One of the fascinating facts I have discovered here in Denmark is that everyone speaks perfect English, many without an accent. They can switch without thinking between them. I think our education system lets children down and that they should be forced to learn a different language until they leave school. It may have helped me as I am hopeless speaking anything other than proper Norfolk.
Danish does sound a harsh language to hear. Very little of it is comprehensible to my uneducated ear and it not gentle as perhaps Italian or Spanish may be.
Most signs and information points are both in Danish & English.
There has been a smattering of UK accents around us that we have noticed, but most of the English amongst other visitors has had a distinct American twang. They are presumably on the ‘if its Tuesday this must be Denmark tour’. It is interesting to me that the vast majority of other visitors though are all speaking different languages none of which I recognise. We have assumed probably wrongly that they may be from elsewhere in Scandinavia.
Anyhow on our last morning we were in breakfast by 8.30am. We then went back and packed, leaving our suitcases with the hotel after checking out.
We went across the road and caught the red sightseeing bus as our tickets were valid for 24 hours. We didn’t bother with the commentary this time as we were just using it to get to the New Harbour or Nyhavn in Danish. This small inlet has all the pretty coloured cottages that are shown on all the pictures you see of Copenhagen.
One side is just full of bars and restaurants. As we were early, they were still setting up for the day. It was already bustling though with fellow tourists. It didn’t take us long to walk around and take a few photos.
We sat for a while in the Kings Square at the end of the small harbour admiring the statue that we had been told about on the bus tour. It was of some King on a horse. However, as the horse was trotting there was not enough of the statue in contact with the ground and so it kept toppling over. The bizarre solution had been to add another element of a naked man under the horse to give more anchor points.
After this we decided to slowly walk the 1.2 miles back to the Hotel along the main shopping thoroughfare. It was all very pleasant. We looked in a couple of shops, including the main Lego shop where I admired some of the very expensive sets available. I still fancy making the Titanic but it would need to be a considerably reduced second hand one from eBay that I could then resell afterwards.
Just over half way back was Starbucks and in Karen’s eyes it is an offense to just walk past it, so we stopped for a couple of drinks.
Then it was back to pick up our bags to make our way to the airport. We were going to catch the Metro as we had on arrival but the helpful receptionist at the Hotel told us to catch the regional railway from the main train station as it was closer and it was direct with no connections. Karen loves a train and was excited to try it.
We purchased our tickets from the machine and without any real difficulty found the correct platform. The train was on time to the second and it was smooth and easy.
In fact, it was so easy that we were probably an hour too early at the airport but we found somewhere to sit and wait. I then worked out that there were 2 terminals joined together and that the cheaper airlines were at the ones furthest away which is why we had such a walk when arriving. Of course, we now had that again and typically Ryanair were at the very end of the other terminal.
To Karen’s delight we were at the front of the queue to board the plane. Sadly, though the plane was some 25 minutes from landing. We soon got talking to a guy standing with us who turned out to be the MD of Hoseasons. We chatted about New Zealand from where his family came from.
The flight itself was uneventful as was the drive home via the Fish & Chip shop.
We had really enjoyed Copenhagen as a short break. I’m not sure we have a reason to go back as we feel we have now done it and the price of everything here is rather prohibitive.
We were told that Denmark is the happiest nation in the world, we are not sure what it is they are so happy about though. Admittedly unemployment is low and wages are high, but when the weather turns and the nights get longer it must be a dark grim place to be. Especially as import tax on cars is 180% to try and force more people onto bicycles for transport which must challenging during the winter months. And why do many of them support Liverpool?
