Copenhagen: city of rollercoasters

As a kiwi, we have very few rollercoasters to choose from - unless they've added some I don't know about, the Rainbow's End rollercoaster is the only one I can think of. Copenhagen has not just one amusement park, but two: one directly beside the central station (Tivoli) and one out in the forest (Bakken, the oldest amusement park in the world, since 1589). They both have multiple excellent rollercoasters, including some of the oldest in the world: Tivoli's is from 1914.

I spent my first evening in Copenhagen at Tivoli, wandering the park and going on as many rides as I could. The Daemon rollercoaster was probably my favourite, though the Odin Express rollercoaster, aimed at people under twelve, was actually pretty good too - every time you rolled through the station, the attendants waved at you and there was no line. I spent the whole time looking for the old wooden rollercoaster, and realised afterwards that I'd actually been on it; they've covered it in a mountain since I was last there, which was the original design.Walt Disney apparently came here and it helped inspire Disneyland, which you can really see with the beautifully tended gardens, fountains, little lakes and plethora of restaurants of all different types dotted amongst the rides and gardens. The evening was a good time to go, especially since it was still light at 11 when the park closed: shorter lines, and the view from the top of the rollercoaster with the towers of Copenhagen and the slowly-setting sun was breathtaking.

The following day, one of my lovely hosts met me in town after my morning canal cruise. She'd brought a Christiania bike with a box thing in the front of it, and a young Labrador she was looking after who was extremely well-behaved as we cycled through the streets, over bridges and to Christiania, a free town in the middle of Copenhagen where the police turn a blind eye to the selling of various things, much like Amsterdam. It's an incredible contrast between the extremely expensive townhouses and buildings on one side of the 'border' and the free streets, graffiti and jerry-rigged and repaired old buildings on the other, and amazing that they've been able to keep it free for so long right in the centre of Copenhagen.

It was over thirty degrees, very rare for Copenhagen, and we decided to cycle back into the older parts of the city and split ways at the Round Tower, which has an observatory at the top with a great view of Copenhagen. The dog and my guide cycled home into the cool and I walked up the tower on the wide path that winds around and around the core pillar of the tower. They have cycle races to the top, apparently, and you could easily take a horse up.

My last visit for the day was the new Danish Architecture Centre, which had a great exhibition about Danish housing. My plan for the next morning was to get up early and visit a few places in North Zealand (which, coincidentally, looks quite like New Zealand), but in the end I didn't reach my first stop, Frederiksborg Castle, until midday. It's a pretty impressive castle with a moat and richly decorated halls, a beautiful cathedral and paintings everywhere. It also serves as a history museum, taking you through Danish history for the past few centuries.

My plan after Frederiksborg was to go to Henlsingør (Elsinore) and Kronborg Castle where Shakespeare set Hamlet. There was trackworkwith the trains, however I managed to figure out a train-bus route that wouldn't take too long, and ran for the station to catch the first train. Then, a few stops into the journey, for some reason I got off the train... (I think lots of other people were getting off, so I thought I would too). Unfortunately there was no replacement bus service to Helsingør from there, so I did a bit of a tiki tour around the countryside on different buses, deciding in the end to just go straight to Louisiana Art Museum (excellent) which was my final planned stop. I'll have to go back to Helsingør next time I'm in Denmark...

I met my hosts at Bakken for dinner (which included kangaroo), and convinced everyone to go on the 1930s wooden rollercoaster, which was really good too. So, all up, my Denmark rollercoaster tally is four. We walked back through the king's former hunting grounds and saw some deer in the dusk light.

On my way to the airport my last day in Copenhagen, I stopped at the 8 House to walk up and take photos from the top. It's an apartment building in the shape of a figure 8 where many of the apartments open right onto the path that winds its way all the way up to the top, which was pretty cool to see. And then I found my way to the airport, where I was onto Paris... it would have been nice to stay a little longer in Denmark I think. Next time!