copenhagen

I know, I know – this is always what happens. The blog gets forgotten towards the end of the trip. I really didn’t want this to be the case with somethinkdifferent, but it did – we were having too much fun!

After our time in Copenhagen, we headed to Norway. We visited Oslo and then Tromso to see the Northern Lights. This was one of the most amazing experiences we ever had. I started writing a post about our experience which I never posted – I have included it below:

Right now we are in Melbourne, but I really want to write a post about Norway and getting to see the Northern Lights.

After Copenhagen we took a flight to Oslo where we hung out for a few days. It was beautiful there. We were staying in an AirBNB in Grünerløkka, which was a great area. As Norweigan restaurants are quite expensive ($AU30 for a burger), we made the call pretty early on that our time in Oslo would involve going on some long walks into the city centre and around the local area, browsing shops, drinking coffee and cooking at home. My favourite thing about Oslo was our walk along the Akerselva from the city back to our apartment. It was a beautiful day and a really stunning walk.

From Oslo we flew up to Tromso for a weekend. Again we stayed in an AirBNB, this time sharing a house with a host. The house we stayed in was awesome and it was a great place to escape the cold weather when we had enough of the chill!

On our first day in Tromso we committed to doing a Northern Lights chase tour with Arctic Explorers. This was a last minute decision, but totally worth it. Our tour guide Luca picked us up from our AirBNB promptly at 7pm and we were driven to their warehouse to put on thermal suits for the evening chase. We were briefed on what would happen throughout the evening and asked to make our catering selection. We were given expedition food, which was really quite tasty considering it was rehydrated!

We started driving out to the first view point, which was a fjord about an hour away from Tromso. We had to go this far out because of the cloud cover in Tromso being so thick. Luca explained that he really hoped for clear skies at this spot as the next possible location was Finland (so we all had our passports ready, just in case). We pulled in at about 9pm, dressed in our thermal suits, boots, socks, hats and gloves. We stepped outside and it felt surprisingly cosy, despite it being about 0 degrees celsius. The skies were clear and Luca was happy.

We walked close to the water and lay down a few yoga mats. Those that had cameras set them up and the rest of us walked around, adjusting to our new size. We didn’t have to wait too long for the show to start. A beam of green started emerging, in the same shape as a rainbow. This one appeared for a while, growing stronger and stronger as we watched in awe. Eventually it faded and made way for new lights, this time in different shapes. At this point Luca started getting photos of the lights for us (thank goodness he did!). We were all gawking at this light for some time until our attention was drawn away by another, incredible light across the other side of the sky. This one was stunning. It danced around the sky, changing colour from green to pink and occasionally red. We were transfixed – it was swirling, spinning and spiralling in front of our very eyes. Courtney and I fell to the ground as we watched in astonishment. We were so moved by the lights. We paused for a moment, sharing that were were both so grateful for all the incredible moments we have been lucky to share over the last three months away.

Our tour guide explained to us that the type of lights we got to see that night were very special – something that can never be caught on camera. These lights you simply have to enjoy in the moment and watch. The message was loud and clear – don’t take your phone out, don’t try and take a photo. Just enjoy.

It was during this time that Luca prepared a hot drink for each of us and our expedition food. Surprisingly we were both pretty hungry at this stage after being out in the cold for about two hours. We ate our food around a camp fire and talked about the lights we had just seen.

The lights continued for another hour or so. The time completely flew by and before we knew it, it was 1am. We made the journey back to the car as the last of the lights were saying farewell. We hopped in the car and started driving home, only to spot a huge moose on the road. It was an amazing night with nature.

Most of the guests fell asleep after all the excitement, except for Courtney, Luca and I and arrived back home by 2am.

Seeing the lights was a defining moment for us on our travels as it really made us both feel so content in our decision to go overseas for an extended period of time. It also made us feel really, really tiny and connected to the world.

We then flew to Stockholm, Sweden for a few days and spent the time with a couple of friends that spontaneously flew over from London, where they now live. A train ride through Sweden took us to Malmo, the design capital of Sweden. Our final destination was Zurich, Switzerland where we took the time to rest and recharge before our flight back to Australia.

Lucky for us, the honeymoon wasn’t over when we arrived back in Australia. We flew into Melbourne and spent a couple of weeks there, staying with our family. After a long stint abroad, it was awesome to return to our home country but to be in a different city. It helped us get over the shock of being home. I was lucky enough to celebrate my birthday in Melbourne and a group of our closest friends flew over from Perth to meet us for a weekend. This was also a great way to readjust to being back in Australia.

Finally, we ventured to Tasmania where we explored Hobart, Port Arthur and Launceston, as well as a few beautiful places in between. We visited the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) whilst we were in Tassie which was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed the how the art was presented in the gallery and the innovative way they used technology. I highly recommend spending a day there.

We flew home via Melbourne, and after an epic number of flights and being on the road for so long we were totally ready to be in one place for some time. Funnily enough, our last flight home was cancelled, which meant our honeymoon became an extra day longer than planned. We were put up in a gorgeous hotel for that last night and were given $30 each to spend at the hotel vending machine. So many Snickers bars. It was actually a perfect way to end our adventure.

We have been back in Perth now for a couple of months; it seems so weird that we have nearly been home the same amount of time we were travelling. We have readjusted fairly seamlessly to life back at home. Both of us are working again, although I have transitioned into a new industry which has been really exciting. We have both come home with a sense of gratitude for our adventure abroad last year, as well as a deeper appreciation of the place where we live. Although we will definitely spend more time travelling throughout our lives, we are proud to call Perth our home.

Copenhagen is a super cool place. We spent eight days in this beautiful city. My most favourite things to do in Copenhagen were hanging out in our apartment in Nørrebro, people watching in coffee shops and walking around the local shops.
The thing about Copenhagen is that everything and everyone looks good, all the time. Whether they are taking their dog for a walk, catching up before a University class or cycling to work, everyone is always dressed impeccably. Their homes and their shop fronts are simple, minimalist, but oh-so-stylin’. I bought a pair of new boots in Copenhagen so I didn’t stand out as much as a tourist. At least my feet felt fancy.

Although a lot of our time was spent wandering and hanging out, we did a few tourist-y things as well.

One day we caught the bus to Paper Island to visit Copenhagen Street Food. Copenhagen Street Food is an indoor, permanent food truck hall offering a range of different foods, drinks and desserts from all over the world. Located by the water, they have put a lot of effort into creating a welcoming, fun atmosphere within the warehouse site. There is a fire place in the back corner, a bar in the middle and tunes playing throughout the venue. There is so much food to choose from – ranging from egg burritos and vegi burgers through to Korean meals and freshly squeezed juices. It caters for everyone.

Freetown Christiania is a short walk away from Paper Island. We didn’t know what to expect when we walked into this place. It is a fascinating community, mostly known as a place that celebrates the progressive nature of the Danish. The self-proclaimed ‘autonomous community’ requests no photos to be taken within the 34 hectare area. You can guess why. It has a very hippy, commune like feel and it is like nothing we have ever seen anywhere else in the world. I really recommend exploring Christiania if you are planning a visit to Copenhagen.

On one of the days when we had clearer weather, we visited Hans Christian Anderson’s grave site in Assistens Cemetery. The Cemetery is a beautiful garden which is regularly visited by locals, as it is such a nice green space. For some reason I expected Hans Christian Andersen’s grave to be really grand, and for it to be separated from other graves. It wasn’t. It was a very humbling experience.

Wandering the shops was so inspiring, as they use space so efficiently and lure you into shops with their beautiful window displays. Although we didn’t buy a lot whilst we were in Copenhagen, we left with lots of new ideas on how we want to live and decorate our home. When we return home we plan to update a few furniture pieces to high quality pieces that are not only functional but also well designed.

This blog post would not be complete if I didn’t mention how incredible our AirBNB apartment was. It was owned by a young, hip Danish artist who had renovated the house himself. It was so beautifully styled and used space so efficiently. The highlight was the bathroom. It had a 40cm x 40cm floor space which was the toilet, and right above the toilet was the hand held shower head. Behind the toilet was the bathroom sink. It was a ridiculous but hilarious adventure to have a shower everyday. As much as we thought it would be a hinderance, it actually wasn’t, and it meant that there was more room in the apartment for lounging, cooking and sleeping!

Copenhagen is without a doubt one of the coolest places we have visited and we would love to return again at some stage in our lives.