Day 3 : Day Trip to Sweden - Malmö & Lund

I decided to do a day trip into Sweden, since it is just seperated by a bridge and takes about 30 mins by train to get to the nearest biggest town, Malmö, or another 12 mins to Lund. 

The trip by train across the bridge was really nice, and you could see numerous wind turbines out in sea. Once past the bridge, I was officially in Sweden. I brought my passport just in case there were border checks but there were none. 

I decided to make Lund my first stop - It's apparently the oldest town in Sweden and it's also famously known as the University town.

The town is really compact and I managed to cover most of it within a couple hours. 

Interesting architecture in the town, even the university campus alone has different styles of buildings. 

University Building 

King's House

The highlight in my opinion is the Lund Cathedral. 

There's so much intricate detail in the interiors. 

Just look at the carvings on the wood work! 

And then the crypt! Wow! 

I don't know who were buried here though 😛. 

However being here gave me the Da Vinci Code feelz... You know the scene where Tom Hanks started hammering the ground? 😂🤣😂

And the most impressive - Lund Astronomical Clock. 

It dates back to 1425 and was restored in 1923. The astronomical clock chimes twice daily (12noon and 3pm). 

Don't know how it is when it chimes, but it just turned 10am when I was there and I caught the 2 soldier statues on the top moving. Pretty cute!

I don't quite know how to read the clock though. Anyone knows? 

I also happened to randomly walk through a cemetery that was located next to the Botanical Gardens. A rather pleasant setting for a cemetery, and worth a walk through if there's time. 

Next stop, Malmö. It's a lot bigger town than Lund (Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden), and the architecture style is also very different from Lund (combination of both the old and the new, with fascinating historical buildings and modern architecture). Malmö was once owned by Denmark, eventually becoming Swedish in 1658. 

Stortorget - the main town square. 

Malmö Cathedral 

Of course every town needs its own cathedral. It was a little too modern for my liking, and I much prefer Lund. 

 

With the exception of this small section - just look at those paintings on the ceiling. There was unfortunately serious signs of fading, especially those on the wall.  

Malmö Castle 

Not quite what I expected of a castle as I expected more grandeur. This looked rather industrial. It is now converted as a museum.

Turning Torso

This is supposed to be an iconic building in Malmö, and the 1st twisted skyscraper in the world. 

As per Wikipedia, "it is a neo-futurist residential skyscraper in Sweden and the tallest building in Scandinavia". I wasn't impressed but with all the walking done during the day, I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got to here and didn't walk closer to get a better look. 

The main highlight for me in Malmö was not the sights, but actually lunch! Before coming, I had a look at dining options, but when I went by then, some were either closed or were extremely packed (and seemed to be serving IKEA style food) or had menus only in Swedish.

I walked past a hotel which looked really simple on the outside, and featured an English menu - Tuesday offering of Fish stew was actually the most appealing from the week's menu, so I decided to walked in.

And OMG, what a lovely surprise. I walked through the entrance and the hotel staff pointed me to a section which was the restaurant. As I got to the entrance of the restaurant, it opened up into a beautiful bright and sunny courtyard with beautiful glass dome covered with creepers. Absolutely stunning.

Lunch came with a salad (definitely good quality olive oil used here) and bread and butter (even the butter was really good, creamiest I ever tasted), and the fish stew (see how pretty it is) and tea/coffee (self service). 

Even the tea was premium, from Damman Freres.

I definitely lucked out and enjoyed the venue and lunch so much, I stayed for almost 2 hours. I think it may had been better than any of the other places I had originally looked at. I certainly raved heaps of the place to friends after the meal! 

And there's this very cute chair at the hotel. Would you sit on it? 

Some other ramdom images from Malmö, and then me calling it a day! 

Day 1 : Copenhagen

I arrived at Copenhagen Airport and was surprised that Immigration did not even asked if I was vaccinated or to show my vaccination cert. Even more surprising was that the moment I took the train from the airport into the city, no one was wearing mask both outdoors and indoors. Other than some signs to remind you not to enter if you show any minor symptoms of covid, and sanitisers placed in high density places, it's like Covid was never a thing here,  

After flying more than 13.5 hours to get far away from Singapore, alas the first thing I see when I got into the cental train station is this...

McDonald's Singapore Fried Chicken burger. What on earth is Singapore fried chicken? 😅

Anyway, as I arrived way too early, the room wasn't ready for me to check in, so I had to store my luggage. It's the 1st time I encounter having to pay to store luggage at the hostel I am staying at. The tricky situation was that the machine only accepts cash. Only just arrived in Copenhagen, I didn't have any local currency on me nor was I intending to get any as I read that everything can be paid with a card. The hostel staff subsequently told me that I could also store it at the central train station which is a little more expensive but at least they accepted cards, or get currency changed at the train station.

So off I went to the train station again, with luggage in tow, but unfortunately the money changers do not open so early on a Sunday morning. I made my way to the train luggage storage counter and in a blurry state I made an error with the conversion - what originally seemed decent in my mind, turned out to be 3 times the cost of what it would had been if I had stored it at the hostel with cash (DKK80 vs maximum of DKK30). Travel woes! But I was glad to be able to get started with exploring what Copenhagen had to offer.

After a drizzly and gloomy arrival, the weather nicely cleared out by 9.30am (by the time I stored my luggage), allowing me to cover much of Copenhagen has to offer in beautiful sunny weather. It was 9°C for most part of the day, but it didn't felt at all cold, except for later in the afternoon, when it started getting breezier.

In the 5 hours I had, I managed to cover probably about 70% of what I wanted to see in Copenhagen.

Tivoli - most popular amusement Park in the world. It's said Tivoli inspired the creation of Disney world. As a thrill seeker, I considered visiting, but after seeing the price, I gave up the thought. Besides having to pay for admission (which was easily S$80), rides are then individually charged. Way too expensive for a budget trip! 😅

City Hall Square

Stroget - longest pedestrian only street in Europe. Lots of beautiful low rise buildings located in this street with numerous shops, including the famous Danish brand Lego. One can easily roam around here and find pleasure in getting lost among the various side streets. 

Christmas markets were also just starting to be set up, though it's likely I won't already be in Copenhagen when it starts operating. 

Royal Danish Theatre - a beautiful building

Nyhavn - one of my favourite spot in Copenhagen, with the colourful buildings by the water.

Amalienborg - home of the Danish royal family. The guards are known as Den Kongelige Livgarde. Marching of the guards seemed less formal and rigid compared to other countries which has similar changing of guards.

Frederick's Church - one of the nicest Church in Copenhagen. Also known as the Marble Church for its rococo architecture. Lots of details in the building, including statues of prominent theologians and ecclesiastical figures encircles the grounds of the building. It has the largest church dome in Scandinavia with a span of 31m. The inspiration was probably St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Kastellet - is a citadel. It is one of the best preserved fortresses in Northern Europe. It is constructed in the form of a pentagon with bastions at its corners. A number of buildings are located within the grounds of Kastellet, including the Citadel Church as well as a windmill. 

The area houses various military activities but it mainly serves as a public park and a historic site.

The Little Mermaid - iconic statue of Denmark. Commissioned to be built by Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen, after he was extremely moved after watching the ballet of the same name. It was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale about a mermaid who gives up everything to be united with a young, handsome prince on land.

Every morning and evening she swims to the surface from the bottom of the sea and, perched on her rock in the water, she stares longingly towards the shore hoping to catch a glimpse of her beloved prince.

St. Albans Church - also known as The English Church, dedicated to the growing English congregation back in the 1880s. The church with the Gefion Fountain in the foreground.

Meals are on the expensive side in Copenhagen, which can easily cost at least DKK150 (S$30) but I found a pizza takeaway (Tony's Pizza) that had raved reviews and was just less than 10 mins walk away. 

I came back with an amazingly good Italian pizza topped with pepperoni and mushrooms for DKK61 (about S$12).

After all that walking and an extremely long day, I was extremely exhausted that I fell dead asleep by 8.30pm! 

Big Trip 3 - In The Skies Again!

The last 3 weeks had gone by way too quickly, as I plan and make preparations for my upcoming trip. 

While trying to figure routes, other than weather to consider (since almost every where is approaching winter), I had to also look into covid policies that differs by countries, and flights availability from Singapore. 

With Europe in a more advance stage of opening up and with recently established VTL lanes, it just made sense to plan a trip around Europe, while also avoiding countries with higher covid numbers. There are still a number of cities/countries which I had yet to see in Europe too. 

So here I am, excited and ready to board my flight after more than 1 year 8 months of no travel. 

Somewhat nervous too, as it's going to be the longest I ever had to wear a mask, especially with a 13.5hr flight to Copenhagen (side note, these N95 masks recently given by Singapore government is not at all comfortable to wear). 

I was thinking there wouldn't be much people on this plane, but then I realised the same plane will be flying to Rome as its final destination with a stopover in Copenhagen. 

Super glad that it's a direct flight to Copenhagen, and at least I have a whole row to myself, which I can lie down to get some shut eye. Food wise on the plane had been pretty good! Did Singapore Airlines improved their menu or have I just not taken airplane food for too long? 

(Top pic : Seafood Horfun for dinner, bottom pic : Nasi Lemak for breakfast) 

And a nice shot from the plane... 

Time to embrace the new normal and endemic living. 

Start of Another New Adventure

It's been a long while since I last wrote in here, I would say about 4.5 years? Life has kept me busy with work, though I had also been able to make regular short trips over that time. 

However, as a travel junkie, it had been weird not being able to travel for the last 1.5 years, with my last trip being in April 2019, before the whole world came to a standstill due to Covid. 

But it does seem like it is starting to be a trend in my lifestyle that a backpacking trip is required in between jobs - Having found out I was laid off from work 2 days ago, less than 24 hours later, the Singapore government announced it will ease restrictions on travel to progress with its endemic policy of living with Covid. 

I, on the other hand, takes it as a sign that I should go travelling! 

So, here I am, with a lot of buzzing going on in my mind of all the different places I would love to go, I am also trying to figure out how I can once again continue with my blogging for the upcoming big trip without having to lug a computer around. 

Lots have changed in technology since I first started this blog - from having no smart phone on my 1st big trip, to just discovering that Windows Live Writer has gone out of support since 2017 (which was what I had previously used to write offline on-the-go on my last 2 trips), thus the hope of finding something that would fulfill my needs. 

So here is me, writing my 1st post for my 3rd big trip, on the Android Blogger App.

Hopefully it's going to be easy to use! More updates will be shared in coming weeks!