I'd never ventured to Scandinavia until this week, even though it is quite a short hop from Edinburgh to Copenhagen. It only takes an hour and a half by plane and it was thoroughly pleasant. Even better, we got the chance to nip across to Sweden as well, taking the train to Malmo - about 35 minutes. Copenhagen has a lot of picturesque buildings and a laid-back atmosphere that is redolent of Amsterdam. In fact, it probably has even more bikes that Amsterdam - millions of them. With a wide diversity of population, there are restaurants to suit all tastes and we had an outstandingly good Indian meal there. It's not the cheapest city in terms of prices, though an evening out is still cheaper than in Sweden or Norway. There is a good range of museums and galleries, too. The Danish National Museum is an extraordinary treasure trove of wonders and the sculpture museum - the Glyptotek - is loaded with ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian statues and is well worth a visit. A quick flavour: Bike mania! The vast town hall and clock tower The famous waterfront The "Marble Church" One of Copenhagen's many lovely parks
It would be remiss of me to omit a little bit of Malmo. It's an attractive city with a lot of new development around the waterfront. There is a lovely square in the centre and plenty of canals and green spaces.
Gee, @Tom Locke, I am mesmerized by your story and pics. That northern part of the world is interesting to us because we are in a tropical country. In the frigid zone when the climate is mostly cold, it is amusing for us. By the way, I had tasted my first snow last January when we were in Beijing for a tour to the Great Wall of China. That photo of the bikes is like in the movies where the setting has no other vehicles but bicycles only. And I wonder why we always see photos of other countries as very clean and neat like that river and the church front. Are they really immaculately clean as what the photo had shown or is it just an image that I get in my mind?
I'd say that a lot of European countries are quite neat and tidy (that's taken my tally to 32 now!). Sad to say that the UK is not the tidiest place around and I've seen some awfully messy places in Italy. Naples and the surrounding area, while beautiful, have lots of rubbish dumped. Eastern Europe is generally very tidy and from what I saw of Denmark and Sweden, they are pretty good, too.
tom, first of all thanks for sharing about your recent trip. I always like to hear about other peoples adventures. Oh, this makes me want to plan a trip sooner then later (did I get the "then" correct or is it "than", such an issue for me - sigh). Of course, the added bonus of pictures is much appreciated, too. As an avid bike rider, I like the bonus of getting around this way. I bet it can get to be quite the cluster at times, though.Did you happen to take a bike ride, use public transportation, or rent a car? Oh this reminds me of the first time I drove overseas. I was so happy to get my international drivers license, but on the flip side, it was the first time I drove a stick shift. Yep, the passengers with me were a little on edge. Speaking of Easter Europe. I have only briefly visited almost 25 years ago, about the time the wall came down. I suppose there have been many changes since that time. It appeared kind of sad and dreary for me. Maybe because I only got to see the little towns right next to the German border? Oh Cori, I hope you start another thread about your experience visiting the Great Wall of China! I would love to hear all about your adventure (including your reaction to snow, haha)!
Copenhagen is a very flat city and we walked everywhere, apart from getting the train to and from the airport and going to Sweden. Our hotel was just a couple of minutes' walk from the central station, so we simply didn't need to use anything other than legs. I love Eastern Europe! Two of my favourite cities are Riga and Ljubljana. Bratislava and Prague are wonderful places and I also liked Zagreb, Tallinn, Vilnius and Sarajevo in particular. Skopje, Tirana and Kyiv have a certain weirdness and wackiness that makes them very appealing. Moscow and St Petersburg have so much to see and there is, I think, always something of interest to be found in a capital city. Even Pristina, which is not the most attractive place in the world, has its own charms, but one has to look a little harder.