Our first full day in Denmark was a Sunday! I woke up real early – 3 AM early – knocked on my colleague’s hotel room and found out she was up as well. Hello, jet lag! It is awfully windy in Copenhagen, but whatevs. Nothing is going to hinder me from wearing dress/skirt + tights, and colorful clothes! We walked towards the train station (Central Station) again, aimlessly wandering around, trying to think of where to go first.

Fortunately, we saw a Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus Tour in front of the train station. However, since we haven’t had any breakfast from 3 AM, we bought chocolate croissants and hot chocolate from the nearby 711. Boarded the bus after paying DKK 190, only to find out from one of the tourists later in the afternoon that they only paid DKK 150 for it! The bus had audio plugs where you can connect your earphones/headphones for a guided bus tour in the city.

The bus passes through nearby tourist spots and iconic must-see sights, such as the Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid). The writer of the beloved children’s story, The Little Mermaid, is Danish guy Hans Christian Andersen. There were a lot of tourists that went down near the statue, but we did not. Since we were near a body of water, every time the wind blew, I literally felt a chill in my bones. Unfortunately, this is also where I lost my pink gloves.

Next stop, Rosenborg Castle (Rosenborg Slot). This is actually where they keep the Crowned Jewels! More details on another post since we did not go inside because the entrance itself cost DKK 80. We reserved it for the day we’re buying an Open Copenhagen Card (again, this will be for another post). Since the buses have a gap of around 15-30 minutes before they arrive in one of their designated stops, we decided to walk back to Strøget with another tourist. We bought some pastries from a coffee shop we passed by to fill our tummies a bit.

There was a Christmas Market in Strøget.

We walked some more until we got to the Church of Our Saviour (Vor Frelsers Kirke). You can actually climb up the tower but we didn’t since it was real windy. Having just lost my gloves in 3° weather, my hands have started to feel numb already. We went inside the church though, and it was way different from the churches I have visited in the past.

We proceeded to Christiania after. Fun fact: weed is very much legal here. Unfortunately, picture taking is not. So here is a quick photo from the entrance (literally – we asked the tourist we met to whip out the camera, take a photo, then we started brisk walking away. Hahaha!).

Christmas in Nyhavn. I was so hungry at the time, I forgot to take a touristy photo of the colorful establishments and the canal tour boats! We finally had lunch at one of the restaurants. It was overpriced in my opinion (I had fish and chips for DKK 98 and they charged us DKK 5 for a glass of warm water), but maybe it was just me? I come from Manila, where DKK 103 would have gotten me 250g-300g steak from a decent restaurant. We gained a tourist friend from the bus tour! She’s originally from London but she currently resides in Dubai. We spent the rest of the day with her, mostly walking around the city.

After lunch, our new found friend treated us with some waffle sticks! This stall can be found everywhere, I tell you. See that I’m now wearing gloves again? Fortunately, my colleague had an extra pair with her (I left my extra pair at the hotel).

Hotel d’Angleterre. Apparently, staying here will cost you a lot – as per our jet-setter friend.

..and we’re back to Strøget. Illum’s display window was my favorite sight in the shopping street.

Last stop is Tivoli! Here is where we parted ways, she had an early flight back to Dubai the following day while the two of us had to go to work. This photo is taken just past 3 PM – winter season is amazeballs (still, tropical countries are the best!).