Copenhagen Collective

I managed to take 134 photographs on our enjoyable holiday to Copenhagen. We returned on Monday flying Norwegian Air from CPH to London Gatwick (an airline that I can thoroughly recommend for its modern fleet of Boeing 737-800s, leather seating throughout and delightful cabin crew).

We stayed at the Hotel Alexandra on H.C. Andersen's Boulevard, just two blocks from Rådhus-pladsen and Tivoli, Denmark's most-visited attraction.

Hotel Alexandra, a delightful boutique hotel in the best possible city centre location

The splendid archway entrance to Tivoli

Tivoli was opened in 1843, the creation of architect George Carstensen and commissioned by King Christian VIII. Apart from the beautiful gardens and numerous restaurants Tivoli contains thirty-odd rides, which include one of the world's oldest still-functioning wooden roller coasters and the hair-raising Spinning Top, which lifts up and twirls thrill-seekers around, some 80 metres above ground. No, I didn't!

The Spinning Top

 During our visit to Tivoli we enjoyed lunch at Groeften, a historic restaurant, popular with celebs of a certain vintage, so it suited me!

Restaurant Groeften

This magnificent Peacock put on a display for us.

Peacock in Tivoli Gardens

On Saturday we met up with friends Kaare and Charlotte for lunch at Restaurant Heering on picturesque Nyhavn, a very popular hangout for locals and tourists alike. The 'new harbour' was created in 1671 to link Kongens Nytorv to the sea. The earliest of the townhouses, No.9, dates from this period. Hans Christian Andersen lived for a while at No.67.

Nyhavn

On Sunday we took a canal trip from Nyhavn that enters Copenhagen harbour and then negotiates the numerous canals connected to it. The Danish 78 metre royal yacht HDMY Dannebrog was moored in the harbour, a vessel of beauty and elegance. The vessel was commissioned on 26th May 1932 and is the oldest royal yacht in service.

HDMY Dannebrog

Just a short walk from our hotel is located the Latin Quarter, one of the city's most historic areas. The buildings around Fiolstraede date back to the foundation of Scandinavia's earliest university in 1475.

The Rundetårn (Round Tower) in the Latin Quarter was built by Christian IV in the mid 17th Century and functioned both as church tower and observatory. The observatory is still operational.

For our last dinner in Copenhagen we splashed out at A Hereford Beefstouw located at Tivoli http://beefstouw.com/tivoli/ . The food was amazing - and so was the bill! But it is a fabulous location. I certainly enjoyed it...

and so did my wife Rosalind...

And all to soon our magical visit to wonderful Copenhagen was over. Until the next time.....

  

Countdown to Copenhagen

It is now 11:17pm in the UK and my wife has been busy packing this evening for our holiday in Copenhagen. My last visit to this capital of Denmark was in 2012 on a business trip. I wonder how I might feel now as a 'tourist' travelling to this Scandinavian city....

Retirement has its rewards. The stress of the commercial aspects of travel is a distant memory as I have been retired for 16 months now but I do sometimes miss the buzz of visiting customers and meeting up with old business acquaintances. I still maintain a keen interest in the success of the company that I ran as MD before my retirement and am happy to report that it continues to prosper. But, there is no going back....

Travel now, for me and my wife, has to contain all the elements of history, culture, comfortable accommodation, good food and wine and of course - good weather. Here's hoping...

 

The Little Mermaid

My wife and I will be flying on Thursday to Copenhagen. Flying Norwegian Air to Denmark. Norwegian Air from London Gatwick airport. To Denmark. I rather like that. I have flown Norwegian Air before and find its service exemplary. They have one of the newest fleets of Boeing 737-800s in Europe and use LGW as their hub in the UK. Perfect for us as we live in Brighton, just 35 miles (56km) away.

We will be staying at The Hilton Hotel on Wednesday evening at LGW South Terminal. A good night's sleep before our flight at 8:45am on Thursday. The Hilton has a walk through from reception to the South Terminal concourse. Easy.

I have visited Copenhagen many times. It will be the first visit for my wife, Ros. More than anything she wants to see The Little Mermaid, based on the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen.

A visit to Tivoli Gardens, the famous amusement park, will certainly be on the cards as well as a stroll along Strøget, the longest pedestrian shopping area in Europe. Just hope there aren't too many shoe shops!

And we will be having lunch on Saturday with old friends, probably at a restaurant in Nyhavn.

All we need to make our trip perfect is some good weather....