Denmark

As my good friend Amalie had just had her baby, flights from Luton had increased to eight per day, as well as being pretty cheap, and the city is just great fun I had the urge to visit once again, and after planting the idea in some of my friends' minds, it soon spiralled into a Slough family holiday before my eyes.

In preparation for the trip I had not only reproduced maps for everyone, but recommended everyone got themselves a Caxton currency card - a thoroughly useful debit card that can be used abroad with exceptionally low fees and great exchange rates. Something particularly useful in Scandinavia where even the homeless take cards as no one uses cash! In the end, we didn't even touch the local money at all....

After answering questions like "can I take grapes?" and "will my jaw hurt?" from those who had not flown before, I raced home from work, grabbed my bits and then ran into town to catch the same bus on the way to the airport for the holiday to begin. Despite an hour's delay, we eventually took off and made our way over Northern Europe towards the Danish capital.

"Have we landed yet?". "No Abby, You'll know when we've landed". And then we did. Eventually making it into the city by midnight we grabbed some quick food before some sleep and our Cph day the following morning.

After grabbing breakfast at the hotel we began our day by heading just around the corner towards the pretty Nyhavn, before heading up to the Royal Palace and Amaliehaven.

Nyhavn

The Little Mermaid

Singing "Should've Known Better", whilst keeping an eye out for Soluna Samay's sister, who could for all we know have been right next to us(!), we made our way towards the Little Mermaid (which half of them had no idea about) hidden behind half of China, taking a few photos and then heading back towards the city through the Kastellet military fort. After a mooch inside the Marble Cathedral, we then paused at the Rosenborg Palace Gardens for a photo shoot and rest before making it to the city centre where we all had a rest in a cafe.

Fun at Rosenborg

Christiansborg

Our final major stop on the tour of the city was at Christiansborg Palace, to go up the tower inside for free views of the city and across the Øresund of Malmö and the Bridge we would cross tomorrow.

Heading back down, we made our way towards the City Hall, before walking back up Strøget towards the hotel for a well earned rest after today's 5 mile walk.

We then grabbed dinner in the evening before heading to an Irish pub and a bar before a well earned sleep....

After a busy day in Copenhagen and check out being at 11, we decided to check out at 11, grabbing breakfast before heading off over the bridge to Sweden.

Since my last visit in the summer the refugee crisis in Europe had affected Scandinavia, not only had we witnessed far more beggars in Copenhagen than there were last time, but also there were now passport control checks on the bridge itself. This meant that we wasted an extra hour or so to get to Malmö, but nevertheless it was worth it.

Whilst in Copenhagen we all stuck together, in Malmö everyone had different plans and so I went off to visit the city alone. Being the first time in the three I had been to this part of the world that I did my own thing.

Despite this, I still undertook the same tour as the previous two times - beginning in the main square, before heading to the castle, the Turning Torso and back to the station.

However this time I actually wanted to visit the Malmö Museum to see the exhibition on the TV series "The Bridge" which I am an avid fan of.

Luckily for me, today the museum was also free, and I spent a solid two and a half hours in the museum watching videos and looking at exhibits from the show itself. Realising that it had now got quite late, I headed back on my tour routine before heading back to Copenhagen.

Whilst everyone else was spending a leisurely day in Sweden, I raced back to Denmark as I was completing the third of my three must-do tasks for the trip, meeting up with my good friend Amalie, and her new growing family. Having dinner with them, I had a great few hours catching up on good times before heading to the airport to meet up with everyone else for our flight home.

Although I usually visit places on my own, it is always a great experience to share with friends - especially ones who don't faff; and as I had already seen the cities twice before I wasn't fussed about missing out on anything anyway - all I had wanted was a new pair of glasses from Tiger, to see the exhibition and visiting my friend! I was more than happy to give everyone the guided tour of the city, and it seemed we all had a great time in Scandinavia.

I look forward to the next time! Meanwhile it was time to sleep before the next holiday in five days time.... #WhoseIdeaWasThis?

Despite having already visited the city four years previously, I jumped at the chance to return to the city, this time with my mum and sister. Hoping that this time the weather would be kinder, and I'd actually be able to see things more than a few metres away.

With cheap flights from easyJet and Ryanair just starting from Luton, we took an afternoon flight to the Danish capital, and after arriving I met up with my Danish friend, Amalie and we spent the night having a catch up on old times.

The following day was spent exploring the north of the city - beginning with the parade to the royal palace, before heading up to the Little Mermaid statue, trying to take pictures avoiding half of China who had also decided to visit and make photoshoots alongside the small model.

The Little Mermaid

Nyhavn

After enjoying the view, and walking through the Kastellet, we made our way down to Nyhavn, where we met up with Amalie, and sneaked on a free boat tour of the harbour thanks to her contacts. With the weather being a vast improvement on my previous visit, we were shocked to discover that we had all been sunburnt after just a day in the Danish capital! After taking a little rest we made our way over to Tivoli Gardens for the evening, enjoying the rides, the themed gardens, as well as an illumination display and a concert by Kato.

Tivoli

Malmö Castle

Our second full day was spent taking the train across the Öresund Bridge to Malmö in Sweden, where we arrived to find a large event in the centre of the city with lots of freebies and entertainment on offer. After walking around the city centre, we made our way to the west, through the park and past the castle towards to coast, with views of the Turning Torso, the Öresund Bridge and even Copenhagen - a vast improvement on my first time here!

Öresund Bridge

Danny Saucedo at Malmöfestivalen

After heading back to the city centre, and enjoying the rehearsals for the evening's concert with the Swedish music stars, we made our way back to the Danish capital, where after dinner we headed to the Round Tower for views across the city and beyond.

Finishing up the day's tour through the Rosenborg Palace Gardens, I met up again with Amalie for another night of catch ups.

Strøget

Christiansborg

Our final day was spent in the centre of the city, shopping on Strøget and visiting Christiansborg Palace before making our way to the airport for our evening flight home, and getting to use the hand baggage trolleys! Welcome to the future!

Copenhagen was amazing as ever, the Danish culture is really enjoyable and the weather was very kind to us, and I would highly recommend the city to everyone.

I was with 4 of my Erasmus friends, one of whom is Danish, and we stayed at her place in Esbjerg. Whilst the weather was pretty dull (well it is as north as Scotland), we made the most of it, and toured the city the first day, seeing the town centre and visiting the white men, for whom the city is most famous for. In the evening we took a ferry to the island of Fanø, which looked very traditional and for the first time we had been there was sunny!

On the second day we took the train to Ribe, the oldest city in Denmark, which was really very nice to visit with so many traditional buildings.

The trip was pretty hectic for me, as they joined me in Hamburg after I had just flown back after my weekend in Dunstable again. Luckily I made it home, as last week after getting back from Venice I was so tired, that I had no energy to even sit up in bed and ended up sleeping for 40 of 48 hours - perfect when you have an exam to revise for. But luckily I made it to the German exam and passed - not a brilliant grade but thats more than I expected in the condition I was in.

Some sad news is that on the way back from Denmark, we found out one of our housemates - Bettina - had already left Bremen back to Malta without even saying goodbye (we had been hoping to have a family dinner before this happened). She then blocked and deleted many of us and now we have no contact with her - it seems she must have been offended by us, which is a pity as we were never intentionally nasty to her, and always tried to be friendly and invite her to her activities. But what can you do?

Tonight is my last night to La Viva - my favourite club in Bremen, and next week I will go to Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven, before the farewell ceremony next Friday, my exam next Saturday, and then my mum and sister coming to Bremen on Sunday for two days. After this I will go to Brussels and then finally get the train back to Luton on Friday, just hours before the Olympics starts!

So I've been quite busy this weekend. Last Thursday I decided to go with my housemates to Copenhagen for the weekend, and so, incredibly last minute, we booked a hotel for Saturday night and overnight coaches for Friday and Sunday night. After my all day class ended on Friday I came home for a few hours and then took the train to Hamburg to catch the coach to Copenhagen - after a 2 hour delay in Hamburg we finally left and after crossing the Baltic Sea by ferry, we arrived in the Danish capital. As the hotel was booked for Saturday night we could not check in until 3pm, meaning when we arrived at 7am we had 8 hours to amuse ourselves. Being Kevin, I of cause printed off maps of the city and circling the main sites of interest, so we knew what to see and where it was, all in a single day. I was therefore dubbed "Marta" by the rest of the group, as for the Hamburg trip, Marta, who had arranged it all was the Erasmus equivalent of a tour guide.

We started off the day by changing our money into Danish Kroner, where you get roughly 8.5 for £1. We then walked past the famous Tivioli Gardens, which were unfortunately shut for the next 2 weeks, and then to the Central square, up the main shopping street, to all 3 Royal palaces (the later of which had Royal Guards parading),to Kastellet (the best preserved fort in Europe) and then to Denmark's most famous landmark - The Little Mermaid. Afterwards we went for lunch in the Nyhavn (a 17th Century port) and then to check into the hotel. In the evening half of our group went to the White Sensation in the Parken stadium, whilst I went to sleep and the other two group members went clubbing in the city.

On Sunday we took the train from Copenhagen to Malmö, across the Ø̈resund bridge to Sweden. I had again produced a map with all the sites, and so we went to the central square, the castle and to the beach, where the famous city tower - the Turning Torso - can be seen. Unfortunately, as it was October and pretty foggy, the Öresund bridge could not been seen from this location.

After seeing the city of Malmö (and buying some Plopp), we went back over the bridge to Denmark and in the 6 hours we had left before our coach arrived, we went to visit Christiania - an Anarchist Commune, which is independent of the Danish government, where soft drugs are legal and violence and theft are not tolerated - an interesting experience.

At 11:30 last night, we got on the coach for our return journey, and after stopping in Hamburg to catch the train, we then arrived back in Bremen at 7:30 this morning. Luckily I had no class today!

Back in Bremen, on Thursday there was an accident at the Freimarkt. One of the pods on a twister ride came off and injured 6 people. However as far as I am aware, no one was killed. The Freimarkt came to an end yesterday after two weeks, and now Bremen will be pretty quiet for four weeks, until the Christmas Markets begin! Though my life is too exciting for a month with nothing happening! Which is why in two weeks time I will spend the weekend in Berlin!

Hope you are all having as much fun as me (or at least trying to)!
Kevin.