DENMARK: Copenhagen
Last summer we spent two beautiful summer days in London at the beginning of July on the hunt for elephants! Not real elephants, they were art displays created to raise money for the prevention of the extinction of Asian elephants. It was called an Elephant Parade. In London there were 260 elephants to discover all over the city, some in the parks, others in shops and shopping centres and lots at the big tourist attractions. We managed to see just over 100 of them in London, so when I found out that other parades were taking place across Europe in 2011 I knew we had to do it again.
We had the choice of four destinations for a 2011 elephant parade - Heerlen in the Netherlands from March to May, Copenhagen in Denmark from June to August, Milan in Italy from September to November and Singapore from November to January 2012. Heerlen and Milan were small parades with just 40-50 elephants, Copenhagen and Singapore had approximately 100. Singapore seemed too far away and would be very expensive, so we chose Copenhagen!
I spent months and months pricing up hotels and flights and researching areas of the city. Finally we booked our trip and the map of the parade was released in June.
We flew from Stansted at lunchtime on Monday July 18 and stayed for three nights in Hotel 27. The hotel was wonderful, really stylish and in a great location. Breakfast was included in the price and every morning was great - the bacon was my fave. Each evening there was also a free dinner, in a buffet style - there were salads, fresh bread and a selection of hot food which ranged from beef casserole and mash, roast chicken and potato wedges and chicken curry. I'm a picky eater and was worried there wouldn't be much I'd like, but every evening I managed to find something - even if it was mainly bread and butter!
On the first evening we headed out to get a feel for our surroundings and to see how many elephants we could find - we ended up seeing 10 around the Radhuspladsen and Stroget area. Then the rain came down and we found shelter in an Irish bar with a glass of apple cider! When we were dry and the rain had stopped we went back to the hotel for an early night.
Tuesday was an early morning, down for breakfast and then out to find more elephants. We walked the entire length of Stroget and saw all the designer shops on the way to Kongens Nytorv and Nyhavn. From there we walked down to Kongens Have (King's Garden) by the Rosenborg Slot and the Botanical Gardens. By the time we got to Osterport station my feet were struggling with all the walking - we got on the train and headed back to Copenhagen Central and back to hotel for a rest (and an afternoon nap). After an hour or so of rest we went to lunch at a burger 'joint' called Chilis which was a short walk from the hotel - the food was excellent!
Round the corner was Christiansborg where we found one elephant and then we went back to Stroget - none of the shops were open when we walked down there before at 9am so there were some elephants we missed. From there we got the Metro from Kongens Nytorv to Norreport to see the elephants at Orstedsparken. Again, my bad choice of city break footwear was failing me so we walked back to the hotel for a rest and some dinner. We headed back out for a third time and went looking for a few elephants around the Vesterport station area. By the end of the second day we'd seen over 40 elephants!
Wednesday saw us going further afield to see more elephants and hopefully that meant less walking for my tired feet. We go the bus up to Langelinie and the Little Mermaid. From there we ended up walking to Amalienborg (palace to the Danish royal family), crowds were gathered and we wondered what was happening - turns out we were there in time to see the changing of the guard. I'd never seen this kind of thing in all the times we've visited London and been outside Buckingham Palace.
We got the bus back to the centre of the city and walked back up Stroget to see some more elephants, visit the Elephant Parade store to buy some replica models and go to Illums Bolighus to buy some more souvenirs. Lunch was at the Irish bar we visited on the first evening, traditional fish and chips and another glass of apple cider!
After another afternoon nap we traveled up to Norreport where there were two unseen elephants by the canal. We then went out to the shopping centre at Frederiksberg on the Metro and saw three elephants in that area. We got the bus back to near our hotel, went for our free dinner and packed our cases for an early flight the next day.
Our flight back to Stansted was a bumpy one, Easy Jet flights don't feel great! We were back in Norwich by 2:30pm and quite glad to be home for a rest! We were up early every morning and we did so much walking, I don't think I've ever had so many afternoon naps!
There aren't any Elephant Parades listed for 2012 yet, but I'll be keeping an eye-out for them! In the meantime we aim to visit Edinburgh in Scotland for Jungle City during September 2011. It's a city we've always wanted to go to and events like this are a great excuse. But I wonder if we have to fly Easy Jet again?
