Our Euro trip (2): Copenhagen

Continuing from where I left in my previous post, on 20th Dec my husband and I left from Munich for Copenhagen. When around the globe, flights were getting delayed and canceled because of heavy snowfall ours landed 15 min ahead of schedule.

We had booked ourselves at the La Villa Guest House. It is located on Rode Mellemvej, a short drive away from the airport. We were given a warm welcome by Vilborg, the lady who runs the guest house. She was sweet enough to make us some hot tea. The guest house is beautifully decorated and our room was a delight. It was romantic and like a honeymoon cottage. I would recommend anyone visiting Copenhagen for a relaxing holiday to stay at the La Villa Guest House. The only hitch is that they do not serve food. But just next to the guest house is a Kiosk and a few steps away a food store and a few more steps away a Pakistani restaurant by the name Kashmir Palace. My husband and I happily feasted on their tasty Donar Kebabs.














During the night of 20th Dec it snowed heavily and for the first time our trip got affected. The excitement that we had felt as we set out to do some sightseeing on 21st Dec, gave way to near disillusionment as we were faced with disrupted bus schedules and unresponsive taxi services. Unwilling to give up we made our way to the DR Byen/Universitet Metro Station. From there we took a train to the Norreport Station. Thereon we walked and walked till we reached the City Hall Square. Along the route we went through a market area crowded because of the heavy Christmas shopping sales. This and the snow on the ground made it seem to be an even longer walk than what is predicted to be a 16 min distance on foot by maps.google.com.

Still our timing turned out to be perfect because the moment we reached the City Hall Square we caught the sight of a Hop on-Hop off City Sightseeing Tour bus in front of us. Not wasting any more precious moments we bought ourselves seats on it. It was clearly not a tourist friendly day and the bus was practically empty. But we marched forth.

Our first major stop was the Rosenborg Castle museum. After spending some time there, my husband and I decided to follow the instructions given to us by our first bus driver. We stood in front of the museum gate waiting for the next bus to arrive. The supposed to be 30 min waiting period eventually became an hour. In normal weather conditions this hour would have been easy to pass. But somehow exactly then the temperature dropped more, the wind became still cold, and the snow even through our shoes and layers of socks was biting our feet very ferociously. My husband and I found a small protective enclosure in a wall and huddled ourselves. Quite a few people passing by thought of it as cute and gave us smiles, wished us Merry Christmas and remarked how Copenhagen was never usually this cold.

I was so happy when I saw a shiny piece of red trudging its way slowly through the traffic towards us. Looking at its speed it sunk in that if we got off the bus again, it might be difficult to find another one to hop on. So it was decided with a heavy heart to do all further sightseeing from the inside of the bus. We still managed to see some interesting points this way, such as, the Gustav Church, the Little Mermaid, Amalienborg, and the Copenhagen Opera House. We had planned to take a Canal Boat Ride but as luck would have it the frozen water played spoilsport.

Amalienborg and Gustav Church

The Little Mermaid (Courtsey: Adit Maark Yvon)

The Copenhagen Opera House

22nd December was as cold as the previous one and there was no improvement in the traffic situation either. Lazily we started our day after lunch. We took our now familiar route via Norreport to City Hall, where right across is the splendidly lit theme part Tivoli. It looked spectacular with its light displays, fun rides, ice sculptures, and cute cottages serving as eating and shopping joints. That is why Tivoli is one of the famous attractions of Copenhagen, a must see specially if you have kids. We spent a lot of time at Tivoli, walking around taking photos.

Night was approaching and we had packing to do. So we returned to the coziness of our room. Taxi services were playing truant and there was no guarantee one would arrive the next morning as per schedule in spite of a booking. We discussed our worries with our guest house manager, Vilborg who came to our rescue by asking her husband to drop us to the airport the next morning.

Though the snow had restricted our activities, I had still felt a connection with Copenhagen. As we waited at Copenhagen Airport on 23rd Dec I, therefore, hoped that one day we will be able to return here and actually explore and enjoy the city in better conditions.