Beach time in Copenhagen.

3. July 20172. July 2017 / Christina / 5 Comments

In June I went to Copenhagen for one last time – to end my studies there. The apartment I was staying at was conveniently close to the Amager Strandpark (Amager Beach Park), so it was clear from the beginning that a visit to the beach would be a must. It was not my first time there, I’ve been there two times already – once in winter and once last year when my friends came to visit me.

I’ve always loved going there, and this time was great as well – we were lucky to enjoy a gorgeous sunset, and not that many people were actually walking around. Maybe because it was a Saturday and around 10pm – so most of the people were probably busy going out?! :D

Amager Strandpark in Copenhagen is a public park with a in 2005 artificially constructed island that forms a lagoon and has a broad promenade and a big sandy beach with dunes that make the scenery perfect. One can enjoy the great view to the windmill park as well as the Øresundsbroen that connects Denmark with Sweden. As the Øresund sea is shallow, the temperature rises fast sometimes and bathing this far up north is apparently enjoyable (I’ve never tried it myself though). Popular for swimming, sunbathing, and relaxation, the beach and the promenade are a place for all kinds of sports and activities. People come here for running, skating, biking, playing various ball games, or do other water sports. And it is very easy to reach via the metro as the Øresund St. is very close to the beach.

I like the sea. I don’t need it so I can go swimming in it. I don’t need a sand beach so I can lie there and bathe in the sun. The sea winds me down on a day when there is too much going on in my head. Walking on the beach or just standing there staring into the distance, into the nothingness is perfect then. It gives me a calming, relaxing feeling that I am looking for but is sometimes so hard to achieve.

Pyramids at Ofelia Plads.

20. March 201720. March 2017 / Christina / 5 Comments

Two weeks ago my studies once again brought me back to wonderful, beautiful Copenhagen. Having a meeting at the university was not the only thing on my to-do-list but I wanted to explore some of Denmark’s cultural side too. It has been way too long since I have done some exploring in Copenhagen, and Denmark has so many great things to offer such as the Louisiana Museum for Modern Arts or the Kulturnatten in autumn. So a cultural visit was long overdue.

Every year during February the Frost Festival takes place in København. It is a series of curated events that tries to “shine a light in the dark month of February” in various locations throughout the city. By doing so the festival connects music, light and alternative spaces, ushering people outside in a time when they’d rather stay inside and enjoy the typical danish feeling of Hygge.

That’s exactly what I did – I forced my friends to go come with me and do some cultural exploring. We picked the perfect day: a very cold and windy Saturday afternoon. Nevertheless, we hit the road and went to see one of the most instagrammed installations of the festival: the Wave at Ofelia Plads. It so happened that on that weekend when I was in KBH a part of the frost festival was prolongued for another week (or at least the installation that we saw).

Processed with VSCO with hb1 preset

The Wave is an installation made out of triangular arches that are 4 metres in height, and equipped with 80 sensors that react to movements of the visitors as well as light. Therefore, the installation’s expressions are not preprogrammed but are co-created with the surrounding and the visitors. The forty arches react sonically and visually so the perception of the installation is different for its entire span, making every single visit tp the exhibition unique.

Another plus of the Wave is that it is located on the Ofelia Docks, at Ofelia Plads. From this place you have a great view over the beginning seafront, the inner harbour bridge, the Opera House, Papirøen and other places. It is very calm and relaxing out there as you hear the gentle sound of waves lapping and seagulls screaming.

So despite the cold, the wind, and the rain we were able to enjoy not only the exhibition but also the great view. I am a sucker for light and music installation, they have always fascinated me, so going there was clearly a must and definitely worth the trip to the seafront.

Last time in Copenhagen for this year.

23. June 201623. June 2016 / Christina / 2 Comments

I took one last trip up north to Copenhagen. The last one for this year. I’ve got other big plans coming up which I haven’t told you about, so stay tuned ;) But here’s my last blogpost about the final week of my summer semester.

The reason why I had to be in CPH for another 6-7 days was that I had my two oral exams scheduled this and last week (Thursday and Monday). So last week, I took a car, a train, a bus and a flight to Copenhagen. It was a very exhausting trip but unfortunately the only cheap option available on such short notice (they handed out the dates for the exams two weeks prior…), where I wouldn’t spend hundreds of euros just on travelling .

My friend Shaneel and her husband Fahad were so kind and offered to be my and Carina’s host during our stay, so we stayed with them for a few days before staying at an Airbnb for another few days. We had such a lovely time with them, even though we had to prepare ourselves for the exams. Shaneel even baked strawberry muffins (just for us)!!

Strawberry-banana smoothie

something healthy for a change… :D

But studying and eating wasn’t the only thing that we did while staying at their place. To Shaneel’s dismay, we (Carina, Fahad and I) also watched a few games of the European Championship.

But because we did not want to force too much soccer upon Shaneel, one evening we decided to watch a movie instead. It took us forever to choose one: no horror movies for me, no animation for Carina and no sad endings for Shaneel – which meant no Titanic :O :( Fahad was more or less fine with everything. So we went for The Fly. Scie-Fi / Horror / Romance / Thriller from 1986. It was so much fun and even though I never watch horror movies, I really ‘enjoyed’ it. It was so bizarre and fun to watch, I’d even recommend it (with a winking eye of course).

I also went to Strøget one last time for one last shopping spree. I didn’t buy that much as I only went to a few shops that we don’t have here in Austria. I also bought a few gifts for friends & family.

After moving into our Airbnb and even though we had a lot of readings on our schedule, Carina and I spent a whole afternoon and evening in front of the TV. The Airbnb had German TV and there was a baking show on, so why not watch baking stuff? Then there was ‘Shopping Queen’, and we couldn’t resist. haha. Afterwards there was the Austrian soccer match, so we couldn’t just turn off the TV and start studying, could we?! Especially when Ronaldo was missing every time and ‘our’ goalie was keeping everything (or just lucky…). Fun to watch indeed!

Sunday was full of reading and preparing, even though after the exam I thought to myself – why did I even care to read the articles that we were supposed to read?! haha :D

After the exam Carina, Shaneel and I decided to have one final lunch/dinner together – a post-exam ‘celebration’. We went to Wagamama. I’ve never been there before but I’ve heard so much about it and I’ve wanted to try it for a long time now, but I never got around to it. It’s a restaurant that offers oriental cuisine of noodle and vegetarian dishes. We ordered Gyoza as a ‘starter’ (turned out to be more like a side dish as the main dishes were served immediately after they brought the gyoza). I opted for my favourite thai dish – Pad Thai. It was really good but too much cilantro (I just put most bits to the side though). I also have to admit that I’ve had better gyoza and Pad Thai before, but still very good at Wagamama! One other special thing about this place is that you get FREE GREEN TEA. And not just any green tea, but served in a beautiful mug (which I really wanted to take home with me…) and it was so refreshing and delicious!

On our final day Carina and I had to get up at around 4.30 and we even had to order a Uber to take us to the metro as there was no bus driving at that time. So, one Uber, one metro, one plane, one bus, one train and one metro later I finally arrived at my bf’s place in Vienna, after being on the road for 14+ hours. So exhausting. :(

All in all the exams went fine, I’m glad that they are over and that I passed all my exams of the year. I can’t believe that my first year of the master is already over. Time flew by so quickly, unbelievable!

Productivity and cake: last week in Copenhagen.

24. May 2016 / Christina / 1 Comment

University is (almost) over, summer is (almost) here. But before everything comes to an end uni-wise there was still time for last group meetings, cheesecake and a nice day at the park :)

Team meeting & cheesecake

University is/was coming to an end so we had our last group meetings for this semester in order to be very productive. But productivity was not the only thing that we were worried about… we also wanted to make sure to be all ready and set for the meeting so we had a team breakfast before. Our team meeting was at one of the student dorms in Copenhagen (where Sarah lives and where we also had our International dinner). Sarah made delicious buns, so we had buns with jam and cheese, coffee, juice and fruits. Perfect start for a productive meeting, don’t you think so too?

But breakfast was not enough for us. Shaneel was set on bringing cheesecake to our meeting. We couldn’t say no to that, could we? ;) Therefore, we treated ourselves to some delicious chocolate cheesecake after we were done with university stuff.

Frederiksberg Have

The Frederiksberg Gardens is one of the largest and apparently most attractive greenspaces in Copenhagen, designed in the English style with many winding paths, lakes, islands and canals. One day, Carina, Shaneel and I decided to pay a visit to this beautiful garden.

Frederiksberg Slot (Frederiksberg Palace) is located on one end of the garden, right next to the Zoo. It is a baroque palace, inspired by the Italians, and dates back to the early 1700s. It was used as a summer palace, but also for the king’s permanent residence for a few years. The royal family left in 1852 and the Royal Danish Army Officers Academy moved in a few years later.

We picked a great day – the sun was out and it was really warm. We walked around for a bit, sat in the grass for quite some time while watching ducks, and enjoyed the day :)

Homeward bound

My time in Copenhagen has almost come to an end! I have already moved all my stuff out of my apartment and will only come back to the city in mid-June for oral exams. I can’t believe how fast time flew by… :O

Visitors in Copenhagen: Friends edition.

15. May 201615. May 2016 / Christina / 3 Comments

Last week I had my third visitors (and the last ones of the semester) in Copenhagen – my friends Julia & Mel. My landlady/flatmate was so nice and vacated the apartment for the weekends so we could have the whole flat to ourselves. As the semester is already finishing up I had lots of time for them – so there was a lot of sightseeing, food and shopping involved :)

On the first day I took them straight to one of my favourite places for brunch/lunch – Paludan Bogcafe. I have mentioned it so many times already on my blog so I’m not gonna talk much about it – just that it was delicious as usual ;)

The Lakes

The Copenhagen Lakes (Søerne) are three rectangular lakes, located a bit to the west of the city centre (Indre by) of Copenhagen. The paths along the lakes are so beautiful and perfect for strolling around or just sitting there and enjoying the sunshine in May. It’s even possible to rent boats that look like huge swans. You can see them in the back of some pictures ;)

Little Mermaid

Of course we also had to go and visit Copenhagen’s most famous monument – Den lille Havfrue. A bronze statuedisplaying a mermaid that was erected in 1913, in remembrance of H.C. Andersen’s fairy tale of the little mermaid.

It was a sunny and hot day in May, so naturally many tourists came to see the girl. So we only briefly looked at her, got some pictures and sat on a bench instead to watch all the funny tourists. So many Germans there! :D

You may have noticed my liking of cherry blossoms (and blossoms in general) in my previous blogpost so I was really happy to spot some still blooming trees near the little mermaid.

Kastellet

I already went to the Kastellet (a fortress) when my family was in town so I actually didn’t want to go there again as the fortress itself is a bit… unimpressive. But my friends spotted the windmill and wanted to go, so I had no other choice… And I really like windmills, so why not ;)

St. Alban’s Anglican Church near the kastellet

Nyhavn & shopping spree

We also could not not go to Nyhavn, could we?! :D But again: a sunny & warm day = too many people. So we only briefly went there, had a look at the beautiful house facades and the canal and took some pictures. Strøget is just around the corner, so we decided to go shopping :)

My (Neighbour)Hood – Christianshavn

I also showed them my beautiful neighbourhood. Twice we walked to Papirøen (Street Food Market) – too many people on the first day and we didn’t want to wait forever to get food and left. But on our second visit we got the food within 10 minutes and sat next to the canal and enjoyed the sun and the view.

Børsen (stock exchange) and Christiansborg Slot (parliament) are technically not in my neighbourhood, but just on the neighbouring island ;)

At the moment there is the art installation “Unbearable” in front of the parliament that should make people aware of the danger of climate change and its effect on our earth. In my opinion, it is very thought provoking, eye-catching and beautifully done. Also, due to the fact that the installation is placed in front of a very touristy place many people have a look at it and will hopefully read the information.

Amager Strandpark

After having pancakes and visiting Christiania on the last day there was only one place left that we haven’t been to and that was perfect for a sunny afternoon before my friends had to get on a plane and leave me: Amager Strandpark. My first (and last) visit there was in February when we still had snow :D So this time I could fully enjoy the beach, the sea and the spring weather. I even went into the sea :O but just with my feet. haha

After spending some time there we headed to Dallevalle and had delicious sandwiches!

Unfortunately, it was already time for my friends to say goodbye. I had such a lovely time with them (even though I had to play tour guide again) :)

Last chance for cherry blossoms.

8. May 2016 / Christina / 2 Comments

Remember my last blogpost where I mentioned that I spent half of April at home in Austria? The ‘downside’ of this was that I didn’t get the chance to go and see the beautiful cherry blossoms in Copenhagen. However, after returning to Copenhagen I had one last look at the withering blossoms. Still very nice to look at – especially on such a beautiful day of sunshine.

Bispebjerg Kirkegård is a cemetery that is very famous for its cherry tree alley. It seems that every year during the high season of the blooming cheery trees most people of Copenhagen pilgrimage to this cemetery to take a look at the beauty of the blossoms (at least according to several blogs and newspapers and instagram pictures ;) )

It is also not unusual to have a picnic with your friends or family there – in the midst of the graveyard. A somewhat strange concept and definitely not my preferred place to have a picnic. However, I feel that it might be a very good way to teach kids that death is nothing to be afraid of and part of life. So why not?

It was such a lovely day and I am glad that I went on the relatively long journey just to see some cherry trees (:

Visitors in Copenhagen: Family edition.

10. April 201610. April 2016 / Christina / 2 Comments

I had my second visitors in town: my sister and my cousin! They came to stay for a few days at my place in Copenhagen. Ergo: a lot of sightseeing for me ;) I took them to some of the most touristy places in town – ’cause that’s what a tour guide is for, right? :P As I had an exam going on at the time and my health wasn’t up to par, I made them wander around by themselves for a bit and also shipped them off to Malmö for one day. Here’s what we did in Copenhagen and which places we went to in Copenhagen.

Kongens Have

Kongens Have, a beautiful garden with the Rosenborg Slot (Rosenborg Castle), is a nice place to go for a walk when the sun is shining.It happened to be a very nice first day for my visitors so I took them straight to this garden (on foot from Christianshavn – and yes, we stopped on Slotsholmen, went up the tower and had a great view over the city).

H.C. Andersen statue

Typical tourist picture ;)

SPRING! :)

Nyhavn

Where else to go but from Kongens Have to Nyhavn, as it is almost ‘around the corner’?!

so many people!!

Amalienborg & Frederiks Kirke

Amalienborg is the home of the Danish royal family. The Evangelical Lutheran Frederik’s Church has the largest church dome in Scandinavia. I haven’t been to either of them, so there was something new for me too! :)

Frederiks Kirke

Amalienborg Castle

Copenhagen Opera House

Snack and Food Time

A trip to another country usually includes eating local food and snacks, and trying local alcohol. However, as hardly anyone from Austria likes the *disgusting* liquorish stuff from the North, my sister and cousin went for more ‘normal’ options such as chips and beer ;) However, they bought ‘Flæskesvær’ (Pork rinds) by ‘mistake’ , which they wouldn’t recommend to anyone :D

As I did not go home for the Easter holidays, my visitors brought a few nice things from home – Milka chocolate, Austrian wine, Austrian liqueur and… Easter Eggs :D So I got to have my own little Easter breakfast after all (even though it was a few days late).

The Little Mermaid

Of course, a visit to the little mermaid had to be part of the trip. My sister even said that the mermaid looked bigger than she’d expected as everyone had told her not to expect anything big :D

Kastellet

Another part of the town that I haven’t been to before was the Kastellet. This is one of the best preserved star fortresses in Scandinavia and located ‘right next’ to the Little Mermaid. There are also a church (which looked a bit strange though) and a beautiful windmill on the grounds of the Kastellet.

The Rows – former barracks for soldiers

crazy people… :D

Paper Island Street Food

If you are a recurring reader of my blog, you probably noticed my love for food markets (mentioned here and here) ;) So I had to take my guests to Papirøen, right? Too bad that we picked a Saturday evening for doing so. There were so many people and we had to wait forever to get our food and get a table. We sat right next to one of the entrances so there was a constant air draugt… The food was nice tough ;) And the sunset was beautiful as well!

I had a lovely time with my sister and cousin even though I still had to finish an exam for a course… But they are grown-ups, they managed to spend a few hours without me :)

Catching up: March edition.

3. April 201612. March 2017 / Christina / 4 Comments

Another month has passed. I was quite busy – university and traveling were the main things on my agenda. Easter holidays are over and spring is finally here! Here’s my little March update :)

March in terms of: University.

March has been the busiest month so far at university in 2016. Two courses finished and two exams started. I can’t believe that the semester is almost over – only two courses are left! But there is still a lot to do for the courses so don’t worry, I won’t get bored. Unfortunately.

March in terms of: Life.

March was also the month were we had our little Easter break. I decided not to fly back home for various reasons and instead stayed in Copenhagen for the holidays. This was my first easter break where I did not go home for at least two or three days :O However, I got to spend a couple of days with my family earlier in February and I am going home in a couple of weeks for my sister’s hen anyways, so it wasn’t that big of a deal after all ;)

I used the holidays for inviting a few friends over at my place and cook dinner for them. I made broccoli soup and a sweet potato & green rice burrito bowl (inspired by cookieandcake). My friends brought wine, cake, chocolates and flowers. We had a great night! :)

March in terms of: Food.

Regarding food March was great for me. I tried quite a few new recipes and cooked food that usually only my mom cooks at home :)

Avocado, hummus and tomatos on crispbread – my go-to dinner of the month ;)

Dinner-leftovers with cake :)

Rice pudding with almonds

Spinach soup with roasted pumpkin seeds

Sweet potato – broccoli – feta bowl

For a course at uni we had to work in a group. However, as we all are food-lovers (who isn’t?!), we decided to go have burgers at Cocks&Cows instead of doing stuff for uni. ;)

Treehugger at Cocks&Cows

Perfect instant picture selfie skills I must say…

March in terms of: Traveling.

At the beginning of March I got to spend a few days with my boyfriend in Hungary’s beautiful capital Budapest. I ate way too much food and saw so many beautiful spots in the city.

March in terms of: Copenhagen.

Spring finally arrived in Copenhagen! The sun has been shining a lot, I packed my winter clothes away and I could finally use my sunglasses again. I even bought a new pair – yay! What a great time to be in such a beautiful country at that time of the year. Walking around in my neighbourhood is really great! :)

What have you been up to lately? Are you happy that winter is gone and spring is here? :)

Sunshine in beautiful Copenhagen.

13. March 201619. March 2016 / Christina / 1 Comment

The weather has been so nice in Copenhagen lately, I was really astonished. I could even use my sunglasses (once)!! Too bad that I had to spend quite some time at university, especially when the sun was out. Nevertheless, I still tried to enjoy every sunray of each sunny day ;) It’s wonderful how such a tiny thing like sunshine can brighten up the mood and bring joy to life.

The other day when I had no uni and nothing planned for the day (except doing stuff for uni – which I of course did not do after all) the sun came out in the afternoon. I was torn between cooking, drinking coffee or going for a walk. However, especially when living in such a beautiful neighbourhood like I do, sitting inside all day long would have been such a waste, so I opted for the walk :) So nothing could stop me from talking a walk for an hour in the beautiful, sunny Copenhagen.

me in ma hood.

I was walking along Stadsgraven, a canal that seperates Christianshavn from Amager. There are several causeways and footbridges across this canal, so it is a goo place for talking a stroll. I’ve been loving this area lately, as it is so nice and quiet, separated from all the buzz that is going on around Christianshavn (especially near the metro station -.- ). You can see that other people and the wildlife (well, mainly birds at the moment) are also enjoying this part of town. :)

A sign of spring!

Also, on the other side you can see the Sjømannskirken Kong Haakons Kirke, a Norwegian church.

The sun brings out the true beauty of Copenhagen. It’s such a nice and beautiful city. I really like the canals, the boats and the architecture. All the colourful houses along the canals are just great to look at. I’m having my fingers crossed that there will be a lot of sun in the next few months!

Amager Strandpark on a cold Saturday.

14. February 201619. March 2016 / Christina / 4 Comments

I haven’t been to the beach in Copenhagen before, so it was time to pay Amager Strandpark a visit (instead of sitting at home an watching TV shows or doing stuff for university). Carina and I have been trying to go there for a long time now, but we’ve always postponed it due to various reasons – too cold, too rainy, too windy, not sunny enough, too clouded and so on. But this weekend we decided to just go there and not care about the weather at all. No excuses allowed!

Middelgrunden wind farm

As you can see it had snowed overnight and the temperature was around 0 to 5°C, it was rather windy and partly also very cloudy. But then the sun came out and it was a nice day after all! :) Actually, quite a lot of people went for a walk as well, so we were not the only ones that enjoyed walking in the cold.

So there was this guy who just stood next to this swan and held his hand out (reminded me a bit of what you do when you’re meeting a dog so the dog can sniff your hand and so on) and the swan kept hissing back and it was really weird to watch. Who would do something like that? Swans are terrifying creatures, they ‘bite’ :D

The swan whisperer

The beach we went to was on the island Amager (not far from my flat), it is called ‘Amager Strandpark’. It is a public park with an artificially built island and a total of 4.6 km of beaches. Due to the fact that the Øresund is a rather shallow sea, the temperature of the sea can rise fast (when the air temperature is right), so bathing in it is apparently not too bad. Not in February of course (mid-May til mid-September). However, we could see people swimming in there… People not only use the beach to go swimming, but we also saw quite a few people running as it is a very beautiful place in Copenhagen.

Øresund bridge & Sweden

We walked a total of 7.74 km yesterday, so good ‘exercise’ in the fresh air on a beautiful island next to the sea! But I definitely want to come back when it is a bit warmer and the grass is greener ;)

Well-deserved hot beverage after a long walk

Northern Sunlight

Travel & Food experiences

Copenhagen

Beach time in Copenhagen.

Pyramids at Ofelia Plads.

Last time in Copenhagen for this year.

Productivity and cake: last week in Copenhagen.

Team meeting & cheesecake

Frederiksberg Have

Homeward bound

Visitors in Copenhagen: Friends edition.

The Lakes

Little Mermaid

Kastellet

Nyhavn & shopping spree

My (Neighbour)Hood – Christianshavn

Amager Strandpark

Last chance for cherry blossoms.

Visitors in Copenhagen: Family edition.

Kongens Have

Nyhavn

Amalienborg & Frederiks Kirke

Snack and Food Time

The Little Mermaid

Kastellet

Paper Island Street Food

Catching up: March edition.

March in terms of: University.

March in terms of: Life.

March in terms of: Food.

March in terms of: Traveling.

March in terms of: Copenhagen.

Sunshine in beautiful Copenhagen.

Amager Strandpark on a cold Saturday.