
View towards Copenhagen Radhus (Town Hall) from Rundetaarn
Rosenborg Slot - Rosenborg Castle from Rundetaarn
Observatory dome on Rundetaarn
Top of Rundetaarn
Down Ostergade to Nyhavn to see the Lego buildings..
Nyhavn
Nyhavn buildings
Nyhavn
Back past Christiansborg..
Børsen (17th century former stock exchange)
Christiansborg Palace
Marmorbroen
Canal around Christiansborg Palace
And the Radhaus..
Kobenhavns Radhus (Copenhagen City Hall)
And Tivoli Gardens (oldest amusement park in the world, but you have to pay even to go into the place)..
Tivoli Gardens
Entrance to Tivoli Gardens
So a pretty good effort for about five hours of wandering.
Copenhagen train station
Then I tried to find dinner. Prerequisites: had to have a Carlsberg, and had to be under 100 kr total (I'm rapidly running out of money and needed the rest for the train tomorrow). I couldn't find anything that met these requirements other than getting the beer at 7-Eleven and a burger from The Scottish Restaurant. Sadly (or happily) the beer was cheaper than Maccas!! So weird.
Something weird happened to my phone when I got here. It's somehow got a time that is *very* wrong - not just a different time zone, but even wrong minutes. So it's nearly three hours out. Very strange.
Happy power point is happy
Distance covered on the GPS: 315.6 km
Steps walked: 22251
Photos on the Canon: 120
Photos on the Sony: 111
Videos: 2
DKK Spent: ?