Denmark and Copenhagen…..

We Arrive In Copenhagen…..  A 1 1/2 hour flight to Copenhagen from Luton, grab the Metro from the airport and before we know it we are in our apartment in Copenhagen.  Off to the supermarket for some supplies and a quiet night in ready for a big next day.  We decided our first day should include the Grand Tour by boat to familiarise ourselves with the city. At A$20 for a 2 day pass this is extremely good value as it includes the hop on-hop off boat as well. Once again a video to show you the highlights of the Grand Tour.  “Click Here” to see the video.

Nyhavn Harbour

We returned to Nyhavn and then immediately took the hop on-hop off boat to go back to the “Little Mermaid so we could walk to some of the highlights seen from the boat.  During our walking excursion more photos of “The Little Mermaid, and then to the Amalienborg Palace and Square where Princes Mary lives with the rest of the Royal Family.

The Little Mermaid Made Famous By Hans Christian Anderson
Princess Mary’s Humble Abode

We then caught the hop on-hop off boat back to Nyhavn and walked across the new pedestrian bridge to the Papiroen Copenhagen Street Food Market. This is an island originally used as a paper storage warehouse.  A great place to eat with every type of food you could desire being available all at reasonable prices.

Copenhagen Street Food Market – Papiroen
We Just Had To Buy A Cold Beer

We stopped for a beer before walking to Christianhavn to walk through Christiania Freetown where all the  hippies of the 70’s live with their families and friends. A very interesting place to visit.  We even evidenced pot being sold on the streets.  It was then a walk back to our apartment in Amagerbro.

Christiania – Freetown. Home For The Hippies

Another Interesting Day…..  Our second day in Copenhagen was a Saturday and it seems everyone comes to the downtown area for shopping and recreation. After booking train tickets for a day trip to Aarhus for Sunday, we walked along Stroget shopping street stopping off at a Fisken Dag, translated ‘Fish Day’ where tasting samples was the order of the day including free beer.

Fisken Dag – Translated ‘Fish Day’
Fish Day – What This Guy Was Talking About We Had No Idea
Children Painting Real Fish

We only walked about half the length of the 3 1/2 km street and then decided to take the second of the Grand Copenhagen boat tours which covers a slightly different route.

Amateur Cat Walk Model With Mickey

It was a beautiful day in the mid 20’s and just perfect for another boat tour.  We then walked along the riverbank to Copenhagen Mall then hopped on a bus back to our apartment.  A big day and we walked 17500 steps.

Main Atrium At Copenhagen Shopping Mall

On The Train…..   A 2 3/4 hour train trip to Aarhus and we then hopped on a bus to Den Gamle By, The Old Town open-air folk museum.  The focus of this museum was rural life in Denmark in past centuries. It was a real highlight as the houses and scenes depicted are very true to life even with sound effects, horse drawn carts and horse poo in the streets. From there a bus back to Aarhus Station to walk to the old town section of Aarhus.  A fascinating day and a relaxing train trip to boot.  To see a video of our day in Aarhus “Click Here”.

Mollestien Street In Aarhus

Back To Copenhagen….  After a fabulous day in Aarhus, back to our cosy apartment in Copenhagen ready for a big next day. Our first stop was the Torvehallerne Exclusive Food Market selling everything from fresh vegetables to exclusive chocolates, then on to the Botanical Gardens. The hot houses in the gardens are massive and an impressive backdrop to the beautiful gardens.

Torvehallerne Exclusive Food Market At Norreport
Hot Houses In Copenhagen Botanical Gardens

Being A Kid Again…..  It was then a short bus ride to The Tivoli Gardens which was to be a highlight of our time in Copenhagen.  This place is amazing and should definitely not be missed. Tivoli Gardens was opened in 1843 and has undergone continually updating since then to present a world class amusement and pleasure centre.  We arrived at 3:00 PM and didn’t leave till after 9:00 PM after all the lights came on.  Being a Monday the crowds were light so no queues.  If you would like to see a short video on our time at Tivoli Gardens “Click Here”. You can see Liz defying death with a smile on her face in the video.

Defying Gravity, Just For A Moment
Yes, We Went On Both These Rides Twice At Tivoli Gardens

A More Normal Day…..  We decided to go back to Nyhavn and walk along the foreshore to the Danish Design Museum. We never appreciated that much of Danish design is attributed to the cultural interchange between Japan and Denmark.  The museum provided a historical as well as modern perspective on Danish design.  One couldn’t help get the feeling that as you moved towards modern Danish design it started to look more like Ikea furniture and accessories.

Hans Christian Anderson Shop In Nyhavn
Nyhavn Canal And Foreshore
Danish Furniture Design At The Danish Design Museum

 We Depart Copenhagen…..  After 6 days we sadly depart Copenhagen. This is a beautiful city with fantastic architecture, friendly locals and lot’s to see and do.  We travel by overnight ferry to Oslo for the next stage of our adventure.

Norfolk And The Broads…..

Our First Stop – England…..   Well an interesting start to our holiday. Flights from Melbourne to Helsinki via Singapore departed on time and both arrived early. Our last leg from Helsinki to London was not so good. We were scheduled to fly on a brand new Airbus A350-900 but on approaching the aerobridge the port engine collided with the aerobridge ripping a rather large hole in the engine cowling. Fortunately Finnair had spare A340-300 for the flight so 2 hours later we were on our way. Picking up the car from Hertz was painless and once we worked out how to start the engine we were on our way to Norwich.  3 hours and 160 miles later we checked in to our delightful B&B and headed to the local pub for a typical English roast dinner.

Norwich Cathedral

And The Broads….    We spent the next day exploring Norwich even taking in an organ concert in the Norwich Cathedral.  It was then on to Wroxham to pick up our cruiser for our adventure on the Broads.    The Broads were a man-made accident. The Broads were formed by the flooding of medieval peat excavations which provided fuel to Norwich and Great Yarmouth. As the sea levels began to rise, the pits began to flood. By the end of the 14th Century, the pits were abandoned and the Broads were formed.   Rather than a long winded narrative of our time on “The Broads” if you “click here” you will see a short video on our adventure.

Fair Princes

“Click Here” For Video – Our Adventure On The Broads

A Return To Dry Land….    After 4 fantastic days on “The Broads”it was time for a change and some land based activities. We took the opportunity to go on The Bure Valley Tourist Train for a 1 1/2 hour return scenic ride through Norfolk from Alysham to Wroxham. This train is still used by locals from other villages to go to Alysham for shopping.

Bure Valley Tourist Railway

We then drove to our beautiful cottage in a tiny village called Barton Turf about 14km from Wroxham.  The cottage was very homely and comfortable and had the most sophisticated entertainment system we have ever seen.

Sailaway Cottage in Barton Turf

We spent 4 Nights in the cottage and each day took time exploring the Norfolk coast from Lowestoft to King’s Lynn.
We watched seals at Horsey, had drinks with the President and Captain of Royal Cromer Golf Club and visited the tourist town of Great Yarmouth which was interesting to say the least. A typical English holiday town with dozens of entertainment parlors, fish and chip shops on every corner and of course tacky tourist shops selling souvenirs.

Friendly Seal Close To Waters Edge At Horsey
Liz Making Her Fortune 2 Pennies At A Time
Classy Games Parlor In Great Yarmouth

From Barton Turf To Little Brickhill….   With a little sadness we left our lovely cottage at Barton Turf and drove to Cambridge.  Couldn’t believe our luck in finding a multistory car park about 300 metres from the centre of Cambridge.   We spent a couple of hours walking around admiring the beautiful old buildings and churches and undertaking some window shopping.

King’s College Chapel – Construction Started In 1446
Punt’s On The Cam River In Cambridge

Our next stop was Grantchester made famous by the mini series of the same name.  Much of the mini series was filmed in the village.  We felt obliged to stop at the Red Lion Pub for a beer before driving on to our next B&B at Little Brickhill.

Beautiful Old Church In Little Brickhill

Bletchley Park – A Code Is Broken….   Bletchley Park housed the code breaking operations during World War Two and was the birthplace of modern computing. At its peak around 10,000 people worked at Bletchley Park. They tackled the complex task of intercepting, deciphering, analysing and distributing the intelligence derived from enemy radio signals. Their work remained shrouded in the highest levels of secrecy.

The Mansion At Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park is now a museum and has recently come into prominence with the release of the film “The Imitation Game” starring Benedict Cumberbatch which focused on the breaking of the German Enigma code. The Mansion at Bletchley Park was used as the headquarters and recreational building.

German Enigma Machine

The Enigma Machine had 159,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible combinations. Later the Germans developed even more complex machines with even more possible combinations.To quickly decipher the German codes scientists at Bletchley Park developed a machine that could quickly decipher the codes. It was called the Bombe machine. The museum contains an actual working model of this machine and gives hourly demonstrations on its use.

Bombe Machine Used To Decipher The Enigma Codes

We Leave England….  After 12 days we leave England for the next leg of our journey to Scandinavia. We have been blessed with perfect weather and a nice variation of experiences with the highlights being the Norfolk Broads boating, our beautiful cottage at Barton Turf and Bletchley Park Museum.