#57 Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden

Last weekend I visited Copenhagen and Malmo. I spent a full day and stayed overnight in Copenhagen, and then on the way home I spent a few hours in Malmo (soon to be home of the Eurovision!). We took the train from Stockholm, which takes about 5 hours and for students cost about 400kr.

Copenhagen
We saw pretty much all of Copenhagen in one day, but we were really, really tired afterwards! I would think it would be better to stay for a relaxing long weekend instead. It's possible to walk everywhere, the majority of sights are at most 30 minutes away. We took a free walking tour which was quite good and showed us around nearly all of the sights - but they do expect tips at the end!

Here are my Copenhagen highlights:

Changing of The Guard (daily at around 12)

Nyhavn - the colorful harbour

 One of the four buildings of the Royal Palace

The square with the Royal Palace's

Cute little area near the mermaid statue

Here she is!! Small, and not very centrally located, but a good sight to see!

The very little Mermaid

The small area where you can buy and smoke marijuana

No pictures allowed!

Nice church (I think you can climb it?)

Along the main shopping street

View from a round tower

Nice view

Danish-Swedish Oresund brige in background

The lego store

The statue of author hans christian andersen

A sneak peek at the amusement park - Tivoli

Halfway to Malmo on the Oresund bridge

So, Copenhagen is a lovely place! Here are some more details of the notable places:

If you haven't already heard - the famous symbol of Copenhagen - the Little Mermaid statue - is disappointing. It is small - about lifesize or smaller, and she sits on a small rock. However, once you know this it's not disappointing, you can go and get a picture because she is still a famous landmark, small or otherwise! She isn't in the city centre but she isn't that far either, and you can easily walk, passing by many popular places such as Nyhavn harbour on the way. There are some boat tours that claim they take you there but be careful as many of them just drive by, and I imagine she's too far to get a good photograph, plus also face the shore you would also only see her back!

Lego is Danish, but the flagship store is less than remarkable - it has a four large lego characters and lots of lego sets - and that's kind of it! So unless you especially like Lego it isn't very interesting.

Christiania - This is a colourful street where you can witness people buying and smoking weed in little stalls. You aren't allowed take pictures here - so be careful. I thought it was a safe enough area - once you don't get in anyone's way or draw attention to yourself. Also lots of tourists pass through here - so if you want to visit I think it's fine, but I know some people are hesitant.

Nyhavn - This nice little harbour area is that one place you see photographed all the time, but it is a bustling street full of cafés and outdoor seating, and a lovely place to walk around.

Malmo

Malmo is one of Sweden's bigger cities, located within one hour from Copenhagen via the Oresund bridge, and now the home of the 2013 Eurovision. Malmo is a small place, but very pretty. I am not entirely sure why it was chosen for the Eurovision (after living in Stockholm and visiting Gothenburg, these cities are much bigger and nicer for tourists) as it is quite small - and we had seen most of the place in about two hours! 

It looks like a nice place to live - but it doesn't offer much in the way of tourist attractions. I would recommend stopping here for a few hours if you're going to Copenhagen - but don't plan to spend too much time here either.

Here are some of the Malmo highlights:

 Starbucks coffee! One of the three in all of Sweden

 The (temporary) Eurovision countdown timer

 City Hall

 Lilla Torg (the old square)

 This thing. . ..

 The canal with lots of places to sit

 The skyscraper

A bridge

So that was basically Malmo in about two hours! There's a big shopping street with lots of shops and restaurants, a big park (we didn't visit) and there's lots of places to relax beside the picturesque canal. It was pretty, but I didn't think there was much to see or do there if you plan to spend more than a few hours.

#4 Sweden on the Horizon

It is now July, and while I sit staring at my emails hoping to hear about my impending trip to Japan, I have also realised that it is just over 6 months to go until I travel to Sweden (and it's capital Stockholm, to be more precise).
I anticipate I will be home from Japan around Christmas Eve, and from the little information I can get about the college in Sweden at this early stage, I believe accommodation will be ready Saturday 19th January, with the orientation week beginning the following week. This will give me about three weeks to get my life sorted before I am uprooted again to a different climate and culture. Seeing this as a challenge, I've decided to start thinking ahead about what needs to be done:

The Swedish flag.

• Insurance: I have just applied for my European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), a free initiative in the EU that allows me to get free hospital care (or something to that effect. . .more research will be done closer to the time) in any European country. [EDIT: Received my card, took about 3 weeks or so.]

• College: I apply to Sodertorns Hogskola in September and travel over in mid-January. When I apply I pick where to live and the subjects I want to study. I don't need a visa because I'm a European citizen and it's being organised in partnership with my home university in Ireland.

• Flights: I thought the Dublin - Tokyo flights were a bit of a headache, so it's a relief that the Dublin - Stockholm route appears to be much easier. Glancing at the Aer Lingus website, I can see there's a flight for €51 on Sunday the 20th January, while Ryanair have a flight on the same day for €90. However there are midweek prices that cost €46 (Aer Lingus) and €49 (Ryanair). I assume bags etc cost more, so when I go to book the tickets this will have to be looked at. Also prices are going to go up closer to the time, so I'll be looking out for the usual Autumn sale for a better deal.

• Money: Sweden uses the Krona, not the Euro. How inconvenient of them I must say! But anyway, apparently Sweden is expensive. Especially Stockholm. But you know what? I live in Ireland, which is also said to be expensive. And I'll be going to Tokyo, which apparently has a reputation for being one of the most expensive cities in the world. So I will accept this challenge! Really my biggest problem will be trying to sort out the exchange rate (at the moment, €1 = 8.7Kr) as I hate numbers, this will be quite a mountain to conquer!

• Accommodation: This is something I have looked up! I have a choice of two college-arranged apartment blocks, or I can face the Stockholm housing market, which we are strongly advised to avoid. The two on offer are quite similar in terms of size and rent, with the only problem of distance to the college. Neither are close - both are more than an hour away and require the usage of public transport such as buses, trains and the underground. My final decision will likely be down to the other guys from Ireland and where they want to live. 

• EUROVISION: Ah yes, the European Song Contest. An annual event since 1956, if I am correct. For those of you watching the 2012 competition, you will already know that Ireland came 19th out of 26 on 46 points, while the winners were Sweden, with a massive 372 points! This means that in 318 days, on May 18th, the contest final will be held in Sweden, and with any luck Stockholm! Although I am looking forward to it, the ticket prices for this year's Azerbaijan final fetched up to €240, and I imagine next year will see no improvement. [EDIT: It has now announced that it will take place in Malmo, which is really far from where I will be in Stockholm. You can get a bus, train or flight. If we still choose to go I reckon we would take the train which is cheaper than a plane but is slightly faster than a bus (just over 4 hours on the fast train). That is definitely problematic.)

Euphoria: Sweden's Eurovision 2012 Winner Loreen (credits: Eurovision)