Wednesday 21 August 2013

Holiday Scavenging - (Almost) All In A Danish Day

I'm back!  From a trip down memory lane, attending a reunion with friends and colleagues from my first job abroad in Västerås, Sweden.  Hubby and I combined it with a road trip from Copenhagen to Stockholm for our first holiday without children for many a year.  According to my pedometer, we walked 19km (nearly 12 miles) around Copenhagen on our first day ... partly because I was trying to squeeze in a sunset shot for Rinda's Summer 2013 Scavenger Hunt and the sun didn't set until around 9 in the evening!  We'd started 12 hours earlier with a theatre on our way to the Tourist Information Centre:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #2 - Cirkus Teater Copenhagen
#2 - A Theatre For Performing Arts
With only one day in Copehagen we didn't have time for any museums or exhibitions, but this one looked interesting:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #20
#20 - A Dinosaur
Instead, we chose a walking tour of the city and spotted some fire engines on our way to the meeting point:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #15
#15 - Fire Engines
We were entertained, informed and exhausted by our tour, but it did mean we notched up half a dozen photos for the hunt including a wistful photo of somewhere to sit and rest:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #10
#10 - A Bench
Hubby & I love the Scandinavian dramas on BBC4 and were glad to pass by the eponymous parliament building from the series "Borgen".

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #3 - Parliament Building Copenhagen
#3 - Danish Parliament Building
Copenhagen was full of towers but we agreed that this was one of the prettiest and it apparently affords some of the best views of the city ... but we didn't have the energy to tackle the 400 steps (including 150 on the OUTside)!

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #8 - Spire of Church Of Our Saviour, Copenhagen
#8 - A Tower
Hubby and I both found this sign amusing and wondered if many dogs paid attention:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #7
#7 - An Amusing Sign
Even more odd than a beach in the centre of a city was a submarine out of water - an interesting museum if we ever return to Copenhagen:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #9
#9 - Something Out Of Place
Our walking tour finished by the Amalienborg Palaces, guarded by several of these fellows marching (with folded arms!) across the beautiful mosaics:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #14 - Royal Life Guard, Copenhagen
#14 - A Mosaic
We'd spotted the submarine whilst zooming in for the windmills, but later in the day we came across a "proper" windmill on the green ramparts of Kastellet near the Little Mermaid.

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #16 - Windmill, Kastellet, Copenhagen
#16 - A Windmill
Copenhagen is remarkably peaceful for a capital city; the traffic isn't too intense as nearly 40% of the inhabitants cycle rather than use their cars and the place is awash with green spaces.  The summer weather meant that the parks were full of relaxed people, some of whom were snoozing on a VERY hot afternoon:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #6
#6 - A Napper
They wouldn't have been lying there 30 minutes later because a thunderstorm was set to cool us all down briefly.  Luckily we'd moved on to the shelter of the shopping district.

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #1
#1 - An Open Air Market
A quick change at the hotel into dry clothes and we enjoyed a romantic, candlelit dinner for two:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #17
#17 - A Candle
Followed by another walk to wait for the sunset:

Jimjams - Scavenger Hunt 2013 #5 - Sunset, Copenhagen
#5 - A Sunset
Phew - thanks for sticking with me for 14 photo finds in 12 hours.  Part two of my Holiday Hunt (The Swedish Grand Finale) coming soon! is posted here.

18 comments:

Missus Wookie said...

Welcome back - very entertaining reading and yeah for finding all those photos too. Copenhagen is one of those cities I've always wanted to visit - so many friends have worked/visited and they always say how lovely it is.

Sian said...

Great pictures! We were in Copenhagen for a day this summer..and we were both agreed that it's one of the first places we will come back to when we are holidaying on our own again

Julie Kirk said...

That must have been so satisfying to find all those in one day - and they're such interesting finds too! It looks like a very special day.

As a huge Borgen fan I'm quite envious!

Jane said...

looks like a great trip, I love Borgen too.

alexa said...

Brilliant photos and all in a day too! The Danes' love of cycling has been in the news here while you have been away, I think. Hope you have time to grab a cuppa and catch your breath and we'll be quite happy here just looking at that lovely sunset until you return :).

Ladkyis said...

I love the way you have linked the pictures together. I love the pictures too. Copenhagen sounds delightful perhaps Mr M and I will venture back to Europe one day, when we have finished doing the UK and Ireland.

furrypig said...

so many fab photos Jemma well done looking forward to seeing the rest xxx

scrappyjacky said...

Amazing sunset....and love the windmill.

Kirsty.A said...

Wow. i'm impressed. The sunset was worth the wait, and I love that tower

helena said...

wow, great haul and what a fascinating city. I've been thinking it would be fun to have a hunt list for a day out and this makes me even more keen on the idea

Susanne said...

Wow, what fun snapshots. I can't wait for part 2.

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

I really like the mosaic & the tower! Great photos!

Jen said...

Oh I am so envious - Copenhagen is on my to do list - - maybe one day! Your photos are absolutely fabulous - looks like a great holiday. J x

Maria Ontiveros said...

Wow! What a great job! Wish I'd seen this before I did my round up post. Maybe I'll go back and add some of these. They're all terrific.
Rinda

Alison said...

What fab pictures, Jemma...and you have reminded me to post my own 'finds'!
Alison xx

JulieJ said...

What a great set of photos.

JulieJ said...

Great set of photos - I'm nearly done now.

Anonymous said...

What great photos and they brought back a lot of memories of our day in Copenhagen back in 2008. I definitely want to go back there for a longer time. Good job on getting all those finds.