Interrail #7: Copenhagen

My 9th and final stop of the trip was Copenhagen. Together with Barcelona this city was high on my ‘to visit’ list (especially after watching Borgen earlier this year) and so I stayed here for 3 days so I’d really have some time to see the city. By this time I was getting quite exhausted, my feet and legs hurt from all the walking I had done, so I took my time getting around. The weather also wasn’t very cooperative. Only the first day I was there was nice weather wise. I did see a great deal of the city. If I’d have had some more time I’d have gone to Sweden (Malmö and Lund are only 30 minutes away by train) or Roskilde to see some Viking stuff, but three days wasn’t enough to squeeze that into my program.

The journey from Berlin to Copenhagen was probably the most eventual one in a positive way. I had no clue how we’d be getting from Germany to Denmark. There is quite a bit of water around so I figured that they must have built some new bridge or w/e. But nope. What they did was ride the train onto the boat. Yes. They put a train onto a boat. They take you to the border, put the train aboard a ferry, take you across and the train leaves again from the other end. Ingenuous! And handy. You need to get out of the train when it’s on board, so you can walk around, get some fresh air and stretch your legs.

After a long journey getting to Copenhagen I stopped for sushi at a place across from my hotel which was located a 3 min walk from the train station. That was handy and convenient as it was a good location to be in. I was staying in Vesterbro which is an up and coming part of Copenhagen. The Meat Packing District was a 5 min walk away and there you could find tons of bars and restaurants. The next day was my first full day in Copenhagen and I went on another walking tour. It was handy as it allowed you to see the major sights in one go and drops you off 10 mins away from the Little Mermaid statue.

The statue is not too eventful I have to admit, but I met some people who were on the tour around that area and we continued our day together. We visited the Marble Church and the Round Tower, where we split up and I found a supermarket. Denmark doesn’t have much of a cuisine, but I did find these salty liquorice balls which are covered in white chocolate and powdered with raspberry/ chili dust. Sounds horrid, was surprisingly delicious.

Day two meant rain, lots of continuous, neverending rain. It happens in Denmark, but I decided to still do some touristy bits. First stop was the National Museum. It’s a free museum housed in the former Crown Prince’s palace and some of the rooms are still in tact. I made my way to Christiansborg where the Danish government is housed and randomly came across this F16 jet fighter plane. I walked to Christianshavn which is the part of Copenhagen which looks most like Amsterdam. It was in fact modeled after the Dutch capital. Who knew?

In Christianshavn is a piece of no man’s land named Christiania. In Christiania (originally a squatters’ community) the sale of weed is tolerated (but still not legal) and it was a shame the weather was so dreadful. I’m sure that on a nice day filled with sunshine Christiania is a lovely spot to sit down and have something to drink or eat at one of the many restaurants. They also had a stage set up where a band was soundchecking, but the weather was just so dreadful that I decided to keep on walking around Christianshavn and find my way back to my hotel instead. I found a burger bar in the Meat Packing District where I had this delicious burger made of chickpeas and topped with melted goat’s cheese and mango chutney. Cheesy mash and oreo milkshake on the side.

My last day in Copenhagen was another rainy day at the start. It was also Monday which meant that City Hall (or Radhus in Danish) was open to the public. You can enter for free and inside you can find this massive World Clock which was built in the 1950s. The building itself is also gorgeous with dragon, and snake like figurines carved out of stone which are used for decoration.

I then did a bit of shopping but around 2 PM I arrived in Nyhavn and went on a boat tour of the city. Right at that moment the sun decided to come out and the weather took a turn for the better. Thankfully! I had already been to Nyhavn with my walking tour, but since it was nice and sunny out it was also super busy that day. I got some better shots of this cute little harbor from the boat.

The boat ride takes you all around the major sights around the city in about one hour. Here you see Christiansborg and the old stock exchange. It was nice to experience the city from the water as it gave my legs a break from walking. My last stop would be Rosenborg Castle. This museum houses the Danish crown jewels and has some great other Danish royals related artifacts on display, such as the Royal toilet tiled with Delftware.

The crown jewels and great hall were magnificent. And what struck me was that you were actually allowed to take pictures. I was in Schönbrunn the week before where pictures were strictly forbidden indoors, but here: no problem. I did have to stick my bag into a locker, but when I didn’t have a 20 KR coin, the lady at the register GAVE one to me as long as I promised to give it back to here. And that’s one thing I found in Denmark: people are friendly, laidback and still trust each other. This is just one example, but I encountered something every day which showed their attitude to life.

Last but not least, this is a hint to what post to expect tomorrow. Can you guess? This is in fact the ONLY straight up souvenir I bought all trip. One of the souvenir shops had a Danish Design bit and there I picked up this tea infuser.

What cities in Europe would you visit on an InterRail trip?