Pupletts in Sweden: Malmö part 4 (7 Feb

Monday was back to work and starting to get my bags packed. I'd bought a lot of stuff, so there was plenty to cram into my bags. I ended up buying a luggage scale so I could check that my bags were not overweight - it was close!

That afternoon I ducked out to Svågertorp to check out Rusta for Kristine and grab some dinner.

That week was work as normal until the Thursday when I had to get ready to leave. First I needed to get my Covid test done - this went pretty quick and I had the all clear in about 20 minutes.

My flight was going to be early Friday morning, but I decided to head over to Copenhagen on the Thursday. This had two purposes - first I wouldn't need to race to the airport at 5am on Friday and could instead spend the night in Copenhagen by the airport and, secondly, I wanted to have a walk through Copenhagen - I hadnt been game enough to try to head over to Copenhagen in case I got stuck in Demark, unable to return to Sweden due to Covid restrictions.

It was not much fun dragging 50kg of bags through town to the train - I ended up with a backpack on, dragging the two suitcases with bags strapped to the top of them. When I arrived, I checked into my hotel and then headed out into Copenhagen.

View from the hotel

My bags

Copenhagen Airport - The view from outside my hotel

The Öresundtåg station map

When we had lived in Sweden, Kristine and I had planned a Copenghagen walk that included most of the big sights. Whenever we had visitors we would take this walk to show them the town. I decided to redo this walk.

First I took the train out to Østerport and walked past Kastellet, the star shaped fortress, built in 1664.

Kastellet from the north - the earthworks forming the star

Southern Entrance to Kastellet

Kastellet and St Alban's Church

As I walked down to the shore, I passed the Søfartsmonumentet (Maritime Monument), a tribute the civilian Danish sailors who died in World War I. The figure at the top is for Remembrance. The monument was built in 1928.

Next stop was Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid) - built in 1913 and one of the most iconic sights in Copenhagen

Walking around the edge of Kastellet, I came to St Alban's Church and the statue of Minerva:

I then walked into Churchill Park - named after Winston Churchill and took some photos of the Ivan Huitfeldt column - built in 1886 to commemorate the Admiral Ivar Huitfelt who was killed when the HDMS Dannebroge was sunk in the Battle of Køge Bat in 1710 against Sweden. The moment is topped with a statue of Victoria, goddess of victory and incorporates cannons, cannonballs and the anchor fromt the Dannebroge.

From here, I had a look over the harbour and towards the dock for Amalienborg Palace, the gates marking where dignitaries are greeted when visiting.

My next stop was Amalienbog Palace and Frederiks Kirke (Frederik's Church):

Rytterstatuen (The Equestrian Statue) - King Frederik V, 1771

Looking from Amalienborg to the Opera House

Amalienborg to Frederik's Church

Frederik's Church

I then walked along to Nyhavn (New Harbour), another iconic sight of Copenhagen, with its multicoloured building facades:

Nyhavn

And from there onto Strøget a famous shopping pedestrian mall, which was normally packed with tourists and shoppers. Due to Covid, it was the quietest I had ever seen:

Lego Store on Strøget

Faraos Cigarer - Comic and memorabilia shop

I took a slight detour to Christiansborg Palace:

and from there I walked towards Christiania, and passed the Entwined Dragon Tail sculpture on the Old Stock Exchange:

I passed the Church of Our Saviour with its distinctive Golden Spire and then headed into Christiania.

Church of Our Saviour

Freetown Christiania was originally a military base that was overtaken by squatters in 1791. It is a self governing freetown:

I then headed back to my hotel and finalised my bags ready for flying out the next day.

I had a minor hiccup at the airport security. Because I was pretty tight on space and weight, I'd tucked my shaver inside my steel capped boots, stuffed them with socks and put them in my bag. The bag had ended up being slightly too heavy, so I took the boots out and tied them to the top of my carry-on bag. When it went through the scanner the boots were held up as they could see electronics hidden behind the steel caps. My work laptop then tested positive to explosive residue, so I needed to wait for a second test which cleared me. I then spent a couple of hours in the lounge before boarding for my 6hr flight to Doha. I didn't need to take another Covid test, but my vaccination documents and test from Malmö were checked before I could fly.

Masks needed to be worn for the whole flight, from entering the airport at Copenhagen to leaving the airport in Adelaide.

Qatar

I had a few hours in Doha airport, so I checked out some of the shops and had a shower in the business lounge before boarding my 14 hour flight to Adelaide. I didn't need to undertake a Covid test in Doha, but my temperature was checked before I was allowed into the airport.

The very empty business lounge (thanks to Covid)

The flight to Adelaide was long, but uneventful and when I got back I was intercepted by security who checked my Covid vaccination papers, declarations and made sure to inform me I needed to do a PCR test in the next 24hours before I was allowed out in public. I was one of the first off the plane, but ended up waiting for my bags for almost 45 minutes before being told that they had lost one of my bags. Luckily it was just my dirty clothes (not the gifts for the kids...), so I was free to go and they would courier it to me Turns out it had been left in Copenhagen and I received it at my door 2 days later.

After meeting the family, we went for a PCR test and I was given the all clear the next morning.