Day 5 : Travel Day Copenhagen - Hamburg

It's a good thing today's a travel day, especially since the weather is looking really overcast and slightly drizzly. Heading into Germany today, with first stop being Hamburg.

I looked at both train and bus connection, train was going to be maybe about 40 mins faster, but would have cost me double the price of my bus ticket which costed €29.90. The bus journey would take 5.5hrs.

Following news of the recent quarantine requirements by Denmark for Singapore travellers, I was worried about changing rules within EU and Germany - since Denmark isn't part of Schengen, and I've only been in Europe for about 5 days, my history in Singapore still counts at this stage. I needed to quickly get myself into Germany before rules changes again, since there's also talk about potential lock downs in Germany.

The bus ride was mostly normal, although about 2+ hrs into the trip, we were told to get off the bus and get back on 45 mins later. I thought it was possibly for immigration clearance, so followed the crowd off the bus, into a narrow alleyway, and up onto a flight of stairs.

The next thing I saw was that we were out at sea!

Apparently we had drove onto a ferry, and was crossing into Germany by sea! That's a bonus! It was nice being out at sea, a little windy and chilly but very refreshing.

The ferry was really stable and didn't have any of those bobbing sensation. If you didn't look out the windows, I could have easily thought I was inside a mall, with dining, duty free shopping, arcade games etc within the ferry.

Ferry ride was probably about an hour, and then another 2+ hrs more of travel to get to my destination. 

I was however surprised there were no immigration to go through, since Denmark isn't part of Schengen and I was officially going into a different country. 

Got to the hostel after a wrong stop at another A&O, thankfully they were just 10 mins walking distance away. 

I booked a bed in a 6-bed dorm room, and when I walked in, I only saw 2 beds were made, and they were side by side. I also noticed that the door had a "disinfected" sign before I walked in, and had strong suspicions that I might be the only one in the room during my stay in Hamburg. If so, that would indeed be a bonus!

Headed into town to look for a Vodafone prepaid card so as to get some data on the move but strangely both Vodafone stores I went to were sold out of cards! I might just have to get it when I head to the next city - Berlin.

I was also really starving, haven't not had much of a lunch since was mostly on a bus. Today's weather calls for something hot and spicy, so I walked into the nearest Korean restaurant I could find.

I struggled to decipher the menu and the staff couldn't really speak much English but at least I avoided ordering a hot pot of chicken feet which I almost ended up with. 

Thankfully I got one with just chicken meat, potatoes and carrots. Not the best Korean stew, but it certainly warmed my tummy nicely!

Day 1 - 4 : Denmark (Wrap Up)

Copenhagen was my 1st stop of my 3rd big trip. Being the 1st stop and uncertain about all the covid rules and jet lag concerns, I set aside 4 full days in the city.

It was a good thing too, as I was struggling to stay up past 8.30pm on most nights and was up mostly by 6am, which worked to my advantage, since it gets dark really quickly this time of the year.

I got really lucky with travelling into Copenhagen too, especially when on the day I depart Copenhagen for Germany, Denmark has announced it now requires travellers from Singapore to quarantine on arrival for at least 4 days. Phew!

Weather wise, I must say I had it pretty well. The 1st day there were sunny blue skies, and I managed to cover most of what I had wanted to originally see, leaving time to even go to Sweden (Malmo & Lund) and even Helsingør, up North from Copenhagen.

The following days of my stay, it got cloudy with slight drizzle, but that didn't last too long - much better than what was predicted from the weather forecast, as I was expecting showers for most of the time I would be in Denmark.

Essentially one could see key sights of Copenhagen within 2 to 3 full days, using the route I used on Day 1, and adding on other key sights as below. More time needed if planning on visiting any museums. 

Free Christiania

Located in the area of Christianshavn - it's said to be somewhat like Amsterdam, not exactly sure what it meant, but shortly after crossing the bridge into Christianshavn, I came upon a water canal lined with low blocks of buildings which reminded me very much of Amsterdam.

However, I later found out what made Free Christiania like Amsterdam was the prevalence of weed being sold specifically in this neighbourhood - from what I understood, weed is illegal in Denmark, but only in this area, the laws and jurisdiction of Copenhagen does not apply.
Photos are not supposed to be taken here, which I found out shortly after this pic was snapped

Immediately a big guy walked up towards me and said no pics are allowed here as everyone's criminal. I was made to delete the above photo before I could keep my phone, but later realised I had another copy of the pic somewhere else, thus person's face had been blocked to protect identity.

It was also a very interesting neighbourhood, with lots of graffiti art on numerous walls.

Even outside the Free Christiansen area, but still within the Christianshavn neighbourhood, you can find a lot of eccentric things, such as this "art" piece.

There was also the iconic Church of Our Saviour with the spiral staircase tower design, extremely unique unlike any other churches I ever seen.

Christiansborg Palace

Apparently the tower is free to visit, allowing great views of the city. It's not the tallest view point in the city, but hey, it's free. Note that it closes on Mondays, along with most museums in Copenhagen. Wanted to go visit but didn't have the time to do so. 

Rosenborg Castle 

Statens Naturhistoriske Museum

Børsen

The Round Tower

Tivoli

I am a thrill seeker and was contemplating to visit, but upon seeing the prices, I decided against it. Besides a very costly admission fee, rides will need to be individually purchased. 

The architecture in Copenhagen had been really interesting, and especially nice walking down the pedestrian streets of Copenhagen.

Further south, starting from around Tivoli and past the Central Train Station, it gets grittier.

There is also a meat packing district south of Central Train Station, which seems to be where hip restaurants could be found.

You can get by without almost using any cash in Denmark, though there are places which charge a commission of about 3% for credit cards. 

In general, almost everything is expensive in Denmark. Dining out at restaurants are on average at least DKK 150 (S$30). They even charge for tap water - I've heard a ridiculous price of DKK50 (S$10) for per person cover of tap water at a restaurant in Copenhagen! There's even a 3% uplift in some places for using credit card.

Even sending a postcard overseas is crazily expensive - the damage.. DKK33 (S$7) just for the stamp!

What amazed me was the lack of any signs of covid - no mask wearing, no restrictions on dining or gathering etc. 

At times as I leave the hostel room, I even find myself thinking about putting a mask out of habit.

I am so glad to finally be able to breathe properly without the mask on. I had a nice time overall, though not sure I would come back here again, mostly because of cost. 

Day 4: Helsingør & Kronborg Castle

Took a day trip to the town of Helsingør, which was a train ride 45 mins away. 

The main reason almost any tourist goes to Helsingør is to visit the Kronborg Castle, or otherwise known as the "Hamlet Castle". 

Highly recommend to walk the exterior of the castle either before or after visiting the castle. 

The entrance fee into the castle costs DKK 125 per person (about Euro 18). 

There are 3 routes to take - one which leads to an exhibition containing some art works and traditional outfits of those times, another path leads you to the different rooms and hallways with explanation about the usage of the various spaces during the King's stay. 

The last is the casemates, which are located below the castle and is made up of 2 different storeys - the upper are used as guardrooms, the smithery and stables, and the lower storey was to provide a safe shelter during times of war. The lower casemates were also equipped with barracks and food storage facilities. 

I took about 2.5hrs to cover both the internal and the external area. 

Make sure to also walk towards the Barracks sign, as you will find this. 

I then made my way to the town centre for lunch. 

It's a really small compact town, and was extremely easy to move around. 

As expected, restaurants only had Danish menus displayed. 

I walked into a restaurant and asked if they had an English menu. The staff said they had, but he wasn't able to find it. So I asked for his help to translate the items, which had just about 6 or 7 different items. The 1st item on the list was Grilled Fish, which I was quite happy to go with, and there were another 2 other fish items on the menu, one of which was supposed to come with a sauce (the name of the sauce he wasn't able to translate into English), and another fish item that came with prawns. 

Not wanting to fuss about, I asked for the Grilled Fish and the staff next asked me what I would like to drink. Not wanting to trouble the staff with translations, I just asked for water, in which the staff said "Tap water", which was fine. 

I was then served this. 

It was good, though I wasn't sure if maybe they had given me the more pricey fish item since it came with prawns, and I also wasn't sure if maybe in Danish the word for grilled and fried is similar. I made a mental note to look at the bill when it came. 

After I was done with my meal and asked for the bill, I was told the total was DKK139. 

I asked "Isn't the fish DKK 119?", staff replied "DKK 20 is for water. We have to charge otherwise everyone will ask for water". 

DKK 20 is about S$4.20 or €3. What the hell, four freaking dollars for tap water? Will the water make me younger? 

Side note, I later read in a review of a Copenhagen restaurant that I was planning to go to for dinner, that a few people had commented they got charged DKK50 (S$10.50) for tap water. Ridiculous!

Of course that also made me change my mind of heading there for dinner.