It was a smooth drive out of Berlin and up to the coast to catch the ferry to Denmark. We arrived early checked in, lined up with everyone else, boarded quickly and early, parked, and went upstairs quite pleased with ourselves and the boat for the efficiency. Within a few minutes of being on board we glanced out the window and saw we were already departing, a whole 30 minutes before our sailing. We panicked slightly that we were on the wrong ferry! Where are we going? But we soon realised that while we were not on the ship that we were meant to be on, (it had a different name to the one on our tickets), but that dock only sends boats one place! So all good and it put us 30 minutes ahead of schedule. It was a quick 45 minute crossing with unloading being as efficient as loading was.

We arrived at our Airbnb which was a cute little cottage by the water about 45 mins north of Copenhagen. It was a very limited information check in which turned out to be too minimal when later we went to leave and realised we had no key to lock up! 😮 I sent a quick message and she came by to tell me it was in the garage on top of a fridge, I was never going to find it there!!!

A rest day of school work and laundry – where I got an electric shock from the machine! Ugh!

The next day it was off to Malmo, Sweden via some time in Copenhagen. I had booked us cheap bus tickets to Sweden a few months ago. We drove into Copenhagen and got a park right opposite where the bus left from and it was free because it was Sunday, score! In Copenhagen we got some snacks and visited the Hans Christian Andersen museum which had scenes from lots of his stories. The kids watched and listened to Thumbellina, The Little Match Girl, The Swinehead, The Emperor With No Clothes, and of course The Little Mermaid.

Soon it was time to get on the bus. The kids were stoked it was a double decker bus and we got on quickly and scored front row seats at the top. The drive to Sweden should have been about 50 minutes long. The bus took us through the Drogden Tunnel, which is 4km long under the water, then we popped up on a man made island and then we went on the most epic bridge, Øresund Bridge. It’s 8km long, very tall and it’s quite the experience to travel on the top deck of a bus on a calm day, I bet a windy day it would be awful! We then got to border control, they got on the bus and checked all our passports. three people got escorted off the bus, one was allowed back on but the bus driver was soon instructed to carry on and had to leave a young couple behind!

We saw some paddle boats as we drove into Malmo so as soon as the bus dropped us off we headed to them for a 30 minute thigh workout..I mean a leisurely paddle on the river! BK also saw a brew bar on the way in so he went to that while I watched the kids play (in their clothes) in a fountain with other kids. Strangely, they managed to stay quite dry!!!?? The 28 degree day helped dry them off as we headed back to the bus via a store to pick up a magnet and Swedish chocolate! It was only a few hours in Sweden but it was lovely. Back over the bridge, through the tunnel, and into Copenhagen and it was fantastic to have Rouge parked where she was as we got in and quickly hoofed it up the motorway back to our cottage.

The following day was another work/school/supermarket day. The weather finally cooled off a bit to 24 degrees. Everyone was glad for the rest.

We were up early the next day and back into Copenhagen for a walking tour. We couldn’t work out why the car parking machine wouldn’t accept our cards. I am carrying three types and it did not like any of them. So we wrote a note to the parking warden – in English – and left it on our dash. True kiwi styles! It turns out it was the Danish National day so parking was free! The tour guide was born and bred in Copenhagen and had a real love for Hans Christian Andersen and the Danish Royal Family. He had so much information in his head and one of our kids said to me “How does he know all this?!” Haha. “It’s his job” I replied. 1.5 hours in the group stopped for a coffee break, we’d seen an ice cream shop selling Copenhagen cones about 2 minutes back so while the rest of the group (which included some girls from Rotorua!) did coffee and sat and chatted, we walked back to get ice cream! $33 NZD later, all of us enjoyed a Copenhagen cone in Copenhagen. 🍦 We continued on the tour and saw HCA’s house, the new harbour, the Opera House (which was paid for by Mastek shipping, apparently a proud Danish company, the owner wrote off the cost of the opera house against his tax bill – smart!!!) and of course we finished at the Royal Palaces.

Little Miss R wanted to see the Little Mermaid statue, so we walked an extra 10 minutes up the harbour to see her. Finally we found the Little Mermaid after a few, “have we walked past her?” moments. We waited our turn for a photo, it was very slippy and the girl in front of us fell in, whoops! By this time it was 2.30pm, 28 degrees and we were done so it was the loooooooong walk back to the car.

Another rest day, (washing, school and work again) we did get out in the middle of the day to explore the northern coastline. Found a famous northern arctic explorers home. Looked right out onto the North Sea. Can imagine it’s quite awful in winter but the day we were there it was a perfect blue sky day.

Then it was a travel day west to the city of Billund! The home of…..LEGO!!!

We dumped our gear and BK at our Airbnb and the kids and I went off to explore the Lego house. It took us a while to move past the Lego shop on the ground floor, we had fun looking at lots of Lego sculptures and then went up to the roof and played on the multiple playgrounds, all in the Lego bright colours. We found out there was a class at 4pm so quickly nipped to the supermarket across the road for drink and ice creams, (at 1/4 of the price they cost IN the Lego house!) While we waited for 4pm I decided we would all make Lego mini figures. I carry a mini figure in my hand bag for THOSE moments when my kids are melting down and I just need them to hold out a bit longer. I’ve also lent him out to other kids on planes etc when I can see other parents at their end of their wick!! He always gets handed back which I’m thankful for. So I made him a wife 😄, the kids made a ninja and a princess – I’m sure you can work out who made who! 😛. When the class started we got given a Lego pack and built a little small fish with a surfboard, then we got to take it home – for free! Whoop! (I paid for the mini figures)

 

The following day was a much awaited for day and will get its own blog post.

 

Till next time,

 

Claire

 

Budget update.

Denmark : $64 over!!! 😲