This is officially the longest I've gone without blogging. I don't even have an excuse - life seems to have just gotten in the way. However, now that I've found myself with so much spare time on my hands (more time than I've had since I was a teenager) I feel that it's the perfect time to get back into blogging - even if no one really reads what I post.
In January of this year, before myself or my friends paid much attention to this coronavirus outbreak (silly us...), we'd booked a weekend trip to Copenhagen. At the time, the majority of cases were in China/Asia and we hadn't anticipated that it'd spread so far so quickly.
A few days before we were due to leave, we discovered that Denmark actually had more coronavirus cases than the UK - which is worrying when you compare the two populations... But - as stupid as it sounds - we were pretty much going to go, no matter what. We were all desperate for a weekend away. And because we wouldn't get a refund for our flight/accommodation (this was before any travel bans were put in place), it made more sense to go - to us anyway.
Day 1 in Copenhagen
We touched down at CPH Airport around midday. Trump had just announced a travel ban, meaning that all travellers from EU countries (excluding the UK) were banned from entering the US. We saw some American tourists in the bathroom. I remember us laughing at them because we thought they'd have a hard time getting home. Karma hit us like a tonne of bricks (more on that later).
Transport links from the airport are really good. It's serviced by metro, rail and bus services. Our hotel was located close to Copenhagen Central Station, a mere 15 minutes from the airport - London could never!
We chose to stay at the CPH Hotel Copenhagen, formerly DGI-Byens. It's currently undergoing renovation, so it was slightly difficult to find the front entrance. It doesn't help that the entrance to their bowling alley and swimming pool is on the main road either. Eventually, we found the temporary front desk and checked in. Overall, the rooms themselves are nice. You can tell it's a budget hotel but they've designed it really well. Breakfast is included as well, so we were happy.
The hotel is situated about 5 minutes from Tivoli Gardens and 15 minutes from the main shopping area Strøget. We didn't get to go to Tivoli Gardens because 1) it doesn't open until April (we didn't check this in advance) and 2) even if it had been open, the government would have closed it anyway. They'd just announced that every business was to take steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Many shops, restaurants and tourist attractions were closed. We soon realised that this was going to be an interesting weekend...
After freshening up, we headed to the main shopping area to grab some food. I soon found out why everyone describes Copenhagen as expensive. We stopped at this place called Cafe Norden - I paid about £9 for a Chai Latte... It came in a bowl though, which was fun.
The rest of the day consisted of wandering through the streets, noting down the restaurants (that were open) that we'd like to visit, checking out tourist attractions (from the outside) and buying snacks/alcohol for the night. While we didn't expect it to be busy, Copenhagen was eerily quiet during our whole visit. There were so few people around, it actually made me uncomfortable. Almost like an apocalypse had just happened.
When we got back to the hotel, we found out that Denmark was closing its borders, effective the next day. The news report we read suggested that no one would be able to enter or leave. Remember I said that karma hit us - yeah, this was it.
Day 2 in Copenhagen
We awoke to a bright and fresh day. Cold as hell but super sunny! We tried to ignore the news we'd found out the night before - our flight home hadn't been cancelled yet, so we were staying positive.
After breakfast, we headed to Nyhavn, a picturesque row of restaurants, cafes and bars that are lined by the canal. Because many people were already practising social distancing, it meant that the area was ridiculously quiet. Commence the Instagram photoshoot!
We stayed here for a quick coffee before checking out some other tourist attractions; Frederik's Church, The Little Mermaid and her disowned sister, The Genetically Modified Little Mermaid. Again, we were able to grab some great pics without needing to fight our way through a crowd. The whole afternoon was lovely and peaceful.
For dinner, we headed to Cafe G, a cute little restaurant near the centre. You could tell the food was cooked with care and tasted delicious! While we were dining, a group of people on another table began singing a song in Danish. We assumed it was a birthday song, so we joined in by clapping along. Turns out we were right! And because we'd joined in, the birthday "boy" (he was a 17-year-old trapped in a 70-year-old's body) bought our table a bottle of champagne!
Day 3 in Copenhagen
On our last day, we decided to rent scooters - something we'd wanted to do ages. And because most of the tourist attractions we'd had on our list were closed, we saw it as the best way to kill some time before heading to the airport. Thankfully, our flight hadn't been cancelled!
While practising how to use the bloody scooters, one of took a pretty brutal tumble 👀 So that was the end of that. They were fun while they lasted though! 10/10 would recommend - just make sure you wear a helmet...
We finished up the afternoon by grabbing some Smørrebrød, a traditional Scandanavian open-faced sandwich, something you have to try when you visit Denmark. You can pretty much purchase it at most cafes and restaurants too.
That's pretty much it! Overall, I'd say we had a pretty enjoyable, relaxed weekend. Of course, we weren't able to do everything that we'd wanted, but the banter made up for it. It was nice to get away with some of my best girls too! I'm already planning to visit again, sometime in the next year or so. Hopefully, we'll all be out of quarantine by then.
Nat x
