Copenhagen

We were looking to go somewhere properly wintry for Christmas Markets this year, and got great flights to Copenhagen in Denmark (surprisingly less than 2 hours flying time away). The market there is in the Tivoli Gardens, the one of the world's oldest amusement parks and apparently part of the inspiration for Disneyland.

Santa's little helpers playing in the snow

By the 'Oriental' lake - there was also an 'Arabian' section, a pirate ship as well as more traditional Northern European alehouses and restaurants

We started Saturday with lunch, wandering around the markets in Tivoli, before heading out to the city streets. Denmark is famous for its sense of design, and we had a great time wandering through the shops along the pedestrianised city centre (which I could neither pronounce nor spell the names of). With the Climate Conference starting in a week's time, the city was gearing up for it, with many demonstrations and displays (the lights on the Christmas tree in the city centre were people-powered, while Greenpeace had set up a polar bear made of ice in the middle of one of the squares).

Lego and wind turbines - couldn't get any more Copenhagen in one place (and this was at the airport!)

Somebody has to work hard to keep the lights on...

Outside the Greenpeace tent (which looked like it had a gas-fired generator running, but I am sure that it was running on biofuel of some sort...)

Night fell early, and with it the cold – we guarded against it with hot chocolates (the perfect remedy). We had dinner in one of the restaurants that line the Nynhavn – a canal reaching up from the harbour towards the centre of town. The Danish food isn't cheap, but (at least at the restaurant we picked) was really good – if a little 'peasanty'.

One of the department stores lit up for Christmas

We finished our evening by heading back to the Tivoli Gardens, which by now were a wonderland of fairy lights. After a mulled wine and a quick blast on the rollercoaster (we picked the tamest one that someone taller than 4ft was allowed on) it was time to call it a night.

Looking back from the main entrance to Tivoli

More shots from inside Tivoli

We must have been more tired than we thought (or still on UK time) because by the time we left the hotel on Sunday it was after midday. We decided to walk north to The Little Mermaid, and see what we could see on the way. It was a pretty walk, but one of the highlights was the Marble Church, built as a perfect domed circle with incredible acoustics, and amazing decorations inside and out. The mermaid itself wasn't breathtaking, but was worth the walk (especially when the walk was so nice).

One of Outside the marble church

And inside - the acoustics were amazing, since it is a perfect circular dome

With the Little Mermaid statue

Copenhagen was a great city to head to for a city break – the streets are pretty and clean and the focus on quality and design was really refreshing. The weather was better than we'd expected for wintertime in Scandinavia, too – down around freezing overnight, but up as high as 5 during the day – so no snow for us. They way that the weather has been in London, lately, I think we'll see it here instead!