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Down Copenhagen! |
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Rating:
 (4.0) (4 Votes)
Copenhagen, Denmark
June 20th, 2004
Pros:
Great photos
Cons: It was
chilly and blankets were issued at many restaurants!
We touched down at Copenhagen (København). The word 'havn'
mean harbour and to sailors means no more rough seas, safety &
the warmth of earth was welcomed. The English word 'haven' was thus
derived from 'havn'
We crossed the immigration briskly and located our luggage. Chris
changed to her Nikes. It was lucky she took my advice to bring the
pair after I reasoned with her that boots were too heavy to walk
around.
Copenhagen airport was much better than Hellthrow. It speaks volume
why the Danish ranks 7th in IMD 2004 World Competitiveness Report.
This report measures a country's economic performance, government
efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure. UK was 22nd
behind Germany (21) & Bavaria (20). The Danish are simply more
determined to get ahead and do things better. In fact most of Scandinavia
are highly competitive. Iceland is 5th, Finland's 8th, Sweden's
11th & Norway 17th. Even former British colonies did better
than their former colonial masters - Singapore (2), Hong Kong (6).
What I can't understand is why do countries with so much more land
than Singapore have airport that doesn't give you space. I mean
it's has narrower walkways and people need to maneuver their luggage
trolleys carefully. Changi give you & your trolley wide walking
space.
We took a taxi to our hotel and just like Lonely Planet predicted,
the fare was around 200DKK. We finally arrived at the hotel at about
7pm. Getting the suitcase thru the hotel revolving door was a challenge.
Our room was a tad small with 2 separate beds leaving very little
space to open the suitcase and this is supposed to be a first class
hotel. It wasn't any different from the budget ones I stayed in
Europe before except that it has better location. Amalienborg Palace
and Nyhavn was a block away. After some unpacking, we quickly went
out in search of a bite. We settled for LP recommendation of Cap
Horn @ Nyhavn. It was chilly and blankets were issued at many restaurants.
We opted sitting al fresco in the cold than to brave the smoking
interior. It was obscenely expensive. Main was Fish with Potatoes
and it cost us 140DKK each. We drank tea & hot chocolate as
none of us was insane enough to order any wine which was riduclously
expensive.
We took some pics of Nyhavn. Nyhavn is a row of pretty old houses
by the waterfront and old sailing ships are moored along it giving
it a great photo opportunity. It was also where HC Anderson lived
for 19 years at No. 67. We proceeded to walk in the direction of
Stroget. Just at the end of Nyhavn, ugly road works all over the
Kongens Nytorv. In Stroget, passed the Guiness World Record attraction
and decided to turn back since all the shop are closed. We passed
the hotel to the Amalieborg Palace. We proceeded further to the
little mermaid to snap some pics. This was when we first noticed
the windmill at a distance. The pics didn't turn out well (digital
camera) because of the dusky light.
We called it a night at about 11pm since both of us looked like
zombies. |
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