The Copenhagen Diaries #1

This is a post I didn't expect to be writing for a long time. Those of you who have followed my blog for the last few years may remember me talking about visiting Denmark before. It's something I've wanted to do for a good few years now, but because so often the first thing that springs to mind when one thinks of Denmark is "expensive", I didn't see it happening for another few years at least. However, last month I was lucky enough to sneak in a little five-day trip to Copenhagen, and now I'm settled back in the UK and ready to look through my (many) photos without inducing too severe a case of post-holiday blues, I'm excited to share my experience with you through a series of blog posts. I crammed a lot into my five days so each post will talk you through what I did, saw and ate each day, with plenty of photographs to illustrate. I had the most wonderful time, and I hope you enjoy sharing these little snippets of this beautiful city with me.

The night before I set off for Copenhagen I stayed at the YHA Hostel in Brighton. Getting to Gatwick for a morning flight would have been quite difficult for me, so catching a train up from Brighton on the morning of my flight was far easier, and at £16 for the night in the hostel it worked out cheaper than staying at Gatwick, too.

The following morning my alarm sounded at a less than sociable hour of 04:30, and I pulled myself out of bed and washed my face in an attempt to wake myself up, packed my bags and snuck out of the dorm as quietly as possible, and caught a taxi up to the train station. I was at the airport by 06:30, where I then passed through security as quickly as possible and made a beeline for Pret in search of breakfast and, most importantly, coffee. A short few hours later I was boarding the plane, and was lucky enough to be booked into a window seat. Once the plane started moving I looked out of the window to wave goodbye to England, and as the plane accelerated I felt that familiar rush of excitement and anticipation, and that rollercoaster-like stomach-dropping sensation as the wheels came off the ground. We passed through dense grey fog, eventually emerging into bright blue skies which from the ground you would never have believed were hiding up above the clouds, with the most perfect layer of fluffy white stretching out below us. I then settled down with my headphones in and started imagining how the next few days would pan out, with the realisation that I would soon be in Denmark finally sinking in.

I arrived into Copenhagen a little later than scheduled, just before midday, but luckily managed to catch a train from the airport to the centre of the city straight after I landed. My hostel, Urban House, was only a five-minute walk from the central station (København H), so armed with some directions and my trusty map app, I wandered down towards it, spending a lot of the walk looking around and adjusting to the fact I was finally, finally here. Given that I still had a few hours to wait before I could go into my dorm, I sat in the bar for a while to get my bearings, sipping on an iced coffee whilst I flicked through my guidebook, scrolled through my map and tried to come up with some form of itinerary for the next few days. I'd decided to keep a journal during my trip to help me remember all the smaller details and things I might otherwise forget later on, so I also took some time to jot down my thoughts from the journey and my first impressions of the city.

Once I had some idea of where I was in relation to everything on my 'to see' and 'to do' lists, I decided to head out for lunch. I'd found 42 Raw through Happy Cow (a god send for any fellow veggies or vegans out there) a few days before I set off, and it was top of my list of places to eat, so naturally it was my first stop. Along the way I passed by Tivoli Gardens and some beautiful architecture, which seems to be everywhere in Copenhagen.

After a quick but delicious lunch of raw olive pizza and a delicious salad, I made my way towards the botanical gardens, but along the way found myself strolling through Rosenborg Castle gardens, where I decided to stop for a while to enjoy the sunshine and update my journal some more.

By this point it was quite late in the afternoon and I decided to save the botanical gardens for another day, so I wandered back towards the centre and made my way to The Round Tower (Rundetaarn), which was one of the sites I was most excited to see.

For the most part the tower is entirely stairless, and a seemingly endless corridor of stone and curved white walls winds round and round until you reach a small set of stairs right at the top, which lead out onto the viewing platform and the most beautiful views over the whole city.

Orange roofs and copper spires and domes stretch out for miles around, with cobbled stone streets winding their way inbetween and the odd tower block breaking the horizon. At this point I sat down with my journal once again, at the top of the tower, to reflect on how beautiful the city already seemed and how incredibly thankful I was to be there, even if only for just a few days.

Once I felt I'd been up long enough I made my way back down that winding corridor, through the centre of the city and back to the hostel to rest my feet. My bed was right by a window ledge which made for the perfect journaling and people-watching nook, so I took some time there to rest and regroup. I later popped down to the bar in the hostel for dinner, where I ended up speaking to a man from Aarhus for a few hours, talking about the differences between life in England and in Denmark and joking about how outnumbered I was in an audience watching the England - Iceland game that night. We said our goodbyes around 10pm, when I then decided to use the laundry facilities at the hostel to wash my travel clothes. In the wash room I got chatting to a lovely Australian lady who was travelling with her family. We were later joined by a man from Sweden who was currently living in Denmark, and we ended up chatting away until just after midnight, when we all decided it was time to get some rest. Before settling down to sleep I caught up in my journal once more, and finalised my rather extensive itinerary for the following day, determined to fit as much into this trip as possible. Then, I lay my head to rest, with a wonderful warm feeling of calm, contentment and gratitude washing over me, laced with excitement for the days to come.