Thus the holiday begins! Highlights of Day 1 of the trip:
a) The first long flight with just the three of us - the hubby, the little one and myself. Good news, rather… great news is that the little one was not too difficult to manage over our 12 hour non-stop flight from Singapore to Denmark. I have been having nightmares about this long flight, but luckily she co-operated. She slept off through most of it, and when she was up, she was generally in a good mood. It was such a pleasant flight that I actually managed to watch two Hindi films - Inkaar and Shootout at Wadala. Yup, that's how comfortable the flight was!
b) We had the best immigration experience ever at the Copenhagen airport - with pretty much no queue and believe it or not, without even having to fill up an immigration form. That was definitely a first and we decided that we already love Denmark.
c) To add on to the instant love for Denmark, we were greeted by Starbucks right at the Copenhagen airport! Yes, Starbucks cheers us up anywhere and everywhere. Over some chai latte for us adults and butter croissant for the little one, we relaxed a bit there before making our way to the hotel.
d) When we were getting out of the airport, I had casually remarked to the hubby that there doesn't seem to be many Indians in Copenhagen. In fact, we saw not a single South Asian face all through our time at the airport, which is really unusual these days. God immediately decided to prove me wrong, and of all the taxies lining up, the one we got had a Pakistani driver and as soon as we got into the cab, a Hindi song started to play which, for some reason, drove me to a fit of giggles.
e) After the nice drive through Copenhagen, we got to our Hotel Bethel, which we realised was in the middle of a really happening location called Nyhavn (means "New Harbour" in English, am told). Our room wasn't ready since we were much earlier than the check-in time. So to kill some time, we walked around Copenhagen, coming across a few beautiful gardens, the magnificent Amalienborg Palace where the royal family lives today and the beautiful square in which it is situated, complete with its guards who were patrolling around, beautiful cafes, the river and several cyclists riding with a large variety of bikes. None of the attractions, especially the palace, had tourists streaming in yet due to the early hour, so it was pretty much only us and the royal guards. How cool!
f) After walking a few good kilometres in the beautiful weather, we came across the restaurant strip along Nyhavn, very close to our hotel. With music by live musicians in the background, the river by the side and the restaurant buildings stacked tight in a row with lovely outdoor seating, the whole atmosphere was charming. We sat at one of them and ordered some brunch (super expensive, but yummy).
g) By the time we got back to the hotel, our room was ready and we checked in. After which we did the only thing that anyone could have done under the circumstances - we slept off. For a good three hours! By the time we woke up, it was time for dinner. The little one was quite cranky, possibly from jet lag, and hence we decided that we will get some take out instead of going out in the cold to look for dinner. The hubby got some Thai take out (Rice with green and red chicken curries, to be precise……also, it was not too expensive and was yummy too!) and once back in the room, narrated how the cafe strip at Nyhavn had come to life on the Friday evening and that it was quite something to experience. His description of the whole thing was so good that I readily got jealous and decided that I want to see what the fuss is too. So we put aside all that "little one needs to rest because she is cranky and it is cold outside" story and instead changed it to "let's cover the little one up from head to toe and take chance at exploring Nyhavn by night"! So that's what we did. We covered her in several layers of clothing and set out. We walked by the river once again, watching the bustling surroundings and activities which basically involved people eating, drinking, talking, walking, playing music, and even holding candlelight dinners on their private boats parked by the banks of the river. It was beautiful and I was glad that I took the trouble to get out. Interestingly, the little one seemed to enjoy as well as there was not a murmur of unhappiness throughout the walk!
It was the perfect end to the perfect day!
Tomorrow, we take the cruise!
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