Last night I slept like a log, following my third dose of Stugeron. When I awoke in the middle of the night, it was already light – the days are clearly much longer now we have moved to a northerly latitude. This morning, Howard took himself off to the ‘gym’ in the bowels of the boat, and walked on the machine for half an hour up an imaginary hill.

After breakfast, we had a task. For those of you who know me, you may have noticed in the photos, that having lived outside for four months, the sun has bleached my hair to the blondest it has been since I was three years old. Before leaving Denmark, I had intended to visit a hairdresser to get the grey bits taken out of my roots, but the opportunity hadn’t arisen. On the recommendation of my hairdresser back home, I had squirrelled away in the van a packet of ‘Nice ’N Easy’ for such ‘emergency’ use. Having never used ‘home’ hair dye before, much against my better judgement, I enlisted Howard to help. Yes, you heard correctly, Howard!!

We decamped back to our tiny cabin, and read the instructions. Not sure about how much mess this would make, and for fear staining our clothes, we stripped to our underwear. I then watched as Howard tried desperately to prise on the plastic gloves that came with the pack, but were clearly designed to fit a woman with small hands.

I sat on the stool, and Howard mixed the two bottles as instructed, and then started squirting it on my head. I was a little taken aback when he asked me if I had any plans for the weekend! He then asked about my family – did I have any children? What were their names? What did they do? At this stage, I felt that he was taking this ‘being a hairdresser’ lark a bit too literally. Although it was pretty hard to take him seriously whilst applying the hair dye in his Y-fronts! After twenty minutes or so, I glanced in the mirror – and let out a primordial scream! It was dark brown – a completely different colour from what my hairdresser at home uses. Aarrgh!!! My immediate instinct was to wash it off, but Howard had already taken himself off to the shower, having spilt the stuff down his legs – and was screaming that his legs were on fire. OMG – if anyone had seen the pair of us! 

As quickly and possible, I washed the stuff out, and tried to salvage what was left of my hair. Howard is trying to be supportive, saying things like, ‘Well it doesn’t look TOO bad’, and the such like – aka ‘Good heavens, it looks like a dog’s dinner, but I had better not tell her that!’

So that is how we occupied our morning. This afternoon, much to our surprise, we passed close by to the Shetland Islands – the closest we have been to home since the second week in January. It felt odd to have Vodaphone UK suddenly ping in. We saw gannets and fulmars pass by the boat, but sadly no cetaceans.

Howard is now absorbed in reading some scientific papers for someone, whilst I am listening to our ‘host’ read out the bingo numbers in Danish. This really is a new life experience! I’m not sure how much of this excitement I can take. Earlier, Howard had taken to running up and down our cabin, since he thought he was starting to irritate people on deck by constantly jogging up and down. Tonight, I have the live musician from last night to look forward to, so I am swotting up the lyrics of John Denver and Neil Diamond songs.

Tomorrow morning at 6am, we arrive at the Faroe Islands. Not a minute too soon!

Today was an exciting one. We finally set off on our journey to Iceland. We left our campsite this morning, and headed the short distance to the ferry terminal in Hirtshals. There were plenty of other campervans in the queue with us, including a number of Californias. Once at the terminal, Howard and I had to separate, since only the driver was allowed to board the ferry via the car deck. I had to join other passengers and be taken by coach to the gangplank – it was all a bit complicated, but I managed to work out where to go, and by the time I got onto the ferry, Howard was already there waiting for me. Our cabin is tiny, but perfectly comfortable, and at least we have a window.

Once onboard, I took my Stugeron, and was really no trouble thereafter. Following a coffee, we sat up on the deck in the sunshine, and apparently I fell asleep. Howard, on the other hand, was like a caged animal, even before we had left the port. I have concluded that cruising is really not for him. He was like a small child, asking what he could do next. In the end, we resorted to dividing the time into fifteen minute aliquots, and filled each fifteen minutes with a different activity – walking round the deck, visiting the shop, climbing the stairs, checking out the restaurants. It turns out, there is a large group of people on board who are here doing a ‘North Atlantic Cruise’ for a week with the Viking Line – travelling on the ferry with us to the Faroe Islands and Iceland and back again. Howard was so bored, he decided to join in the briefing for these passengers – which was in Danish! But he did return with their itinerary, and managed to cadge a free welcome drink! He also discovered that they have some informative films planned – so I suspect he will be gate-crashing those too.

I must confess to being rather ignorant about this whole ferry trip. Although we booked it way back last summer (in fact, it was the only thing we had booked for the whole year), it had always seemed sometimes in the distant future. As a result, when a friend texted and asked how long the crossing was, I replied I thought it was about 48 hours. As it turns out, it is in fact 60 hours, with an eight hour stop-over in the Faroes. I didn’t even know if we were allowed off the ferry at the Faroes. In my ignorance I asked the man at the information desk if I could get off the boat, he looked at me incredulously. ‘Of course’, he replied – ‘there are excursions planned’. So – it turns out that I am going to the Faroe Islands, as well as Iceland – yippee!!

Things looked up even more, when I realised that the gin that they sell on board is Hendricks. This trip was meant to be!

Whilst I slept off my Stugeron /gin combo, I opened one eye to see Howard dancing on the deck – apparently good for his step count. The other passengers are now eyeing us up suspiciously, and I fear we’ve been labelled as ‘that odd couple, with the unconscious wife and the dancing husband’! 

I’m already getting into this ‘cruising’ lark. When an announcement came over the tannoy that lottery tickets were for sale, and the prize was an upgrade to a luxury suite, I leapt at the chance. Sadly, though, I did not win. We ended the day with a buffet supper, followed by live music in the lounge. He’s playing songs that I haven’t heard for at least four, possibly five decades.

We are now retiring to our postage-stamp sized cabin, whilst the lady who bought her ticket two people after me, is now off to her luxury suite. Some people get all the luck!

Today we bade farewell to our lovely Danish friends, Birthe and Niels. As we drove off, waving out the car windows, I turned to my trusty Lonely Planet guide for advice on where to visit today on our drive up through Jutland. It happened to open on a page that read, and I quote, “Jutlanders are different. Sturdy, down to earth, unpretentious, hard-working; you will find an old-fashioned hospitality here and an engaging frankness.” The guide, as ever, had hit the nail on the head. Their hospitality was second to none, despite having only met us very briefly at a campsite for the first time, early in our travels in Spain. Howard and Niels seemed to really hit it off, and Birthe has a lovely warmth about her which is immediately welcoming. Howard commented as we drove off down the road, that he wondered if there was something special about people who travel around in tiny VW Californias, rather than opting for the all singing, all dancing ‘Big Whites’. I suspect that he is right. There is probably a mutual bond – a shared understanding of what it is like to live in one of these vehicles for any length of time, and stay sane! We certainly shared many ‘California’ tips, and directed them to the VW California club, which or us, has been an invaluable source of information throughout our trip.

As ever, we left not knowing where we were going to end up. I flipped through the guide book – we had thought of Aarhus, Denmark’s second city, but in the end couldn’t face another city, and opted to visit a museum just south of Aarhus, called the Moesgard Museum. It is a modern museum, set into a hillside in a gorgeous setting. Inside, it is mainly focused on archaeology and anthropology, and outside, it is like an open-air museum, with replicas of old buildings, like a dolmen and an Iron Age house.

As soon as we arrived, I realised that this was the museum that Birthe had told us about the night before. The reason I had selected it from the guide book, was because it is home to the ‘Grauballe Man’ – a two thousand year old man whose body was preserved in a bog in Grauballe, 35km from Aarhus, and only discovered in 1952. Examination shows that his throat was slit, and it is presumed that he was a human sacrifice to the Gods in praise of fertility and a good harvest. I had seen something similar many years ago in Arequipa in Peru, but in that case it was the mummified body of a girl, offered to the gods at the top of a volcano, the freezing conditions perfectly preserving the body. In the case of the Graubelle Man, he is so well preserved, that they have been able to take fingerprints from him.

Howard was intrigued by the exhibits on the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Vikings. For me, I was more taken by the upstairs exhibits about celebrating death of ancestors. It tackled the issue of how different cultures pay respect to their dead – it was really interesting. I had heard of ‘The Day of the Dead’ in Mexico, where families decorate the graves of their loved ones, then picnic and dance around the graves. I had witnessed a similar thing in Atacama in Chile. In this exhibit, they invited members of the public to ‘Dance with the Skeletons’. So guess who joined in?!! I had already had to drag him away from trying on a Viking hat downstairs. Then there are the Australian Aborigines, who every Christmas Day,  pose for a family portrait whilst holding photos of their deceased loved ones – something I had never heard of. I guess it’s a variation on what we do – raising a toast to Nanny or Grandma. Maybe we’ll try it next Christmas!

Cultured out, we then headed outside, and walked part of the historical trail, which passes through beautiful beech woods, and down to the sea. We followed the route of a series of wicker sculptures, which were integrated into the woodlands.

Fun over, we hit the road, heading north up through Jutland to Hirtshals, where we will catch the ferry tomorrow to Iceland. It has been another lovely sunny day, and I fear that tonight I will be packing away my shorts and getting out the Icebreakers again.

The ferry trip lasts 48 hours or so, and stops off at the Faroe Islands en route. So this will be my last blog for a few days. I’m also not sure what the 4G signal will be like out in the Eastern Fjords, where the ferry docks – we will have to see.

What is certain, is that it will be very different from the Europe we have experienced so far. Bring it on!

Today we have had a lovely day with our hosts Birthe and Niels. We arrived in time for morning coffee and home made rolls and pastries – yummy! After putting our washing on (talk about taking liberties!), we then set off for a fabulous walk around their neighbourhood. The countryside here in the middle of Jutland is just beautiful, and not too dissimilar from some parts of Scotland. First we walked through a lovely beech wood – it looked so like Balmerino woods it was uncanny. We then followed paths past fields of pasture land and arable planting, passing by many pretty cottages and farms. We saw cows, horses and free range pigs – it was a scene of rural tranquility. Both Birthe’s and Niels’ spoken English is fluent, and Howard was happy to have a good old chin-wag with a member of the male sex for once – they seemed to be putting the world to rights.

Back at their farmhouse, we had a scrummy lunch of a frittata type dish using their hen’s eggs, with bacon and ryebread – a typical Danish dish we were told.

After lunch, we headed off to a town called Jelling, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, famed for it’s burial mounds and runic stones, which are examples of pagan Nordic culture. Jelling was a royal monument during the reign of the Viking king Gorm and his son Harald Bluetooth in the 10th century. The site consists of two large flat-topped burial mounds, 70 metres in diameter and 11 metres high. Harald Bluetooth was responsible for introducing Christianity to Denmark, and integrating with Norway. A large runic stone is situated between the two mounds, is commonly known as Denmark’s baptismal certificate, proclaiming Denmark to be Christian. Next to the mounds is Jelling Kirke, an impressive white church, which sits on the remains of earlier wooden churches, the first dating back to the time of Harald, and are thought to contain the remains of Harald’s father, Gorm. I was taken aback by the simplicity inside the church, simple white painted wooden pews and very little adornment.

Next we moved on to meet the ‘Jelling Vikings’ – a group of people dressed up as Vikings, re-enacting the Viking way of life. Of course, a certain person couldn’t resist trying on the Viking hat (which had no horns, incidentally), and was then offered the shield and axe to go with it. Sometimes, it’s like taking a little boy out for the day – it took me back to when the boys were young, and they went through their dressing-up phase!

We then had a quick look in the Viking Museum, and then decamped to the local Arts Centre, which hosts a micro-brewery. No guesses as to what went on there – but the reports were that the ale was good!

We headed back to the farmhouse via the scenic route – Birthe pointing out all the places of interest. Central Jutland is a truly scenic part of the country, and we have been lucky to have been shown around by locals. For now though, I can smell supper – so I will sign off with a few photos of the day.

Danish hospitality is superb – we have been very lucky to meet such lovely people, and hope that at some time in the future, we can reciprocate and invite them to Scotland. I’m just not sure I can match the home-baking!

Today was a bit of a tardy start. We seem to be getting later and later at packing up and leaving campsites. Check out time was 11am, and we presented ourselves at reception to pay at 10 seconds to eleven. It was another beautifully sunny day here in Denmark – but according to the chap on reception, we have managed to bag ourselves unusually warm and fine weather this past week – usually it is cooler and more changeable. The forecast for tomorrow though is rain with thunderstorms, so we made the most of our sunny day. 

First we headed back into Faaborg for morning coffee and a walk round the harbour. We chose a cafe in the pretty square opposite a large bronze sculpture. We had noticed it the day before, and had been a little puzzled as to it’s nature. On closer inspection, it appeared to be a man and a cow intertwined – the man suckling on the cow. Then a smaller figure, maybe a child, was being licked by the cow. Very odd indeed. So sitting in our vantage point in the cafe, we were able to observe the reactions of people as they came across this rather bizarre statue. A group of six German tourists appeared – three couples. One of the men was particularly interested in the sculpture, and took photographs of it from all angles. Then the others joined in. At one point, two of the women were climbing onto the statue to try to decipher it, whilst all three men took photos. In all they spend about ten minutes discussing it’s merits. It was hilarious to watch, or at least, it amused us. Little things!

Eventually we dragged ourselves away from people watching, and set off to do a little bit of shopping. The reason being, we are going to stay with some Danish friends tomorrow, and wanted to arrive bearing gifts. If you have followed this blog from the onset, you may remember that way back in February, we met a couple from Denmark on a campsite in Seville. They are fellow VW California owners, and after chatting with them on the bus into Seville, they had invited us to stay with them when we came to Denmark. They emailed me again a week ago to make sure that we were coming – and so that is where we will be staying tomorrow! 

It’s amazing the number of lovely people we have met on our trip so far. In the end, remembering that Birthe loves her garden, we decided on a plant. The lady in the florists got chatting, and we explained it was a gift for a couple we had met on our travels. She repeated what Birthe and Niels had said to us -‘When a Danish person invites you to stay, they really mean it’. She was also very intrigued in our trip, and said it would be her dream to do what we are doing. Of course, she is right – we are very lucky to have the opportunity to travel like this, although we have met a surprisingly large number of people doing something similar. At the onset of this adventure, we thought we were quite unique – it turns out, not at all!

Gifts purchased, we set off on our way. It was a rather slow meandering journey up along the west coast of Funan. A couple of times, we completely ignored Boris and Natasha, and followed our noses, after seeing little signs with a flower on them. It turns out these mean ‘viewpoints’ or ‘places of interest’. After following one of these signs we ended up at the most glorious viewpoint called ‘Queen’s View’. It immediately made us think of the ‘Queen’s View’ back in Scotland, looking out over Loch Tummel. This view looked out over the countryside to the coast, and the Archipelago of little islands that sits offshore the west Funan coast. A splendid view, but I’m afraid it didn’t quite match the Scottish version. Nevertheless, it was a good spot for our picnic lunch.

A little later, we got side-tracked again, to a little harbour town of Faldsled. There were a plethora of really pretty thatched cottages, and a small harbour with mainly pleasure boats. At this point, Howard pointed out that as the crow flew, we were still only eight miles away from Faaborg, and really needed to press onwards. So we headed on through Funan, and back over the Little Belts Bridge into Jutland.

Tonight, in preparation for seeing our friends tomorrow, we have been pimping up Oscar. We decided to decorate him with the Danish flag in honour of our hosts. You can see the result in the photos. I think you’ll agree – they should be impressed!

I’m not sure if I’ll have time to blog tomorrow, but I’ll let you know if the decorating went down well in due course!

Today we left North Zealand and re-traced our steps back across the Great Belt’s Bridge to Funan – and not a moment too soon. There is a bank holiday coming up in Denmark, and our lovely campsite owner was telling us that by tomorrow night, her campsite will be completely full of families, making the most of the long weekend. To put this in perspective, there have maybe been about six pitches occupied for there past two days, but by tomorrow night, all 195 pitches will be filled, plus overflow in the ‘quick stop’ field. In preparation for this huge influx of people, including many children, the campsite have organised a camel for the next five days. Yes – you heard it right – a camel! The mind boggles, but presumably they are laying on camel rides. Definitely not my cup of tea. In addition, there will be face painting, stone decorating and a huge variety of games organised to keep the children occupied. I’m sure if you’re a family with young children, this will be great. For us – we’re just heaving a huge sigh of relief that we escaped the camel fest in time.

We had a rather delayed start to our departure. Someone (but it wasn’t me!), couldn’t find their prescription sunglasses. We searched high and low, including the laundry room and the washrooms. We then re-traced our steps from yesterday evening – first searching along the beach where we had stopped to take photographs – but to no avail. Then we had a brainwave. We had stopped to pick up a pizza in the neighbouring village for our tea. We drove back the couple of miles, and hey presto – there they were! I’m thinking of buying him one of those little straps that ties your glasses on round your neck, similar to the one I had to wear at primary school to stop me from losing my mittens. I’m on the look out in the shops!

At last we headed south west, driving initially through beautiful wooded countryside. The new spring leaves on the trees were a vibrant bright green, contrasting vividly with the blue sky. Then it was back across the long toll bridge, and back into Funan. We had planned to stop briefly at Nyborg Distillery, mainly for a coffee and pee stop, but tragically they are closed on a Tuesday. But at least that saved £35 on another bottle of Small Batch Gin.

Once across the bridge, we then headed to the southern tip of Funan, to a lovely little town called Faaborg, where we are staying for the night. First we had a wander round the harbour and the town. There is a large marina, full of very swanky yachts and a few massive motor boats with German flags flying. The town itself is charming – lots of old timber framed buildings and an attractive square with cafes, planted out with colourful spring tubs. We couldn’t resist an ice-cream in the heat. The chap behind the counter didn’t understand our instructions – and somehow I ended up with a white chocolate and liquorice cone. Howard fared much better with hazelnut and mint. Mine, although initially slightly repelled at the combination, actually didn’t taste bad. Not good, you understand – but definitely edible!

Finally, we headed for our campsite for the night, a few miles outside the town. The pitches are grassy and huge, and adjacent to the site are some lovely woodland walks and cycle paths – very pleasant. We treated ourselves to smoked salmon for tea, and then had a quick wander through the woods.

Tomorrow we head back into Jutland, and start to make our way towards the north, where we catch our ferry to Iceland. So far, I am really liking Denmark. The countryside is green and verdant, the coastlines are stunning, the people exceedingly friendly, and everywhere is clean and tidy. We read that Denmark is one of the most egalitarian countries in the world ie they have the smallest difference between rich and poor. The rich pay higher taxes to support those less well off. All the evidence shows that countries with less income inequality tend to be happier societies, and certainly this appears to be in evidence in Denmark. People appear to value their environment, the entire nation seems to be cycling and keeping fit, and everyone we have met has been jolly. They get my vote!

I fear though I will go to bed tonight dreaming of camels!

A day of essential chores today. Not the most exciting way to spend the day, but it had to be done. We didn’t want to take a van load of dirty washing to Iceland with us, and we needed to start planning for the next stage of our trip.

We are the only VW California on this site, and I have the sense that everyone is rather intrigued as to how the two of us are squeezing into such a small beast. We certainly got a few looks this morning from our neighbours when they spotted the Oscar’s windscreen cover peering at them. It would be a lie to say that sometimes I don’t get ‘Big White’ envy – especially when it’s cold or raining and I need a pee, but in general, I am finding the confined space OK, particularly now that the weather is better, and we can sit outside. The limbo dancing round the table at supper time at the beginning of the year has now faded into a distant memory, since we have largely eaten outside for the past month or so. However, looking at the guide books on Iceland today, I was struck by the number of campsite descriptions that talked of pitches being sited behind hedges to shelter from the prevailing wind. I think we might be in for a bit of a shock when we get there – today the temperature was in the high 20s in Denmark, but only six degrees in Reykjavik. 

For a bit of an outing later in the day, we ventured along the coast a few miles to a pleasant harbour town of Hornbaek. It had a thriving marina, and beautiful sand dunes leading down to a long sandy beach. It looked spectacular as the sun was starting to set behind the dunes.

We grabbed a quick take-away pizza and headed back to our campsite. Just as we arrived back at Dronningmolle, the sun put in it’s final appearance, and gave us a stunning sunset. It was one minute to nine. We reminded ourselves that at the beginning of our trip in Scotland, it was almost dark by 4.30, and travelling down through Spain and Portugal, even in the far south, it was dark by six. How lovely it is to have these longer light evenings. By mid summer, we hope to be in Norway, the land of the midnight sun, where it barely gets dark at all.

But all these things are to come. For now I will leave you with a few photos of tonight’s gorgeous sunset. 

Today was a day of coast, castles and culture. But first, as we left the outskirts of Copenhagen, we called in at IKEA. We had been meaning to pay a visit to IKEA since the first week of our trip, but every time we saw a sign, be it in Spain, Portugal, Italy or even Slovenia, we were always either on the wrong side of the motorway, or just didn’t have the strength or inclination to go there. But Howard has been harping on about tidying up the van, and having more effective storage solutions – so IKEA it was. In truth, it was probably the quickest visit to IKEA we have ever managed – we knew which storage boxes needed, and just picked them up. We even failed to buy the statutory giant packet of Dimes.

Next on our itinerary, we headed northwest towards a town called Hillerod, to visit the Frederiksborg Slot. I should explain that ‘Slot’ is the Danish word for castle. It dates back to the 17th century, and between 1671 and 1840, Danish monarchs were crowned in the Coronation Chapel. In 1859 much of the castle was ravaged by fire, and the Carlsberg beer baron restored it and transformed it into a Renaissance masterpiece. It was certainly a very impressive building and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. 

Next we headed for the coastal road that runs up the eastern side of North Zealand, overlooking the Oresund Straight that looks the short distance across the water to Sweden. We were immediately struck by the huge number of sailing boats out on the water, many racing. Sailing is clearly a very popular pastime in this part of the world. The water was clear, and the beaches clean, and being a Sunday, many people were out running or cycling along the foreshore.

Our next stop was just north of Humlebaek, a modernist art museum called Louisiana. ‘Modern art – not for me’, I hear you say. But our guide book virtually insisted we pay it a visit, and how glad we were to have stopped by. This is not really a museum, as much as a stunning exhibition space, cleverly set out in a large landscaped sculpture park, with rolling green slopes down to the sea. It was simply stunning. And I don’t usually go for modern art in the slightest. But this was quite different, and the setting so beautiful, that I defy anyone not to be impressed. Initially we had planned just a quick visit to the outside sculpture park and the cafe for a late lunch. We sat in the sunshine with many others on the patio area outside the cafe, which looked out with a view across the strait to Sweden, and enjoyed our lunch. 

The sculptures in the grounds were an eclectic mix, but for some reason, they all seemed to work in the places they had been positioned. We then went inside, and were delighted to discover that they were hosting an exhibition of Pablo Picasso’s ceramic works. There were five spaces set aside for these – ranging from plates, to jugs, to figurines, to birds and animals. They all had the classic Picasso touch, and were just brilliant to witness. We left this place really glad that we had stumbled across it, thanks to my ever faithful Lonely Planet guide.

Our final stop of the day was to another castle – the Kronborg Slot at Helsingor.  It was made famous in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (known as Elsinore), and is now UNESCO World Heritage listed. It was built as a tollhouse by a Danish king in 1420, but was rebuilt over the years, and now covers an impressive site, with a large moat and raised defences looking out across the water to Sweden.

We then headed on to our campsite for the night, situated by a pleasant sandy beach on the northern coast of Zealand. We managed a quick walk before sunset, and tomorrow we will tackle the IKEA boxes in earnest, provided we don’t find something better to do with our time! However, my mother’s voice is ringing in my ears, ‘Don’t put off until tomorrow, what you can do today’! Originally quoted by Benjamin Franklin, it was one of her favourite sayings, but in this case Mum, it will have to wait ’til tomorrow – Howard is taking up so much space, I don’t have the room to tidy just now! 

In the words of Danny Kaye, ‘Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen’. We’ve had another great day in this beautiful city.

Having orientated ourselves yesterday, we found it much easier to find our way into the city, despite having to take a replacement bus for the first two train stops due to weekend engineering works – just like Scotland in that respect! First stop was coffee, and we found a charming cafe called Grotte Cafe, which was anything but grotty. The Danes do things really well – they call it Hygge. It’s the little tasteful touches that really make the difference. We sat outside, but the interior of the cafe was just lovely – very plain simple decor, but so typically Scandinavian, with muted grey and whites and distressed wooden furniture. Upstairs was a typical student haunt, with students at computers eeking out their coffees for as long as possible.

Duly refreshed, we headed off into the city, and ended up by the jetty that runs the boat trips. Since yesterday we had purchased a ticket, which unknowingly at the time, lasts for 48 hours – we decided to get our money’s worth. So on we jumped for another cruise around. Everywhere we looked, there were National Danish flags flying. The guide explained that is was the anniversary of the liberation of Denmark from the Naxis, and every public building, and many more, had hoisted their National flag in remembrance.

It certainly seemed that the whole of Copenhagen was celebrating the fine sunny weather. Everywhere we looked, people were perched on canal walls, lounging on deckchairs by the water, relaxing in cafes or sitting in boats on the canals with a drink in their hands. It did strike us, that for a country that pays a phenomenal tariff on their alcohol, it certainly didn’t seem to be stopping the Copenhageners from drinking a huge amount. We wondered, therefore, what effect the newly imposed minimum alcohol pricing will make in Scotland, if what we witnessed today was anything to go by. We passed by a group of about ten youths on a ‘Beer Bicycle’. It appeared that the faster they cycled, the more beer was pumped up from the barrel into their glasses. Others had rented boats with tables set in the middle. One poor soul was allocated to steer the outboard motor, whilst the rest of the party were consuming large quantities of alcohol, and often singing. But it was all terribly good humoured. The whole day, we never witnessed any real unruly behaviour, and remarkably, we never saw a single policeman or woman, in sharp contrast to the other cities we have visited on our trip. It was all the more surprising, since this weekend Copenhagen is hosting the European Ice Hockey finals, and there were supporters of many of the teams touring around the city, in their team colours. Everyone was just incredibly civilised and good humoured.

After our boat trip, we stopped for a cool drink and some Smorrebrod – yummy! Then we went for a long walk along the canals, and ended up, you guessed it – at The Little Mermaid statue. Now I know I dissed it yesterday, but in reality, you can’t really come to Copenhagen without at least seeing it!

We returned back to the city centre on our ‘Hop On, Hop Off’ canal boat ticket, and Howard had to drag me off, for fear that I would want to go around again. We returned to our lovely cafe for a quick supper, before catching the train and bus back.

I have really fallen in love with Copenhagen. It is a stunningly beautiful place, made better, of course, by the lovely sunshine we saw it in. Generally, I am not a great fan of cities – but there is something quite special about cities that sit by the sea or water – San Fransisco, Cape Town, Vancouver, Boston to name but a few. For some reason, they always seem much more relaxed to me, and take every opportunity to maximise the vistas. Copenhagen has done this remarkably well – leaving huge expanses of open spaces next to the water for the public to enjoy. I just hope that Dundee’s newly developed waterfront takes some lessons from its Scandinavian cousin.

So, for me, Danny Kaye is right – ‘Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen for me’! (Words from the song in the 1953 Hans Christian Anderson film, for those of you too young to remember!).

Today we left Funan, and drove across the Great Belt’s Bridge to Zealand, heading for Copenhagen. We arrived on the outskirts just after lunchtime, got Oscar settled, then caught the train into the city centre from the suburbs.

Arriving in Copenhagen, I was immediately struck by the number of bicycles everywhere – hundreds and thousands. The city caters exceedingly well for cyclists, with cycle lanes everywhere, and even entire carriages on the trains. It is a way of life here.

Exiting the station, we asked a couple of students the way into the centre, and headed past Tivoli Gardens towards the canals. Copenhagen is a city of canals – not quite as impressive as Venice, but with a definite charm. The city is an eclectic mix of old and new – charming old warehouses, multi-coloured townhouses sit side by side with clean crisp modern architecture. Our first stop was a coffee sat outside the Royal Danish Library. It is a sleek black glass building adjacent to a canal, nicknamed ‘The Diamond’ by the locals, since when the sunlight falls onto it, it glistens like a diamond. The interior was impressive, but by now, there sun had come out, so we chose to sit outside with the many students, who rather than studying, were lounging about on deckchairs by the water. ‘What a civilised library!’, I thought to myself. For a pleasant half hour, we took on our new favourite occupation – people-watching. Two groups of young women, quite definitely on a hen weekend, had hired two boats, and were precariously steering them along the canal. Just as they got to the library terrace, they lost control, and the boats collided, much to the applause of all the lounging students in their deckchairs. Within minutes, another boat had appeared – the river police – who took the most wobbly boat of the two aside, and had words! No sooner had the police boat driven off, and the girls were up to their antics again.

We pulled ourself away from our riverside view, and went off to explore the city. Whilst sitting having our drink, we had noticed many river cruisers pass by. It seemed the perfect way to acquaint ourselves with the city, and gain some sense of orientation. We arrived at the landing stage just as one boat was about to leave, so we threw ourselves onboard, and then proceeded to have a very pleasant hour on the water, seeing the sights. Amongst the highlights were the ultra modern Opera House, the large, but weirdly attractive incineration plant that burns rubbish (including some from the UK), to provide 50% of the power to the entire city, the Christianshavns Canal based on the Amsterdam canals, the hippy boats and numerous church spires. The one thing that was definitely not a highlight was the statue of the ‘Little Mermaid’, which was indeed very small, barely visible in fact due the hundreds of tourists gathered round to take a photograph. I was so unimpressed, I didn’t even take a shot, which truly goes to show what an anti-climax it was. 

It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, bobbing about on the water. We were also delighted to see that our ticket lasts 48 hours – so in theory, we can just keep going round again and again tomorrow. We finished off our day with a quick supper in the city centre, before returning on our train. The waitress double-took when Howard ordered a Hot Chocolate with his salad – it was a sort of protest, I think, against our week of abstinence! We have another full day in Copenhagen tomorrow, so will hopefully discover more. In the meantime, I will finish with some photos, mostly taken from the water – so please excuse if they are a bit squiffy. I only drank water – honest! Frankly, it wasn’t hard to abstain, since a Henricks and Fevertree was priced at £12.50. Welcome to Scandinavia!!