Welkommen til København!

I love Scandinavia. Always have, always will. When others seek out sun and beaches, I'm poring over my map of Norway. Yes I know there's more to Scandinavia than Norway, much much more and I got to thinking I might be missing out on a fair bit of Scandinavias' charms so when the time came to choose a destination for Jnrs 5th birthday trip and Denmark jumped up and waved its flag, I took notice. I've been a couple times before, to Esjberg, for work but that was it and I didn't even get much to see of that.

Plan A was to fly to Billund on the Jutland Peninsula for the ultimate Legoland experience - Jnr being a massive Lego fan - but I'd had forgotten that its January and Legoland is actually shut....bugger.

Plan B - Copenhagen. Its on the big island of Zealand and also partly on Amager, a smaller island connected to the main part of Copenhagen by five bridges. The Øresund bridge connects Copenhagen to Malmö which could provide access to Sweden for just over 400DKK. So with the Hotel Sct Thomas booked in the Frederiksberg area of the city, we left Aberdeen last Friday. 

Looking towards Ny Vestergade and Christianborg Ridebane from Frederiksholm Kanal

We'd hired a Golf TSi with a satnav and thank god for that. I remember coming out of Bremen airport for the first time without satnav and thinking 'I may Die here' as I got utterly confused and lost by the weird road system within the airport compound. Its not the whole driving on the other side of the road thing that gets me, that's fine - its trying to remain on the right side of the road while looking at signs that are 13cm apart and with each one seemingly contradicting the previous. They're not obviously, its just me being crap but when I saw Copenhagen airport was almost an exact replica of Bremen, well....thankfully Jnrs dad was driving (I am still without leg) and so I sat back and just screamed occasionally. Oh and nagged. I got told off for that.

Hotel Sankt Thomas, Frederiksberg C

Safely installed in the beautiful boutique hotel I'd booked completely randomly for much cheapness, we had a wander round the city for the rest of the afternoon and then as evening fell, set out to find somewhere to eat and it was precisely one and a half minutes before we found Mama Ludbas' .The restaurant is beautiful - we ate downstairs in old underground wine cellars, big gothic mirrors, candlelight only and the food is amazing. I had tagliatelle with long, thin slices of veal fillet, onion, garlic served with a red wine sauce mmmmmmmmmmmm and then the best tiramisu I have ever had, James opted for good old spaghetti bolognaise and smoothing his way into the waitresses affections. The place is filled with such a great, social vibe. Filled with great food and most of a bottle of a gorgeous Merlot - I know, I'm just sooo nineties darling - we all slept extremely soundly.

Upstairs in Mama Ludbas'

Next day we were up early for the usual Scandinavian breakfast of cold meats, cheeses etc. This being Jnrs first trip abroad anywhere other than Menorca, he was delighted but confused to discover that salad for breakfast is allowed and so loaded up with yoghurt and cucumber, then went back for half a block of cheese and some olives. I just shuttled back and forth to the tea caddy as I was in serious withdrawal mode - the hotel, for other tea addicts to note, does not provide tea/coffee facilities in the room. I think its because it would detract from the IKEA'ish simplicity of the decoration. Or it might be that they think its commie. I don't know but I was suffering.

The evening before we'd compiled a list of things we all wanted to do and see so on Saturday morning started at my first choice which was the authors' Karen Blixen museum - Rungstedlund - up the coast, just a few miles short of Helsingør. Karen Blixen wrote under a couple of pen names - Isak Dinesen, Osceola and Pierre Andrézel and is guess if most well known for 'Out of Africa' and my favourite 'Babettes Feast'. She was also a very talented artist.

Karen Blixen

I have to say it was quite an emotional visit - seeing her house almost exactly as she left it when she died in 1962, her favourite chair that featured in most of the later photographs taken of her, her personal effects laying about and handwritten notes to friends and relatives for the public now to see and finding out about the shocking state of her health and treatment. Before we left I took a walk around the grounds of Rungstedlund and visited her grave and a memorial to the great Danish poet Johannes Ewald - who spent time at Rungstedlund convalescing in the later part of the 1700's.

We spent the rest of the day at the National Museum and Christianborg Palace on the little island of Slotsholmen in the city. The National Museum is an absolute must - whether you have kids or not. Its free to get in, is superbly set out and is crammed full of everything from interactive prehistoric burial excavations to South American mummies to Danish warships to .....to ......theres so much I can't even begin to list it! It also has a very expensive restaurant but a less expensive gift shop where Jnr purchased a viking dagger and scabbard which he hasn't taken off yet.
 

Doors on Frederiksholm Kanal

 Saturdays evenings meal was less impressive - Jnr and his dad raided the 7-11 over the street from us as I has stupidly not drank enough that day and was in a fair bit of pain from kidney stones. So it was hot dogs , pizza and ibuprofen in front of the TV watching Danish kids cartoons and sorting through photographs on my Nikon D80. I'd also taken my Olympus OM1 and I am really crossing everything that the black and white stuff I shot has worked. Very exciting nervewracking.

By Sunday morning I'd fully recovered and so to Roskilde and the Viking Ship Museum! Cast your minds back to 2007 and 2008 and somewhere in there you might recall a group of bearded types sailing a replica Viking warship called the Sea Stallion of Glendalough from Roskilde to Ireland and back again (the next year)? Well that's where we were. It was amazing, utterly amazing to see the original vessel Skudalev 2 - on which the Sea Stallion was based - the other reclaimed hulls from the fjord and the Sea Stallion herself.  We sat and watched a film in the theatre about the voyage and got all emotional and even Jnr just sat quietly engrossed and grew a beard. He absolutely loved the place and had added Viking to his list of things he wants to be when he grows up - currently the list included bin lorry man, jet pilot and tractor driver. I guess Viking-ing could be done in the evenings.

James and his logbook entry

yeah, i know, I'm a big kid too...

After a tour of the inside part of the museum which is well worth the entrance fee by the way, we had a wander around outside. There are life size replicas of most types of viking vessels from small one and two man fishing vessels to well, the Sea Stallion. It was quite eerie stood on the shore of the frozen fjord with the beginnings of a new vessel behind you and sea birds screeching breaking the relative silence around you  - its not to hard to imagine being stood there a thousand years ago.

boat building at Roskilde

jetty post, Roskilde

ice at the shoreline, Roskilde

birds on frozen Roskilde fjord

After Roskilde we travelled north to Louisiana museum of Modern Art and spent a time wandering around there  - I'm not a massive fan of everything modern art encompasses - I was there for the sculptures only really - but one piece really grabbed me - a long, curved white corridor filled from end to end with line drawn portraits of female pilots who served in World War II, their kill scores or number of planes transported and a brief history underneath each one. There was a constant drone of a bomber being played in the room and it sparked a whole series of emotions in me from sadness for those who'd lost their lives to a really surprising whack round the face shock at the number of people these women, who looked so beautiful and serene there on the wall, had actually killed.

Window, Rungstedlund

Then to Helsingør - home to Kronberg Castle and Hamlet! We had planned to take the ferry over to Helsingborg in Sweden for dinner but I'd left my passport behind in the hotel room so instead just toured about there and then drove back down in time for tea in Copenhagen. It really is a beautiful city by night - fantastic architecture and because there are hardly any cars - most people seem to travel by bike - its so quiet. The three lakes that form a major attraction in Copenhagen :- Sankt Jørgens Sø, Peblinge Sø and Sortedams Sø were frozen solid and just magical from the bridges that dissect them.

Monday morning we set off along the Øresundmotorvejen and into Sweden for a very quick sojourn into Malmo and then back to the airport to catch the flight home.

bike, Ny Vestergade

Fantastic city break, fantastic city. Jnr had a great time, which was the main point of the trip and I'll definitely be back to explore some more..