Copenhagen, Denmark - Nice City, Good Tourist Buses, Friendly Community

Travelling to Denmark was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The transfer of the entire train onto and off a ferry on the shore was very efficient. The train simply drove on and off. The trip took 45 minutes and passengers could not stay in the train, but went to the food and goods outlets on the top deck.

There are a lot of innovative buildings in Copenhagen, and they are very proud of their architects. The Sydney Opera house, which was designed by a Dane was mentioned on the tour bus.

Copenhagen was a friendly city and there is lots to see and do,

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The Copenhagen Tivoli Gardens is the second oldest amusement park in the world. It is a famous attraction for its garden and restaurants, attracting families and couples just wanting to relax and enjoy a meal or a drink. The park opened in 1843. The garden were nice. I went there late on my last day when the sun shone for the first time. The restaurants were good and included a 'design' restaurant! I chose the most popular one just to be on the safe side. Some of the rides were very scary though appeared to be safe. It had a good atmosphere and was well frequented by families. Much better when the sun was shining, rather than on the gloomy rainy days when I passed by. The families were still there all in their raincoats.

Another popular attraction for families is the Experimentaium copenhagen, which is a hands on science exhibition. The venue is like a warehouse, but the exhibits were excellent both for kids and adults.

The bus tours were well organised with pretty good coverage. There were three bus tours and a canal boat tour. The stops were generally reliable. And the hop off / hop on generally worked and the buses kept to their timetables.

It was nice to walk around on the weekend in the popular shopping areas malls and squares. There were many people out and about despite the drizzle and occasional showers. I got the impression that warm sunny days are a rarity here. The Danes are proud of their objective to be carbon neutral by 2020. Oddly Denmark could be a major benficiary of a little global warming. Apparently the tariff on cars is 118 percent and the government encourages bikes and public transport. Riding bikes in mid winter must be a challenge!

Has the selfie got completely out of hand? In Copenhagen I sought a photo of the little Mermaid, like most other visitors. There were crowds of tourist all doing their selfies with the mermaid. One Japanese gentleman rock-hopped so that he could climb onto the mermaid and get a selfie cuddling her. I felt like nudging him into the sea, but refrained myself. Surely there is a good 'selfie app' that puts the face on any image. The crowds doing selfies before the Mona Lisa was a sight to behold. We had to adopt rugby front row tactics to shove into the pack and get a front row position with an un-selfie ruined view. Here she is before the selfies invaded here privacy. Interestingly she has very well defined lower limbs for a mermaid.

The art museums were good, but nothing really stood out from my perspective. There is a dedicated sculpture museum which was unusual. This featured displays of colored sculptures and pushed the idea that many original sculptured were colored.

The Danish Museum of Art & Design
The design museum was very good and featured an exhibition of chairs designed by Hans J. Wegner, who is is the undisputed king of chair design in Denmark. (see the photographs). This display was well organised. There were also some other items on display, but the building is being renovated and so part of it was closed.