DAY 18: Copenagen (Kanalhuset Apartments)

We had breakfast in the bar this morning. In spite of the good reviews, it was very simple - not many options and very simply presented. I had bread, butter and cheese, which was very tasty, but not very exciting. Jim had scrambled eggs, which was just a small plate of scrambled eggs with some black bread. We think we might try elsewhere for breakfast in future.

After that, we rugged up for our first real venture out into the Copenhagen Winter. We were very proud of ourselves because we negotiated the Danish Metro system, (incredibly easy), and headed off into the centre of town.

Our first stop was the Rosenborg Palace - former home of the Royal family. It was quite a modest palace, with small rooms but, of course, lavishly decorated. It was only spoiled by the fact that the lighting was incredibly dim. I suppose it was to protect all the furniture and tapestries etc, but it did make reading the guide leaflet almost impossible and taking photos wasn't much better. I resolved to look up some photos when I got home. The palace is located in some lovely gardens - not that big, but beautifully laid out.

The Marble Room at Rosenborg Palace

After the Palace, we wandered through the busy streets looking at the shops, until we thought it was time to stop for a coffee and a bun. Very pleasant to relax inside in the warmth. It's not too cold outside, as there's no wind or rain, but it is nice to be warm.

We wandered through yet another Christmas market, where I bought some skiing dwarf Christmas decorations. (Very Danish.)

We were going to go to the University of Copenhagen Library, which is supposed to be very picturesque, but then thought we might leave it for another day and headed off home. The Metro system is so efficient. There are trains every 2 minutes and the trip from the city to our station takes about 8 minutes. Wonderful!

After relaxing at home, we headed out again in the dark (at 3.30pm) to go to the Winter Wonderland festival at the Tivoli Gardens. It is quite expensive to get in ($36) and we had to queue up, but it was quite an astonishing place. It is enormous and full of lights and little cabins selling food and drink (lots of mulled wine) and God knows what else, and rides, a skating rink and Christmas trees, and more rides, and light displays and lots and lots of people! 

We strolled around and spent quite a bit of time watching the people on all the rides - from the terrifying ones (rollers coasters, big drops etc) to the more sedate ones (like merry go rounds, dragon boats and dodgem cars). It wasn't really our thing, but would have been great if we had younger kids. I have to admit though, that it was a very impressive display. We didn't want to hang around for another couple of hours for the fireworks, so decided to leave after about an hour to have dinner. (It was only about 5pm by this time, but felt like the middle of the night!)

We ate at the extremely fancy restaurant of a nearby hotel - which specialises in steak. We shared beef croquettes and iberico ham and truffle paste for entree, and then I had a rather odd pearl barley risotto with mushrooms (and truffle) while Jim had a steak with truffled mashed potatoes and whisky sauce. (The Danes are quite obsessed by truffles.) That was all delicious. The bread and butter was also divine. It cost an arm and a leg, but was a satisfying dinner.

We then headed back to the Metro to go back to the apartment. We had to swap Metro lines, but it was all extremely easy.