My 2022 Global Adventure: Day 17 & 18 (Copenhagen! Pandas! Other Adorable Animals!)

On August 11th, H. and I left Amsterdam and began our trek toward Copenhagen, the final country on our trip. This journey required three trains. We boarded the first train at 7am...

We had layovers in Osnabruck and in Hamburg. There are a lot of shops and food places in the Hamburg station, so H. and I were both able to buy some delicious German food for our last train ride.

We made it to Copenhagen around 5:30pm.

                 

      We then walked about a mile to our hotel, Cabinn Copenhagen. This was my least favorite hotel that we stayed at, for a few reasons:

1. Our room was down a maze of corridors. All the doors in these hallways looked basically the same, even the exit doors. 

2. Our bathroom was really tiny, and the shower had no door or barrier, just a curtain. No matter how hard we tried to keep the water from flooding the bathroom... it flooded the bathroom.

3. Bunk beds. I knew we might get them and I'm totally game for sleeping up high. I just really got tired of going up and down the rickety ladder.

Anyway...

After checking into the hotel, I decided to go find some dinner. Google maps said there was a mall nearby with a couple of fast food places, so I made my way there. 

A few things I saw along the way... 

The mall did have a few food places, including a McDonalds. It also had a grocery store, a candy store, a toy store, and a pharmacy.

After getting some food and some rations at the grocery store, I walked back to the hotel.

I should mention I did a lot of walking in Copenhagen. I mean, we did a lot of walking in all the cities, but I especially did here, because the transit system was kind of confusing -- mostly in terms of how to pay. I went to several websites trying to find answers, and only ended up getting more and more confused. 

After a few days, though, I think I started to get the hang of it. So my advice to anyone visiting Copenhagen in the near future would be:

*If you're riding the Metro, just buy individual tickets. Find a kiosk that sells individual tickets. Be careful, because some kiosks might ONLY sell the reloadable card. Don't get that -- unless you're planning to be in the city for several weeks or something, because it costs quite a bit of money.

*If you're riding the bus, the drivers will take cash and even give you change, but it's better to have exact change or close to it. Visit an ATM, then break the bills into change at a grocery store or something. Having said that, I could never really figure out what the rates/prices were -- they seemed to fluctuate depending on time/location -- so you might have to ask the driver "how much?"

*You know what? Walking can be fun, too!

The next day, I'm pretty sure I slept in. In the early afternoon, I headed for the Copenhagen Zoo!

The Copenhagen Zoo is one of the few zoos in the world that has pandas. I love pandas, so this place was a must-see for me.

I ended up taking the Metro to the station closest the zoo and then walked the rest of the way. I realized, later, that the bus (number 7A) would have been the best route to take, but hey... I got to see some other cool stuff along the way...

Is it just me, or...?

... just a little bit? 

No?

I bought my zoo ticket online (209 DKK, or about $31 USD) and entered the zoo.

Of course I headed straight for the panda exhibit....

When I first arrived, this panda was sleeping in the shadows... cute, but not exciting. So I went to look at some other exhibits.

I circled back to the pandas several times. At some point I realized there were TWO back-to-back Panda exhibits. A sign said that the two pandas live separately but are allowed to mingle a few times a year.

The other panda was awake!

Eventually I came back to the other panda, who had woken up and was eating some bamboo...

I checked out some more exhibits...

The zoo has a sky tower you can go up in, for an extra cost. I did not do this.

Lift the animals? Why would I want to lift the--

Ohhh. <3

I spent about three hours at the zoo. I took a bus back to the Tivoli area. Inside the Tivoli food court I got a delicious salad...

Speaking of Tivoli, that's where we're headed tomorrow!