Copenhagen

Sweden, Norway, and Denmark have always intrigued me. These three countries form the Scandanavia and have a high quality of life and are people are generally happy there. Finland and Iceland were also in my list, but for this year, I managed to settle down on Denmark out of all these countries. My neighbor from Dombivli, Vishal, with whom I literally grew up, stays in Copenhagen with his family. And I utilized this opportunity to the fullest extent and I have no regrets or complaints. It was the first time that I traveled with T on my own through Frankfurt and on a flight to another country. I have done that a couple of times between India and Germany, but not within Europe on my own. T was very excited as we approached the time of boarding and he literally had butterflies in his stomach, he said. He was so natural when he said that. Kids! They seek joy in every small thing, don't they?

We reached Copenhagen airport at 10:00 pm last Sunday and we took a Taxi and reached Vishal's home. They were waiting for us. His 2-year-old son was very happy on seeing T. He immediately started showing him things around and they got busy. Swati, Vishal's wife, had prepared dinner for us. A vegetable rice dish with Papad and pickle! How could I say no! We talked till 12 in the night and slept off later sometime.

Vishal left for office on Monday and Swati dropped little A to the daycare. We had breakfast and we set to the main station from where we were going to catch our hop on hop off bus. Swati showed us the way, the bus stop and she went home. The city has a prepaid card system, which can be used for bus, trams, and metros. It was very convenient and saved the trouble of having cash on us every time. T and I went around on the bus, listening to the commentary about the various sites. Coming from Karlsruhe, a small town in Germany, every road and site in Copenhagen looked bigger to me. People were getting in and out, but we completed the whole tour in one bus. We finished the tour and went for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. We roamed in the city center, checked out some local shops, bought a fridge magnet and went back home at about 3:30 pm. We all met Vishal at the main station again at 5 pm and then walked down the beautiful harbor called Nyhavn. It was buzzing with restaurants and people and seafood seemed to be of prime importance and interest there. There were many small boats perched up there which were private and people were having parties on them. We walked to the palace where the current queen of Denmark resides. It was already 7 pm and there were no people around. The guards were on the vigil and they were keeping a watch around. We then walked to the church near the palace and music was being played there on Organ and it was very soothing. We walked a bit to the Metro station and to our surprise, the Metro trains run here without a driver! T couldn't really believe his eyes and sat in the first seat every time we took the Metro to see how fast it goes without any driver and any problems. We reached home, had food, talked a little and slept off.

Tuesday was rainy and little A was home, so T ditched me and told me to go off alone for sight-seeing. I went on my own again to the same bus, but on a different route. I managed to take pictures of the famous "Mermaid" and finished the tour in about 2 hours. Came back home and had a nice ginger tea. It was cold and windy and rainy and hence we were not in a mood to go out again! We watched a movie at home and then later at 7 pm went for a walk to a nearby park with the kids. A day well spent in relaxing and talking and catching up with Swati.

Wednesday was packed with many to-do activities. The first and the foremost Tivoli gardens, which is an amusement park was a must-visit for T. We actually spent only about 2 hrs there as most of the rides were for adults and the ones which T wanted to do were either not working or were to be done with an adult. I just sat in one ride and my head started whirling. I realized that with time, I don't quite enjoy rides which give a jerk to the body and which surprise you to a great extent. I decided that it was the last ride which I would ever do now in my life. I would rather watch others having fun doing them. T did that same ride twice and came out laughing and without any problem. We got out and took a tour bus again to cover the city for one last time before we left Copenhagen. There were tourists all over, streets, cafes, restaurants were busy. We could see Aldi and Netto, the supermarket chains from Germany, also in Copenhagen. People were in general very lively, smiling and the streets seemed alive and teeming with people of different nationalities. From the bus tour, we (Swati and A joined us) went to see the Aquarium, which I personally enjoyed a lot. Kids had a great time there. After the closing hours, we went to a nearby beach, where T wanted to swim, but we had no extra clothes. So he just went knee-deep in water and enjoyed for some time. We came back home, had dinner, watched Johnny English movie, talked a bit and slept off as everybody was tired.

I thank Vishal and Swati from bottom of my heart. They were super hosts. I ate the choicest of foods prepared by Swati. A was such a sweetheart. They welcomed me again for a longer time and I could just say thanks to them!

Copenhagen is just like any other European capital city. Having visited so many cities in Europe now. I have begun to feel less excited about the novelty in them. There is no novelty sometimes, I feel. The palaces. the churches, the city center, a river, harbor, it's the same with sometimes more and sometimes less grandeur and architecture. After seeing Moscow and St. Petersburg, I think nothing else will seem magnificent and beautiful to me now. But Copenhagen was always on my bucket list, and thanks to my friends, Vishal and Swati, it got covered!

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