Copenhagen, the beginning of a Scandinavian winter

The first trip to a Scandinavian country happened last weekend with Denmark as the destination. It was a choice between Copenhagen, Denmark and Strasbourg, France for travel buddy Ara and I, but taking into account cost (flight and accommodation, we didn’t know we were in for a surprise in Denmark) and exoticism, we went for Copenhagen. It would have been cool to see the famous Christmas markets in Strasbourg too, but they’re exactly why the reason why train tickets and hotel prices are jacked up, probably. Oh well, I’ll have my chance for Strasbourg again.

Actually, I always thought Scandinavia is Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Makes sense, no? The three long countries in northern Europe…turns out it was a geography lesson learned for me as I found out Denmark, not Finland, is part of Scandinavia. The four countries, plus Iceland, are the Nordic countries. Ah, terminology!

A few observations on Denmark or well, Danish people in particular. (1) Danish people speak excellent English, almost without an accent (“not quite British, not quite American” as mentioned in this entry). (2) Danish people are extremely friendly, so friendly that it warms up even a bleak winter. (3) Danish guys are quite hot ^_^ One of my colleagues suggested that it was necessary to offset the cold temperature in Denmark. Very likely, my friend. Good hypothesis 😉

Denmark is one of those mysterious countries that I knew nothing about before going. With the mindset of “not knowing anything and counting on finding out more when we get there”, Ara and I headed into Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, on a delayed flight, and the story begins. (Click for Copenhagen album on Facebook.)

I gotta start this post with my favourite photo of the trip, taken at Nyhavn, or “New Harbour” in central Copenhagen right after we arrived. The canal area, surrounded by colourful façades and boats on both sides, is gorgeous during the day but stunningly beautiful when reflected in the water during the night. Thankfully the wind and snow didn’t hit until day 2, so the water was calm enough to give us this scene!