Visit To Copenhagen

2018 as the year of travel

This year I have had the amazing opportunity to travel to some amazing countries. One of which being Denmark, which back in May, I had the chance to go and visit with my University.

I had never been to Denmark nor a Scandinavian country before, so what better way to do this than with a fully funded trip by my University to this beautiful country.

Liverpool John Moore’s have some incredibly opportunities for their students meaning that they can really stand out from the crowd upon graduating. I have always been told to always utilise the chance to undertake such opportunities with there being tough competition post-university when it comes to applying for graduate positions.

There are many services on offer that will help its students to derive the best ways that they can enhance their university degree, by offering related internship and work opportunities.

My travel to Denmark was actually curated by my programme leader in order to enhance our assignment for my module Popular Journalism, as the specification required us to explore the musical and cultural aspects of our chosen locations.

Therefore, in order for us to witness and experience a different culture and music scene, the university planned a trip to Copenhagen that would allow us to write about our experiences outside of the UK.

Our trip would only comprise of two days to scour the city, but we were sure to make the most of it. As we had an evening flight, we decided that the best way to break in our first night in Copenhagen was to have a drink! (Of course)

Above: Exploring during our first night at the train station located next to our hotel

So, we unpacked our belongings and headed towards the main square which would lead us through some beautiful quaint streets of Copenhagen and into the town centre. We managed to find a local ale bar, which was one of the best finds for me personally, as I love the ale bars back home. However, due to a language barrier, I actually ended up ordering a beer that was non-alcoholic. Never the less, it tasted good and I ended up spending slightly less on the drink!

We stayed in this bar for quite some time, getting to know one another and deciding what our plans would be for the trip ahead. We made some preliminary plans as to what we wanted to see and do, that would aid us in our assignment for the module, which helped us to devise a plan for timings etc.

After we got over the ‘parent talk’ of our plans, we decided to move and find another bar nearby. As we had arrived on a Wednesday, the area was not very busy and a lot of places would be closing at around midnight.

That is when we came across a wonderful little karaoke bar located next to a Chinese takeaway. You would not have known that this bar existed if one hadn’t seen the 90’s-esque blaring strobe lights. I wondered what sort of Chinese takeaway we were actually heading into.

That was when we were hit with the smell of cigarette smoke and ale and the sound of a girl duet that were cranking out some seriously good renditions of Destiny’s Child. We went to the bar where we the only tourists and tried to decipher what was on offer on the menu. We looked at the lagers on draught and all opted for the same thing, as so not to confuse ourselves more by the Danish language. We knew we had stumbled upon something great here. We got round after round in this pub as we had completely fallen in love with its entire essence. The locals were a friendly and lively bunch who were clearly all enjoying themselves and we were able to witness this all first hand. The karaoke was very popular that night and many people took the stage (raised platform) and gave us some of the best noughties tunes that we could hope for.

Time began to creep up on us and before we knew it, it was 3am.

But we were still in very good spirits and none of us really wanted to head home. We decided to let the locals enjoy their treasure without us and we tried to find another place that would match the greatness of the place that we had been to.

We managed to find a club that had to be accessed by walking down some quite dark and dingy stairs. We saw the ‘open until 5am’ sign and we decided to go for it. There were not many people inside, granted this was a Wednesday, but we made sure to let the Danish know that we were here.

Instead of buying long drinks, we all opted for a cheaper but less tasty option – a shot.

Above: My Copenhagen team

The kind bar man gave us all a menu of every shot that you could possibly imagine, and we had to make the tough decision as to what we should buy.

We all made our choices and reluctantly necked them back. This would be a decision that we would all soon come to regret.

After some dancing to a very good mix of music, we decided to head home as we would have to be awake in a few hours’ time. It got to 5am and we stumbled into bed, setting our alarms for 8 o’clock. Not the best idea we ever had.

By some miracle, I had not a trace of a hangover in sight. Probably due to me forcing around a few pints of water down my neck before going to bed. But, it did the trick and I was ready to go and explore! The others however, did not look so chirpy.

The breakfast on offer at our hotel was beautiful. It was a continental spread that looked too good to eat. We offered lots of coffee (Lord knows we needed it) as well as all sorts of various teas.

The breakfast had everything from cereal, to toast, to mixed meats, to granola. There was literally everything on offer that we could have hoped for.

After a well-deserved breakfast we decided to head out and go an explore the city.

Our first port of call was at the Christiansborg Palace, which was steeped in history and elegance.

Built in 1167, it is the only building in the world that is home to the three branches of a government, as the monarchy, government and the supreme court.

The building has a spectacular history and one that is also very unfortunate. The castle has experienced two tragic fires and has been rebuilt accordingly. The first fire occurred in 1794 and the second one occurred in 1884. Both experienced fatal tragedies and such unfortunate events have made into Copenhagen history.

The palace upon arrival is absolutely beautiful as one has to walk over a bridge that sits over a canal that overlooks some the beautiful houses in Copenhagen. After this, there is a walk into the open expanse of the riding grounds, which are very well kept. We noticed that there were some horses currently training and the palace stables were open for viewing.

Above: The bridge over a canal in Copenhagen leading to Christiansborg palace

Inside the stables was immensely well kept. The horses are incredibly well looked after and they all seemed very relaxed to have visitors around them. A worker at the stables was preparing some of the horses to be ridden and trained, so we got to witness the horses being fully kitted out into their riding gear.

Above: The Royal Stables at Christiansborg palace

We then decided to look around the palace site further and although we did not enter the palace, we were able to see a lot of the exterior and understand its history.

There was a tour that I really wanted to do at the palace, which was the underground ruins of the palace and understanding the wars and tragedies that happened here.

There was a student rate that we all utilised, which mean that our ticket was discounted to 40 crowns which was around 5 pounds.

The tour was incredibly interesting and very informative. There were signs and information points throughout the entire self-guided tour, which allowed you to fully immerse yourself into the experience. There were even some videos and slideshows on offer for visitors to understand more about the fires that took place at Christiansborg palace, which helped to make the experience a little more modernised. Not that it needed modernising.

Above: Parliament building behind Christiansborg palace

Next, we wanted to check out Tivoli Gardens, a theme park which was located near to our hotel. However, upon realizing how expensive some things are in Denmark, we knew that we could not really afford this. So, we had to think of another option.

As there were not many musical experiences to be found during the day in Copenhagen, we had to take matters into our own hands and try to explore some more of the architecture and designs that were scoured around the city centre.

So, we headed for the Little Mermaid statue located on the Langelinie promenade. It was designed by Edvard Eriksen and based on the fairy-tale that was written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The statue has been a prominent tourist destination since 1913 and has also fallen victim to defacement, due to political activism.

By this time, we were getting a little puckish and wanted to find somewhere that would fill our boots. So, we headed past City Hall Square and walked to a local coffee shop to pick up a sandwich and a rest-bite.

Above: Bulding located opposite the Hard Rock cafe

This coffee shop was decorated beautifully, with a rustic theme being upheld throughout all areas of the café. I unfortunately cannot recall the name of the shop, but I believe it is a chain café as there were plenty dotted around the city centre. Or, we got lost a lot and did many circles of the same place.

After successfully fueling up we took to the souvenir shops to purchase a few items to take back to our friends and family and also headed to the Hard Rock café to have a look at what they had on offer.

After visiting the original Hard Rock Café in Florida last year, I do not think that any other café will match the grandeur and spectacle that it is. Therefore, the Hard Rock Café in Copenhagen was a little underwhelming and had no visitors inside when we arrived there. A little surprising considering how busy the centre itself actually was.

We then headed back to our hotel, to which we were offered a free glass of wine as it was their ‘Happy Hour’. We lazed in the lobby area where we enjoyed our free beverage. I opted for a glass of red wine, which to my surprise was a glass of Merlot. Often, when hotels offer free beverages, it is normally just a house wine as opposed to a more premium grape such as this.

Next door to our hotel was a pizza restaurant that we knew we had to try. Labelled across the front of the door was the sign ‘voted the best pizza in Copenhagen’. A little outstretched claim never hurt anyone, so we headed straight inside and chose our food.

I opted for a tomato-based meat feast.

The crust and dough was thick and crispy, but the thickness of the dough actually made it quite difficult to finish the whole thing. So, I asked to take it in a takeaway box which they aptly brought over and sorted for me. The 10” pizza cost £9, not bad for a restaurant. But, at a takeaway back home, the cost is normally around £5/6. Nonetheless, it felt like I had two meals for the price of one.

It came to the evening and we already knew what our plans were. We headed straight to the city centre and walked to our new-found pub. The pub again was incredibly busy and the other people on our trip had heard such great things about our experience, that they too decided to join us.

This time, we opted for the cheaper option of drinking shots instead of long drinks, which made for a very interesting night to say the least. We are able to record some of the night and use this for our assignment, which meant that we could enjoy the rest of the night appreciating the local culture and interests of the local people.

A trip to Burger King on our way home would round off our night, where we managed stumble through the door at 2am and actually get a little bit more sleep this time, as we would have a long day ahead of us the following day.

The final day saw us taking a trip to the shops in the centre, as we did not have much time left in this wonderful place. We drank coffee and sat on a canal-side, taking in some of the wonderful views around us.

We were even studious enough to visit their library, which is an architectural masterpiece in its own right. This library was incredibly modern, and we were completely in awe. If we had had more time to spare, we would have stayed there much longer.

But unfortunately, we had to head back to the hotel to grab our belongings and head to the airport. Copenhagen you were wonderful. I will be back soon.

Above: Flight back to England from Copenhagen

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