Copenhagen 11th – 12th – 13th August
( Ewout)
On Thursday night we stayed in a parking place near Trelleborg then on friday after paying about a $100 dollars for the privilege we crossed over the Oresund Bridge, which at the end turns into a tunnel and ends up in Denmark. In Copenhagen we drove to the City Camp only open for 3 months of the year and is really a car park for motor homes to stay close to the city. It is secure,. has showers and toilets with free internet and very close to a large shopping mall, expensive but convenient.
The afternoon was spent checking out the mall and caught a sightseeing hop on hop off boat. We had a pleasant cruise through the canals and harbour of Copenhagen. On the way back we got off and had coffee at Nyhavn a busy cafe strip next to a picturesque canal. The coffee was lousy but the view and the ambiance was great. After coming back to the mall we decided to have tea at a Mexican buffet place in the mall. Good food at a reasonable price.
On Saturday we headed into the centre of Copenhagen where we met Milla a fellow AGC Security worker who comes from Denmark and was there to sort out some property she has. We met at 11.30 and headed straight for the palace to see the changing of the guards. We arrived there at 12.00 along with many others to see the soldiers perform their ritual. From there we went to a cafe along the bank of the harbour and drank beer while watching the boats and the people go by. Milla then suggested we go to the Tivoli, an amusement park right in the centre of Copenhagen. There we ate ice-cream (the Danes love ice cream) Milla left us at about 4.30 then we went on several rides and we stayed at the park until 7.00 then made our way back to the camper.
At the mall we had seen a computer safe which was ideal for the camper. They told us that on sunday morning they would be having a 25% off sale. So on sunday early I walked to the mall only to find that they did not have the model we wanted in that store , there was one in a store about 7 km away. Back to the camper to drive across town to the other store. They had three but when I asked the assistant in the store to open the box so I could see how thick the walls were so I could buy the right length bolts we found that the safe was locked and no key, instructions, batteries anything. Luckily they had two more and they were intact. I am so glad we opened the box there as we would have had to go back to the store after finding out missing parts were not there. The safe was easy to install and houses our latop ,tablet, tom tom, ipod and other valuables giving us some peace of mind when we leave to go on our sightseeing trips.
In the afternoon we hopped on our bikes to ride the streets of Copenhagen. The first part was great as the roads were quiet with plenty of bike lanes. But the closer to the centre it was very busy as there was a large triathlon in progress , blocking many of the streets and making others hard to negotiate. We finally made it to the statue of the Little Mermaid elbowed our way through other sightsee-ers and took some pictures and headed back to the camper. We had to leave the camping place before 8.00 that evening so Jenny gave me a haircut then we ate, had showers and headed off to Korsor where we spent the night in a car park close to the Storebaelt Bridge.
“Wonderful wonderful Copenhagen” so goes the song by Danny Kaye in the film about Hans Christian Anderson. Is was a wonderful city where we drank beer, ate Danish Icecream,t Danish Hotdogs, Danish “danish”cakes and saw the sights by boat, foot and bike.
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On Monday we drove to a campsite about 12 kilometers from Billand as that is where Legoland in situated. We spent the day washing bedding and clothes, cleaning and relaxing as the next day was to be a busy one. Finding time to do the necessary gets hard when you are on the go most of the time and we were over-due for the housekeeping.
(Jenny)
As our children had spent many many happy hours playing with their Lego, and I had vaccumed up many of the small pieces, we thought Legoland was on our must do list.
Unfortunately my back was playing up and the thought of a long day in Legoland was too much for me. We found out that if you arrive at Legoland after 5.30 you can get in for free until 8.00. Unfortunately all the rides stop at 6.00. This suited us as we only wanted to see the displays anyway and although Legoland has a lot of rides it wasn’t what we were going for.
Check out time at the Campsite was about 11ish and we had to work out what to do until Legoland. A decision was made to visit Loveparken Givsud Zoo, a drive yourself and walk park that allows some up close encounters with the animals.
It was a lovely sunny day and we had a lovely time in the zoo and later in Legoland. Took lots of photos and marvelled at the clever creations in Legoland. It was a big day and after doing so much we were ready to find a place to park for the night, luckily we found a quiet off the road parking bay where we could settle for the night and recuperate.
Our last stop for sightseeing was a small town called Riba, known for it’s restored old buildings and for being one of Denmarks oldest towns dating from 869. It is a compact town of cobbled streets and quaint houses. Unfortunately for us there was a major renovation of the main square and many buildings being worked on so it’s charm was a little diminished but we still enjoyed our visit and found some of the old buildings delightful.
After a morning spent exploring Riba having a coffee and Belgian waffle we then headed on the road to the border and our return into the familiar country of Germany.
