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Copenhagen Trip

Day 1: Sunday 22nd June

The flight out was relatively straightforward, though slightly complicated by a group of half a dozen passengers who hadn't quite grasped the concept of "small quantities" of hand luggage. They managed to fill up every overhead luggage bin on both sides of the aisle for about six rows of seats, leaving everyone else with only the spaces under the seats in front, and consequently a rather cramped journey. Grr. Fortunately, we had a good tailwind, so we arrived early.

Getting from the airport to central Copenhagen was easy, thanks to a good railway network, with plenty of luggage space on board trains. Once we found our way out of the station, past the huge numbers of bicycles (compared to to the UK, Denmark is as flat as a pancake - cycling is therefore a very popular way of getting around) the hotel was only a short walk away.

Once we had taken care of such mundanities as checking into the hotel, it was still only about 3pm, so we set off to explore. We walked along Strøget, a winding pedestrianised street1 passing through the centre of Copenhagen, to Kongens Nytorv (literally, "King's new market[place]"). From this perspective, Copenhagen looks a lot like many British cities, but with enough differences to remind you that it isn't. Most noticable is the architecture - barring exceptions like churches, most of the buildings in that part of the city are in a similar style, dating from the reconstruction that followed devastating fires 1728/1795 and bombardment by a British fleet in 1807.

After the walk, we confirmed a friend's theory that Chinese restaurant food is different in every country, then retired for the evening.

1Actually Strøget isn't a single street, it's a collective name for a ¾-mile long series of streets, but it's been there for centuries and the name is now entrenched.

Many wooden arches, supporting a wood and glass roof over a station concourse Københavns Hoyedbanegård (Copenhagen's central railway station) has a rather impressive wooden roof. The picture only shows one arch of the two over the main concourse, and there's more over the actual platforms.

Cal next to a huge sculpture of a spider, in a city square While walking along Strøget we spotted this visitor to Copenhagen - Louise Bourgeois' sculpture "Maman", originally commissioned for the Tate Modern in London. The buildings around the square are typical of much of central Copenhagen.