Swedish Memories- Not in a Box!

Just a word of warning here, O Fellow Travellers of the World- don’t decide to see the sights of Copenhagen on a Monday! Because you won’t! Because they’re not open!

We set off this morning with the backpack & the map to check out the cultural, the classic and the just plain interesting, but got as far as the Tivoli Gardens, which were open & then came to an abrupt halt because that was that!

The Gardens, which had come with great recommendations, were a bit of a letdown really.  Thank God they were free- the hotel gives out free tickets.  Sure, historically they are up there as the oldest amusement park in the Northern Hemisphere, and they do have deadly rides, but for the most part, it’s all restaurants, so we actually saw all we could see in about half an hour, after which we took out the guide book in order to move on to more cultural pursuits, but that was not to be- well, not today, anyhow.

Michelin Starred Restaurant in Tivoli Gardens
We didn't eat there!

So... what to do?  Well, the guide book came in handy once again, because it said that we could take a train, any of about 6 an hour, & pop over to Sweden for lunch, so we did.  Well, really, what is one to do when nothing in Denmark is open?  Anyone for lunch in Sweden? Seemed like a good idea to us. 

Now, Girls, what comes to mind when someone mentions Sweden? We know what the boys would think of but we won’t go there!  With us, it’s stuff in a box & the box would come with the label??? Yes, you’ve got it! IKEA!!!!  But we actually didn’t see one Ikea store! Lots of things in boxes but not from Ikea. Plenty of Ikea stores on this side of the sea, though.

Malmo, which is where we landed, is the third largest city in Sweden, with a population of around 5.5 million.  (Just think how much your knowledge of the world will be enhanced by the time we get home!  Perhaps we could have a trivia night.... )

Actually, & seriously, that’s why this blog is good- you don’t have to read it unless you want to & you know that you will never have to listen to us when we get home, raving on about what we did etc etc which means you  don’t have to plan to avoid us in the village! Or anywhere else you meet us!

Malmo Museum

Anyway, back to Malmo. The old centre, where, incidentally, everything was open, dates from about 1000 AD & has some lovely architecture.  It also had a lovely lunch, so we wandered about, took lots of photos, ate some nice things, got caught in a summer downpour, then hopped on the train & came back to Copenhagen.

Christianborg Castle in Copenhagen,
King Christian's flat when he came  to town.

Do you know where this quote is from? Bottle of wine to the first reader with the correct answer.

 Today was good, today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.  

And tomorrow, we are off to check out Odense which was the city where Hans Christian Andersen grew up. We will also check out Roskilde, which is north, on one of the fjords & is where the royalty of Denmark are buried- remember my morbid fascination with cemeteries?  It also has a Viking Museum, so Bill is looking forward to that- it’s a boy thing! But then... he does indulge my cemetery thing.  Then, to top things off, we will come home part of the way, on the ferry.

 As most of tomorrow happens on the other side of this bloody expensive bridge, we are leaving early & will make the most of the day, because we can’t afford to give too many of our hard earned Aussie dollars to the Danes!

Though they are cute... check out the guy below.

Trust me, Girls, the
Danish Dudes
are to die for!