Copenhagen in a Motorhome

 Day 1:

Copenhagen was a pleasant city but possibly unfairly skewed by the amount of capital cities we've visited up to now. We visited when the central motorhome parking area (City Camp) was closed as we are out of season, so the only option for us was to Wild Camp - not to worry, we've not stayed on a site yet in just over two weeks of Denmark! Taking advice, we stayed just outside of Bondby Strand Station in the parking area for wetland area which provided us with a magnificent sunset, used previously by our friends Ryan and Mel (GPS 55.61605, 12.42269).

The Station itself looked a bit questionable on an evening (but our van was safe during the day) and a 2 zone 10 trip card was 140 DKK and is valid for two people, just get it validated twice on the platform before boarding. and is available from the Shop (don't use the automated ticket machines).

The city itself was pleasent enough - although they must have known we were coming and decided to dig half of it up and cover the rest with scaffolding - I'm sure it will look lovely for summer if you're planning a visit! The street food was particually interesting and very cheap comapred to some of the prices we've seen elsewhere in Denmark - unusual for a capital city.

The star attraction, the 'Little Mermaid' lived upto her name. Well, in as far as little anyway. "Is that it?" the crowds of tourists said to each other as the tour guide tried to give them some hype, thankfully it wasn't far from our stop.

We spent the rest of the day on foot, visiting the Kings Gardens and Rosenborg Castle and then into the main pedestrianised area of the town. We attempted to vist the Carlsberg Museam, an art gallery, but either it is un-airconditioned as it was broken as the tempreature inside was searing. Instead we visited the Carlsberg Brewery, we must have slipped in the back way (Up Vestre Kirkegards Alle and over teh Carlsberg Viaduct if you want to know) as we didn't see where you paid until we were on the way out! I agree with sentiments that outside (Gamle Carlsberg Vej and potentially the aforementioned street) both make excellent city centre wild camping spots with no parking restrictions and indeed a couple of vans were making use of the situation - long may it continue.

If seeing magnificent buildings is your thing - go to Rome, Budapest or London. If you like Shops, Gardens and Cafe Culture then Copenhangen might be up your street and is certainly a good place to get acustomed to Capital Sightseeing if you are planning a European Trip, by the time you get to the proper ones you'll be well healed.

 Day 2: Following our own advice we moved our van further into the centre and parked up outside the Carlsberg Brewery, free Wifi also, thanks guys! Day 2 is always a bit easier once you've got your bearings and we set about visiting some of the things that we had missed.

First on the list was the Museum of the Danish Resistance which tells the extraordinary role of Denmark during WW2. As someone who was dragged round Eden Camp as kid, the format was easy to digest and free to get in to boot! 

Some questionable design gallery's followed but the view from the top of 'The Round Tower' observatory was excellent and the stone spiral ramp to the top made a change from the flights of stairs that usually greet us on a capital city accent, entrance was reasonable at 25DKK each. 

We decided to spend our remaining currency on a delicious rye bread sandwich and a Danish Pastry before retring to the botanical gardens to watch Turtles swim freely in the lake and a Heron catch fish from the shore - not something we expected, but rewarding none the less.

Would it be wrong to say one of the highlights was seeing a Black Audi A8 with the number plate 'SOPHIE' drive past? (In Denmark you can have whatever you want on a licence plate, but because of the 50mph speed limits they don't seem very popular.

Would I recommend Copenhagen for a city break? Possibly not, but seen as we were passing through it was a worthwhile visit. Tomorrow we stock up and fill up before passing on to another expensive Scandinavian country. The question is, will we get the bridge toll for 40 or 80 euro in our 5.99M van? (cut off being 6m!)