We awoke, got ready and walked down the street to the Central Station to catch a train to Copenhagen for the day. Buying a ticket was relatively simple from the ticket machine once we realised that Köpenhamn is the Swedish word for Copenhagen. The train took us back across the Oresund bridge and we alighted at Copenhagen Central station.

The weather in Copenhagen was much the same as Malmö, very drizzly. We put on our hoods and navigated the 3km to the Little Mermaid statue. The statue itself is quite small and underwhelming, but….when in Copenhagen…

On the way we also viewed many other Copenhagen landmarks, like the magnificent Amalienborg (royal castle) and St Frederick’s church.

After we visited the Little Mermaid, the rain had kicked up a notch, so we decided that we needed lunch and a dry off. There was a little restaurant advertising traditional Danish food called Cafe Toldboden. Smørrebrød are a type of open-faced sandwich served with a choice of toppings. The very friendly waiter informed us that the menu is a list of the toppings that you can choose from and all are served on a traditional danish rye bread. He had sat us on a table right next to a wall of akvavit (Danish snaps) but informed us with a smile that it was not ‘serve-yourself’.

Teresa chose 3 types of herring on her bread, and Michele chose roast beef with remoulade, fried capers, pickles, fried onions and fresh horseradish. We of course had to oblige and pair our meals with a beer and the traditional shot of akvavit, which was chosen by our waiter. The meals came out and were honestly a holiday highlight. So delicious!! We decided to share one last plate so we ordered the Smørrebrød with fried fish, remoulade (like a homemade tartare sauce), sundried tomato and dill. This was one tasty too, but we agreed that our first dishes were the best. We paid the bill, which was probably the most expensive meal we’ve had, but we are in an expensive country and the food was well worth it.

Leaving the restaurant, we trudged through the rain with the intentions of seeing more landmarks. We saw Kastellet (an old fortress) and made our way to Rosenberg, another beautiful castle, before finally admitting to each other that our saturated coats were not fit for rain and we were no longer enjoying walking around like drowned rats. We found a cafe to have a drink in and dry off and Michele looked at Google maps and realised the Metro was across the road…Hallelujah!

We were so close to the Merman but we were so desperate to get out of the rain that we missed it. Of course, we wished the entire time that we could send this much-needed rain to Australia.

The Copenhagen Metro is very clean and easily navigated. It all appeared to be underground and we were able to catch a train directly to the Central Station and then hop on another train back to Malmö.

We wanted to get some supplies for the evening and quickly realised that buying wine is not as easy as it is in Eastern Europe, where you just pick it up from the supermarket. We actually had to walk into the main part of town to find a Systembolaget, which appears to be the liqor store of Sweden. We were a little peckish for dinner and found a bar/cafe/restaurant and ordered a couple of dishes. One was cauliflower croquets and the other was described as ‘fried pork fat’ with mushroom. What came out was giant pieces of crispy-fried puffed pork crackling with mushroom dust and dipping mayonnaise. Not what we expected but both dishes were delicious!! Great low-carb meal.

Bellies satisfied, we made our way back home to our warm and dry apartment. Tomorrow we will check out the traditional Swedish restaurant that Mikael, our friendly hotel front office staff, has recommended. Godnatt!