Copenhagen

It was with a touch of sadness that we got off the ferry when it arrived in Copenhagen. Its the last (scheduled) public transport we'll take. From here on its only planes and rental cars. The buses, ferries and especially the trains have been great.

We walked to the closest station to the ferry terminal, and caught the s-bahn to Vanlose. There appeared to be nobody at the hostel, so we hid our bags around the corner of the house, and headed off to do some exploring. The hostel reminds us a lot of Kristina's in Kiev. It's a private home, where 3 or 4 bedrooms are rented out, and a common kitchen and bathroom space is provided.

We can tell we are getting closer to Germany. Not only is the language more similar and the tourist signs now often shown also in German, but we now also have s-bahns and Aldi.

Spent a while exploring the parks to the east of the city centre. Started with Kongens Have (Kings Garden) which has the old Rosenborg Castle and a Hans Christian Andersen statue in the middle of it, then through the Botanical Gardens with its extensive collection of overseas plants and trees. The daffodils were just finishing, and the tulips were in full bloom.

Around Østre Anlæg (some big gardens) to the old Castle and barracks where we walked the ramparts while everybody else jogged them. There is a moat and earth mound all around, so it was heavily fortified for the 1600s, but probably insufficient for the 1940s.

Walked back into town, stopping at the Marmorkirken (Marble Cathedral) before hopping on the metro back to the hostel. There are bikes and bike paths everywhere as its a very flat city. Most bikes have baskets, and many have child seats (fully covered). There are special carriages and bike racks inside trains, and even free bike hire. You couldn't  hope to provide enough bike racks, so everybody just leaves them all over the place.