A Rainy Day in Copenhagen

On midsommar day (Saturday) mostly everything was closed here in Lund, so E and I decided to get ourselves to Copenhagen, Denmark. One only has to cross the Öresund bridge to get there.

As previously mentioned, we each have Sommarkortet:

This card, offered by the regional public transportation authority, Skånetrafiken, gives the holder 50 travel allowences (3 hours apiece) to travel anywhere within the region (Skåne). It's a pretty good deal. And if you can get there and back (i.e. IKEA shopping) within the time limit, it counts as one trip. Crossing the aforementioned Öresund, however, is not included in regional travel, and requires an additional train ticket. E and I bought a round-trip ticket for two in Malmö, and set off.

(In Sweden, transit is strictly regulated with ticket verification at each leg of a journey. In the other countries we've visited this summer (Finland, Estonia) this policy has appeared rather lax: riders can generally hop on and hop off without really showing a ticket. While our ticket was stamped on the way to Denmark, when we returned on the same train, we rode for "free". If we had had the foresight, we could have avoided the return trip charge entirely. It would help us pinch our pennies (er... öre), but it would abuse the system, and we're not really into that.)

Anywho, we arrived in Copenhagen's central station just in time for a hefty rainstorm. Ugh. It's all because we left our umbrellas at home. We didn't want to give in to the overpriced "paraplyer" at the station boutiques, so we waited for a break in the downpour and hoofed it over to the nearby tourist information office. Though they had umbrellas for sale also, the nice lady at the counter told us that we might have some luck at the TIGER discount market around the corner. So, a-hunting we went.

Among the varied wares featured in TIGER's labyrinthine turns, we found new good-lookin' umbrellas for fractions of the station prices (as well as a dark chocolate Bounty bar!). Now protected, we set off toward Copenhagen's shopping mecca, Strøget.

(click here to see the full version of this photo)

Perhaps everyone was sleeping off the midsommar festivities, or maybe the weather was at fault, but pedestrian traffic on Rådhuspladsen was light. We spent the day wandering up Strøget, and in and out of all kinds of shops. Though much was available, we didn't find much to ply us of our Danish funny-money. I found a pair of jeans to replace the pair with the travel-induced-blown-out-knee, and we bought a really swell silicone bunnycake baking mold on sale at Bodum. By the time we reached Kongens Nytorv, the sun had rediscovered the day, and some yard-saley type tables had sprung up.

We may go back for Tivoli someday soon.

-J.