The Copenhagen Sprint
Our boat arrived in Helsinki around 8am after a pretty uneventful night, though it was a little more bumpy of a ride than the outward trip had been. We were quick off the boat to make sure that we would be through immigration quickly (we were) and that we would easily catch a tram to the central station to catch a train to the airport (we did). When we got to the airport it was almost eerily empty for a major airport, but we weren’t complaining. We breezed through to our gate and ended up having over an hour to relax in an empty airport. Other than being empty, Helsinki airport (HEL) was pretty great thanks to its awesome wifi and really relaxing terminal. Who knew that was even possible?
Our flight was to Copenhagen, Denmark where we would be connecting four hours later back through to Amsterdam. The flight was relatively quick and when we arrived in Copenhagen we headed to put our luggage in the airport lockers to go into the city for two hours. Lucky us, though, the lockers would not work with our credit cards. We tried everything! Visa, Mastercard, debit, credit, pin, no pin, everything. And it wouldn’t accept cash. Other people were able to use the lockers no problem - it was so frustrating! After wasting probably twenty minutes, if not more, of our time in Copenhagen on the unsuccessful locker situation we ended up just taking our bags with us. We hopped on the metro and were in Copenhagen within fifteen minutes.
We walked out straight into a Christmas market - it was quite the welcome! We walked through with our annoying bags in tow and then made our way just down the street to Nyhavn. Nyhavn is the colorful, waterfront canal area that you might picture when you think of Copenhagen. I really wanted my mom to see it, and I’m so glad that we were able to make the quick stop into the city work! We then walked down towards the water where we were able to look out and see the Skuespilhuset theater, Copenhagen Opera House, and Copenhagen Street Food (PapirØen). After doing so and taking in the area for a bit we then made our way back to the metro to head back to the airport.
It was definitely sad to just pass through Denmark so quickly. I had an amazing few days in Copenhagen last year while visiting my friend Sydney when we were both studying abroad. Some of my favorite things were Tivoli Gardens amusement park, Louisiana art museum, and just walking around the city. Tivoli is an amazing old amusement park that is so charming and so much fun. Louisiana is one of my favorite art museums ever. I highly recommend them both and, obviously, recommend that you spend more than two hours in such an incredible city!
When we got back to the airport I found my witness signatures and then we passed through security and actually ending up with time to spare before our flight. I had a tasty pizza ciabatta and sausage roll to hold me over until our next stop. We are headed to Rotterdam for the night!
74 countries down, 122 to go.
