Yesterday I flew to Copenhagen, Denmark, I had never been to Denmark, and loved the photos of the colorful houses lining the canal (Nyhavn harbor area).

I flew from Helsinki airport. Security there is different, at least going to Schengen (European Union) countries…no limit on liquids, no need to take hats off for security, no need to take off shoes (though to be fair, this is mostly a USA thing only), or to take electronics out of bags.

It’s a pretty short flight to Copenhagen from Helsinki, under two hours and there’s a one-hour time change, so we took off around 11am and landed before noon! I got my bags, and because I had so much stuff, took a taxi to my hotel, but the public transit here is extremely good. I’m staying near the water a bit out of town, in a residential area. It’s busy but quiet at the same time. The views of Helsinki and Denmark from the plane were good!

Around the corner from my hotel are both a Lidl and Netto (another discount type of grocery store)…between them I could get everything I needed.

After settling in and having lunch, I took the metro into town, to the main train station. (I had a tour today and was practicing the route). The metro was quick and easy once I found the station. And don’t think of getting on the metro without a ticket…I’ve seen police checking tickets on nearly every train I’ve been on and they caught two people on two different trains (and I’ve only been on four), and checked my ticket on a third trip. I bought a ticket in the DOT app for three days so I knew I was ok!

I walked towards Nyhavn from the Central Train station, down a touristy street, into a main plaza, Radhuspladsen (City Hall Square), continued down the street lined with souvenir and food shops (churros are amazingly popular, with gelato, and hot dogs seem to be the Copenhagen national dish)to Kongens Nytorv, a pretty square (actually a circle) with lovely buildings. There are also entire shops dedicated to rubber duckys…I saw more than one.

Once I reached Nyhavn, the light was good on the colorful houses as I arrived. One of the houses, a narrow black roofed white one was originally Hans Christen Andersen’s house. I walked along the harbor for a bit then decided to take a one-hour boat trip around the canals and harbor. One hour was plenty but it was interesting. We actually went pretty close to where I’m staying, and also saw the Copenhagen Opera, Amalienborg Palace, the official residence for the Danish royal family, saw the royal family’s yacht, went under many low bridges, saw the spire of the Church of our Savior (400 steps to climb it, some of which are on the exterior…I may give that a go tomorrow), saw the outside of the Marble Church, the spire of Rosenberg castle, the Frederiksholms Canal, the bridge to Christianborg Palace, other colorful houses linking Overgaden Neded Vanderbiltn in Christianshavn. It was a decent overview of Copenhagen central for 60 Danish krone, under $10. You don’t need to make a reservation for boat tours and our boat was not full so I could walk around for the best views.

After exiting the boat I took the metro back to my hotel. Today’s adventures…will write about those tomorrow or on the plane home on Wednesday.