Woolly says – It had been an incredibly early start to the day which found us waiting at a bus stop in Dudley at 4am, as Jo paced up and down waiting for the coach that would take us to the airport I attempted to snooze and dream about the adventure to come.
The airport was quiet as most sensible people were still in bed, we checked the backpack in and acquired our boarding pass and headed for some wake up coffee and breakfast whilst keeping a beady eye on the departure board. It had been so long since I had last been in an airport, I felt quite excited and almost set off to look at the shops when the human stopped me in my tracks and pointed towards our gate. Having boarded the plane and found our seats I settled in happy in the knowledge that as we were flying with KLM there would be a snack involved on the flight, I licked my lips in anticipation.
As the plane soared into the sky the trolley started its slow progress down the aisle, as it reached our row of seats I turned my attention from the clouds to the trolley, when suddenly….
Without any forewarning the mammoth leapt across the lady next to us and screamed ‘STOP’ at the steward, before frantically jumping up and down and pointing at the bag of biscuits in the flight attendant’s hand. As I looked towards the same thing I realised why.
Woolly says – …. COCONUT NOOOOOOO. Jo is extremely allergic to the stuff and the whole plane was about to start consuming coconut cookies. A brief conversation ensued, and the stewardess frantically started reclaiming the biscuits from the other passengers while the head honcho arrived at our row and talked to Jo in more detail. The long and the short of it was that no one got a snack on that flight, but neither was my carer being carted off to hospital in a body bag which was a relief.
Our flight landed late into Amsterdam and rather than a nice saunter along to get our connecting flight the two of us flew along the thirty miles of corridors and concourses arriving at the gate with moments to spare. A further hour later and with no further coconut incidents we arrived in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and is the most populated city in Denmark, built on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the Øresund strait. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road. The bridge connecting the capital to Sweden was busy with traffic, the first bridge across Nyhavn opened on 1874 and was a temporary wooden footbridge. It was replaced by the current bridge in 1912.
Originally a Viking fishing village established in the 10th century it became the capital in the early 15th century and is home to the Danish Royal family.
With our bags dumped in the hostel which has to be one of the prettiest hostels we have ever stayed in, we set off to have a look round before night set in.
Nyhavn is a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses, bars and wonderful wooden ships.
Nyhavn was constructed by King Christian V from 1670 to 1675, dug by Swedish prisoners of war from the Dano-Swedish War 1658 – 1660. It is perhaps most famous for being the place that Danish author Hans Christian Andersen lived for 18 years. As we stood looking at the colourful array of properties it was a delight to behold.
We arrived in Kongens Nytorv – or ‘The King’s New Square’ a square in the heart of Copenhagen’s old town and home to some glorious buildings, the Royal Theatre, Hotel D’Angleterre and Kunsthal Charlottenborg were all incredible and as Jo napped away, I turned my attention to a man on a horse.
The equestrian statue of Christian V was built in 1688 to celebrate the king who laid out the area, surrounded by trees it was a perfect place to sit for a while and watch the traffic and the hundreds of cyclist’s streamed past us.
With the light nearly gone and rain drops starting to plop on my head I suggested that we find something to eat that would mean I didn’t get any wetter, heading back along the colourful display of Nyhavn we found a suitable bar to people watch under a larger umbrella. Our first Danish meal was an array of prawns, avocado, egg and potato salad, delightful if a little pricey for our pockets, tomorrow would be a bread and gruel day and a huge amount to see, I could barely wait for the morning to arrive.