Copenhagen, in search for the mermaid

15/08/23 - a Mothers day leave!

Today I could sleep in because it is a bank holiday in our country, what a bliss it was. Most of the time, Tuesdays are the best days in the week for me anyways. Since Covid I have decided to work part-time instead of full time so I can take of my nieces one day in the week as well. My brother and sister-in-law have long hours and since I decided I rather have a life instead of being lived, I went from working 5 days a week to 4 days in a week and till now I am enjoying it.

The downside of it is that it is always a hassle when vacation days are concerned, it is a struggle to get everything managed, but on the other hand it is also great to go on multiple shorter trips and since it is Mothers Day in our part of the world, I thought it would be fun to take my mother somewhere she always dreamed of going to and of course, this one goes for me as well.

Denmark was still on my list to visit and especially Copenhagen, so now that the time was right, I booked myself and my parents a ticket towards the north about a few months ago. My father really wanted to come with us, since he hasn't gone anywhere the last couple of years and I thought, why not, so I booked an extra room for me and a double for the folks and now that the time was there, we were excited to leave.

This evening I booked us an overnight stay at the airport because it always is a hassle driving to the airport and in the wee hours I don't feel up for it, so I arranged us a few cheap rooms so we could spend the night and do things in a relaxing way. After our trip to Africa, this was a welcome change.

Although I had a great time, I left the country with mixed feelings and now that we were going cittytripping for just a few days, it felt a bit like an extension of that last trip and I was really looking forward to it.

We arrived at the train station at 5PM, bought ourselves the train tickets and waited till our train arrived. I guess we were waiting for about 10 minutes when they announced that there was going to be a delay of about 20 minutes. The sun was shining and we had nowhere to go, so we could handle it, but soon there was another one saying that we needed to wait for another 10 minutes.

This wasn't going to be fun anymore. We had to change trains in Berchem and although we had to wait for about 45 minutes to catch our connecting train, it was going to be very close to get our other train. With our fingers crossed, we got into the first one, only to arrive at Berchem station 40 minutes later and luckily we could change trains in less than 10 minutes. Sometimes a downfall has its benefits.

We got on the train as soon as we could and noticed it was "fully booked". Here was my dad saying that it was going to be an easy ride since it was so late in the afternoon, but the truth was something completely different and as we were searching for a few seats, we found them a few minutes later. We couldn't sit next to each other, but luckily we found ones in the same compartment. It was but a 35 minutes ride after all and a little after 19PM we arrived in Brussels Airport.

It seems my mum was glad to be out of the train and I as well I might ad. With so many people inside and the hot weather outside, the AC wasn't working all that well and let's just say it as it is ... the train smelled a little bit too much to be honest.

My mum wasn't feeling up to it to take the local bus, so instead I just took a cab and only mere minutes later we arrived at our hotel, the Ibis Budget hotel. Checking in was no hassle at all and since the weather was still nice, we had a bit of a walk near the hotel, had a drink in the Ibis hotel next door before we retreated back to our rooms coz tomorrow morning an early wake up call awaited us.

16/08/23 - hello Denmark

My alarm clock went off at 6AM and it felt like hell broke loose to be honest. I hadn't slept a wink, the room was just so hot and normally I am the last person to complain about such things, but this was the simple fact. I am really getting old, I guess?

I must say that I was glad to be out of there and as I met up with my parents, I soon learned they had the same experience.

As I booked ourselves breakfast for three at 6.30AM, we were able to get a bite to eat before heading towards the airport. I had booked ourselves another taxi at 7.15AM and this should be enough time to go to the airport wasn't it for the simple fact that our taxi did not arrive at the agreed time. What was going on?

There were some flashbacks coming up from only a few weeks ago when Tania and me went on our Africa trip and to be honest, I started to get a little bit nervous. I went to the check in counter and asked what was going wrong? It seemed our taxi had a delay of 20 minutes because of the traffic!

OMG, here we go again, how can things go so wrong every time when I book a taxi, it doesn't show up? The only explanation you always get is that it is stuck in traffic? This is just so wrong! When I go to work I have to be on time and show up on time. When I order a taxi a day before, why is it always late? Bad management if you ask me, nothing more and nothing less!

I asked us to arrange another one, but it was also going to take at least 15 minutes! Well, this sounded strange to my ears since yesterday we only had a 5 minute drive coming from the airport, but we had to make do with it.

Luckily my father was on the lookout outside the hotel and found us a taxi about 10 minutes later. It turned out to be the one we ordered in the first place. I was just so glad to see the guy I could hug him! And guess what, another 5 minutes later we arrived at the airport!

Now being a little bit more relaxed we could actually enjoy ourselves and as soon as we went through customs and all, we had ourselves a cup of coffee before heading to the gate.

Our ride towards the north was on time and finding our seats was no trouble at all. Before we knew it, we were airborne and with the wind in our tail, we arrived at the Danish capital about one and a half hour later. Since we didn't had too much luggage, we just proceeded to the exit and went on a search for a taxi. Might I ad, we had no hassle at all this time around and arrived at our hotel less than half an hour later.

Since we arrived a little before noon, our rooms were not ready till 3PM. That was a bit of a downer, but I wasn't in the mood to wait all that time in our hotel. We were advised to go to the lockers and stow our luggage there and before we knew it, we were outside again and with the sun in our faces we went on the lookout for a bite to eat.

This of course wasn't hard at all and with ours tummies filled, we had our first sights of the day. We had a leisurely walk near Tivoli since our hotel wasn't that far situated from this amusement park. From there we had a walk towards the Stroget, but not before we noticed all the rainbow flags in every street or corner we passed.

It seemed that during our stay here, it was also Pride Week which started from the 12th of August till the 20th of August and we happened to be in the middle of it. Not that I minded one bit coz I rather love the colors of the rainbow flag and here it was present wherever you looked. I never saw a city which cares so much about this community, not even in Amsterdam and after all, this city is as free minded as can be. This was rather a surprise, but a pleasant one as I think it is great when a person can be just the person he/she wants to be.

As we arrived at the Stroget, which is supposed to be the longest shopping promenade of Europe, we did a bit of window shopping while we were there and as we reached the end of the more than 1 kilometer long street, we went on the lookout for that other point of interest, Nyhavn, where we arrived about an hour later because we had so many resting stops along the way just enjoying the views and of course the hustle and bustle of everyday life. After all, we our tourists and since my folks are with me, we just kept things slow.

The sun was still shining around 6PM when we slowly started going back to our hotel. My mum would not be my mum when she wasn't concerned where we were going to stay for the next couple of days, so as we arrived at the hotel, I picked up our luggage so that she could check out her room and be at ease.

As soon as everyone was settled, we had a coffee break at the Espresso House near our hotel, which is kind of a chain like Starbucks and I must say that I liked it as well. My dad on the other hand liked all the sweet and savory things which were on sale in this store. He wasn't going to die from hunger here in this city, that's for sure.

We walked a little bit more through several streets near the Stroget and ended up at Dante's Square, where we had a more than enjoyable dinner. Of course the monument made by Jens Galschiot and called Dante enters into dialogue with the 21st century is quite interesting as well and made in honor of the 700th anniversary of Dante's death.

My dad immediately noticed the middle finger of course, I on the other hand, was more interested in the other details, to be more precise the four pigs or are they wild boars?

For the ones who want to learn more about the statue, you can find all the details below!
https://galschiot.com/en/work/2021-dante-enters-into-dialogue-with-the-21st-century

As it started to get dark, we slowly walked back to our rooms and checked them out before going to bed. I was quite knackered to be honest and already looking forward to tomorrow.

17/08/23 - in search of the little mermaid

The reason for my visit to Copenhagen, as well as my mum, was the visit of that infamous statue of the Little Mermaid. I have always been a fan of Hans Christian Andersen. I have to admit, ever since I was little, I was interested not only in the stories of the brothers Grimm, but the ones of Andersen as well.

Yep, I didn't grew up with television when I was younger. Whenever I could, I had my eyes between books and of course fairytales were the first ones I read and from that moment on I was hooked on stories like that.

We had a bit of a sleep in after that terrible night yesterday and after breakfast we were on our way towards the statue. This was our main goal of the day and seeing it was only a 3.5 kilometers walk away from our hotel, we went for it. We slowly walked alongside the water, passing Amalienborg Palace. Of course I had to have a sneak peek and saw the Danish flag flutter, which we thought meant that Queen Margrethe II was in the building. True or false I don't know, but the did saw the Royal Guards slowly walking next to the Palaces of which there are four of them and they all look identical.

Because we didn't want to linger too much, we walked further near the water and within half an hour we reached the statue. We simply had to follow all the tourists and before we knew it, we could gaze at the statue as well. I expected it to be little and although it is 1.25 meters tall, seeing it from the water's edge, it even looks smaller, but it did not disappoint.

We had a bit of rest on one of the many benches and I must say that I like this a lot in Copenhagen. Whenever you are tired or want to have a break, benches or places to sit are found everywhere, much to the joy of my parents. My mum thought it was a bliss since she sprained her ankle a few months ago and still suffers from it, but I might ad, she does a lot of walking and never complains about it.

From there we passed Kastellet, a citadel and said to be the best preserved fortress in Northern Europe, but since they were dropping busloads of tourists, we really didn't fell up to it to visit it and besides we saw the windmill on our way up to the statue of the Little Mermaid. We had a break at the Gefion fountain with its oxen and also had a quick look in the nearby church of St. Alban's, which is the oldest Anglican Church of Copenhagen.

It was really a pity they were renovating the place, but still, we had the chance to have a look inside and it was quite interesting.

As we walked all the way back to the center, we passed the palace again and could have waited for about 10 minutes because of the changing of the Royal Guard. I had heard a lot of it, but there were just so many people up and about that we rather went on the look for something to eat. And yes, my stomach is more important than a few guys walking around on music.

We did end up eating at Nyhavn and with all the views on the boats and colored houses, I must say that it is my most favourite place in Copenhagen.

After lunch, we wondered through many streets and visited loads of smaller churches and interesting looking buildings and I must say that I am impressed how many there are in the city. in the late afternoon we made our way towards the Tivoli Gardens and bought ourselves an entrance ticket to see what the fuss was all about of this second-oldest amusement park in the entire world.

I must admit I was glad not to have bought tickets for the attractions as well because most of them were not good for my stomach. It is a family park, but still, most of the attractions were for the slightly older "children" amongst us.

To my surprise I saw a lot of older people walking around and I guess all the colourful plants and the many benches had something to do with that as well because even when you are older, you can still enjoy the gardens and have a break with a cup of coffee or cake as well. It is fun to spend an afternoon in the gardens and there is eve a possibility to eat something nearby as we did in the Tivoli food hall. Although it was a bit busy to my dads taste, we end up eating delicious food and that is the most important thing.

We wondered through the streets again, near our hotel and ended up at our usual hangout for one last nightcap before we headed back to our hotel and our rooms as well.

18/08/23 - another day full of sightseeing

Another day awaited us, but sadly enough it was not a bright and shiny one as raindrops were hitting my hotel room window, but I had high hopes that things would turn as soon as we had some breakfast and love and behold almost an hour later, the rain was gone, but clouds were still hovering above us. This was more than enough for me.

My mum wanted to visit another food hall, so we opted for the "Torvehallerne KBH", which were about half an hour situated from our hotel and although we had a delicious breakfast, it was too soon to have something of food again, but still, this doesn't mean we can't have a look!

As we arrived at the food hall, raindrops fell on our heads again, so we hurried inside and had a look at all the local delicacies as well as other yummy things. The food hall has 2 halls in total, one for the more luxury products together with pastries and such and another one where you can find meats, fish and poultry. In between there is a vegetable market with lots of delicious looking veggies and a few flowers can be found as well.

From the Torvehallerne, we had a walk towards Rosenborg castle located in the museum district. It is not of use to go to a museum with my parents, so we just had the next best thing and had a quick look at the outside of the castle in renaissance style. It is said to house the kingdom's greatest treasures, but the hour wait outside, wasn't the thing my folks were looking for, so we had a stroll on the premises and the gardens before we headed back towards the centre of the city.

We had lunch in a small café near the Stroget before we crossed the river and visited a few churches on the other side. I was really taken by the Church of our Saviour and its serpentine spire. There was a possibility to go on the tower and have an amazing view once on top, but as I stood in line to by myself a ticket, I saw some people coming down with nausea and one girl even said she returned halfway because of fear of heights. That was my sign just to leave things as they were and I skipped the idea all together. Yep I am a wimp when heights are concerned. Sometimes I succeed to overcome it, sometimes I don't, that is the simple truth!

Instead the three of us walked a little bit further to the much spoken Freetown Christiania. I had read a bit about It, it being a controversial area with dodgy people who are considered kind of hippies and sorts. The place is very much know for its drug use, but luckily it is only soft drugs and you can smell it upon arrival, that's for sure.

There are rules you are considered to follow and one of them is not to take pictures, but once we arrived at the scene so to speak I saw a few people taking pictures of the graffiti, which is really special and beautiful indeed, so I asked a resident if I can take a few pictures with my phone and love and behold, he turned out a friendly carpenter maybe with a few screws loose like we say in my part of the world, but still a very friendly chap who wouldn't hurt a fly.

We walked a bit through the main street which is called Pusher street and I finally found the friendly giant I was looking for, Green George made by the artist Thomas Dambo. There are 4 of them in Copenhagen region, but only one of them is located in the centre, so sadly enough the other three remain a mystery to me. That doesn't mean I can revisit the place one day and look for them all.

Made from recycled trash, to be more precise wood this troll really looks the part and I can't but admire this piece of art for a few minutes, it is mesmerizing and I really like it ... maybe I should visit Norway next. It is not the land of trolls?

In the late afternoon we ended up near the river again and enjoyed the sun to its fullest. During the day the weather changed on us for the better and like most locals, we had ourselves a few drinks on a terrace overlooking one of the many baths which are so popular in the city and with a bit of music as well since of the local singers did his best to sing some Elvis classical songs and other ones of that time period as well.

We had an early dinner while enjoying some good music and once we crossed the river again, visited Nyhavn for the very last time since tomorrow we already had to leave again. Sadly enough our short trip had come to an end, but we finished it in style with a drink on the rooftop bar of our Scandic hotel. It was a bit of a splurge since Denmark isn't a cheap country, but hey, we are here now, we might as well enjoy it while we can!

19/08/23 - all things come to an end

Our flight wasn't going to leave till 12AM, so we decided to sleep in because of the comfy beds in our hotel and I must say, the 4star Scandic Spectrum was well worth the money. It was not the cheapest one, but I guess the right choice for a Mother's day gift!

As soon as we had breakfast, we packed our stuff together and called for a taxi and guess what. We simply had to press a button at the check in counter and 5 minutes later a taxi arrived. I guess we can learn a bit when services are concerned in Belgium as well as The Netherlands.

It must have been almost 20 minutes later when we arrived at the airport located in Kastrup and with loads of time still to kill we did a bit of window shopping. As soon as we got our designated gate, we slowly walked towards it, being a little surprised when looking at an empty window. It seems our plane was still in the air. My first thought was, that we were going to have a delay, not that I minded, but had I known, I arrived at the airport a little later but now, I was wrong because half an hour before our flight, our birdie appeared and love and behold, everything went so smoothly we arrived in Brussels again at 1.30PM where my brother awaited us.

He found it was a bit stupid us three going home by train and since it was a Sunday he decided to pick us up. Not a bad thing actually because we made good time on the highway and arrived back home a few hours later.

What a trip it was. It was a short one, but it sure made me dream of other ones as well. Where to go to next I wonder????