A trip 20 years in the making

So this trip was something of a different one. There was a Ryanair seat sale going on which involved them paying the taxes on the flights, taxes which often make up 75% of the cost of a flight (or more). So I took a look at the calendar, noticed that June 5 was a stat holiday, and decided to go on a trip. Somewhere. Sweden? Okay. Anyone else? No? Okay. Sweden and me.

Anyway, because of creative booking, I had a few days in Sweden and was going to be in Malmö which was conveniently near Denmark, so why not see two countries at once? So I booked flights, and then left it for a few months before suddenly getting back from the last trip and remembering that I should be getting at booking some places to go.

Instead, I spent a few weeks working and then booked at the last minute. Then, I didn't read the itinerary change that Ryanair sent, which meant my flight left a full five hours later than it was supposed to, which meant I could have come down the next day and not had to sleep in the airport hotel (even though I did manage to talk them into a corporate rate). Anyway, I arrived in Sweden and it was time to see some sights. But first, an entire day travelling deep into Denmark.

Swedish countryside, just outside Malmö. Canola seems to be a popular crop this year.

The Öresund Bridge, now connecting Sweden and Denmark. Half of it is bridge, the other half is tunnel, almost like they teamed up to build it but only so far as to meet in the middle.

After trying for days to find a place near Billund that wasn't rediculously expensive, I finally found one in Kolding, which was about an hour south of Billund by bus. Turns out, the place was incredibly nice and came with things like Hans Christian Andersen quotes written on the walls, German TV (it's getting rusty, time to practise), and (by far the best part) free espresso at breakfast. Oh yes. Best. Breakfast Buffet. Ever. And I'm not talking about the normal "coffee" you get, but actual, Lavazza espresso. Anyway, Kolding was a really beautiful, small city in Denmark, home (surprisingly) to a division of the APC corporation (just in case I want to move to rural Denmark).

My hotel in Kolding, which was actually the cheapest accommodation closest to Legoland that I could find. And given the next few nights, I now really appreciate how nice this place was.

I just liked this fountain, in the plaza outside the hotel in Kolding. Especially the part where the kid gets sprayed in the face.

Koldinghus Castle, in the centre of Kolding. The whole thing is a giant park, with a lake and walking paths around it, perfect for killing time while waiting for your bus to Legoland.

The Kolding city centre park at night. Not pictured: my delicious, cheap kebab.

This was a part of the park at the centre of Kolding.

I think that from about the day I learned there was a Place where they had a Theme Park that was all about Lego, I was interested. In fact, the whole idea of a place devoted to LEGO was more than my young mind could comprehend. It was, sadly, easier to comprehend the fact that this place was in Denmark, which was a long way from where I was. But a kid can always dream about some day going to see the magical land where Lego comes from. I expect that most people reading this probably know me a little, and so I'm not going to pretend that the entire trip didn't centre around Legoland, because it did. I went to Legoland and, incidentally, Sweden and Denmark. So the main event went something like this:

The Legoland gates, and about a billion young families. At this point, I am extremely glad I bought my tickets that morning from the hotel and waited in exactly no lineups.

These windmills were at least a metre tall.

Sitting Bull

One of the most impressive models in the park, right down to product placement.

Interestingly, there were no barriers, guards, or anything even remotely designed to keep people and models apart. And the most amazing thing is that they wouldn't even be needed. The kids (and there were a lot of them) just knew enough to keep their dirty little paws back. Also, you could get some really neat pictures.

Even the cows were made out of lego

Japan - Lego style. Even the ads were built into the side of the buildings.

California, being attacked by Godzilla-sized children.

This refinery was definitely in the top 10 coolest things there, mostly because it's probably really hard to build a refinery out of Lego. Pipes? Tubes? Circles in general? Not really a "Lego" thing. But they did it anyway.

I believe this was a royal palace or some such thing. It wasn't the one in Copenhagen that I actually saw the next day... and have no pictures of.

The traditional Danish village, complete with Lego chimney sweep.

They had this dragon just outside the Viking ride, complete with actual smoke. No mention of how many pieces went into it, but wow.

Billund airport, directly next to the park. Somehow, the planes even move, which is incredibly cool. Also, it took more than a million bricks to build. Even cooler.

Ever wish you could just buy a bag of whatever legos you wanted?

And that was about the point where I discovered that I had no free space on my first card, and decided to save the smaller card for the next day. Next day, of course, I remembered the smaller card was still on my desk at work, and so there aren't any pictures of the rest of the weekend. So I'll have to go back for pictures. There are stories, at least.

So, on the way back from Legoland, I met an Irish girl living in Dublin (via having multiple, confusing patches on my backpack) who was just finishing a conference in Copenhagen and, conveniently, staying at the same hostel as I was. Now, to be fair, the hostel itself had something like 15 floors and at least 50 beds to a floor, so probably everybody was staying at the same one. Anyway, we bussed/trained it back to Copenhagen (in the single most crowded train I've seen in Europe so far) and decided to see the town a bit. Of course, it was now incredibly late and Tivoli was closed. There was a samba festival going on and just finishing up that night, but we couldn't find it despite fireworks going off to lead us there. So instead we just wandered around the centre, got some cheap food, and called it an early night with plans to see more the next day.

At some point, this other girl in my hostel room decided that instead of making her own bed, she'd just use the one that was already made. Mine seemed like a good option. Of course, this meant sleeping on top of my already-rented sheets. I, instead, got the un-made bed and scary hostel blanket which was actually less scary than she was, so it was out of necessity more than anything. Next morning, sheets became her responsibility, or so the guy at the front desk said.

So that morning we met up, both checked out, and went looking for "something cool", which turned out to be the Danish royal palace (seen the day before in Lego form), the waterfront (very neat), the Little Mermaid statue (which is really little), and an old army barracks (still used) in the middle of a park. Then, we decided to get some lunch before the weather turned un-beautiful and found a place in a plaza where we were entertained by a local jazz band featuring backup by a 4-year-old air-guitar prodigy. I mean, that kid had rhythm!

Anyway, after Annie had to go catch a plane, I decided it would be a good time to get out to Malmö, although first accidentally finding the Ørstedparken in Copenhagen. For the reference, Oersted invented a unit of magnetic flux (the CGS equivalent of Amps per metre - 80A/m to be exact) which every American ever has decided is the proper unit of applied magnetic field.

So I eventually jumped on a train to Malmö where I arrived with plenty of time to spare. So I decided, rather than spend a bunch of cash to take the bus to my hostel, I'd rather just walk it. This took an hour, and I took the bus back into the city centre. However, the whole city is basically a giant park, and I spent the evening wandering around (cheaply), just enjoying the summer as much as the Swedish seem to, and that's a lot! They definitely put Canadians to shame as far as what constitutes "patio weather". The place I ate supper was in one of the squares, and had a massive outdoor section, complete with tents, heaters everywhere, and blankets on every chair. Yes, they would rather put out blankets than waste the summer. And they know nobody's going to take them. That would be rude!

And, of course, I spent the rest of the evening wandering around Malmö to the extent that it took a good two or three hours to get back, instead of 45 minutes. Beautiful city, though!

Next morning, after a terrible sleep (thanks to only having my DS to wake me up and constantly worrying it wouldn't do the trick) I ended up at the train station on schedule (really early, because I expected to have problems getting up) and discovered the strangest, although strangely good, drinks: Rhubarb juice. Should have bought more. Anyway, made it onto the cheapest flight ever (115SEK ~ 10 Euro or so) and got to London generally on time. Note: when spending a day in London, going by names you may recall from random British TV references might not be a solid sightseeing plan. King's Cross, however, has a very nice tube station. And I almost found the Gherkin, although it proved to be an elusive, giant tower to find.

I should probably give London another go... some day.

However, the whole trip was amazing, and I'd recommend it to anyone, specifically people who have yet to come and visit and don't mind going to expensive-ish places (Sweden isn't exactly asia-cheap).