As winter sets in Ireland and nights drag for longer hours, my ‘Flying Shamrock’ flight leaves Dublin Airport in complete darkness, minutes before witnessing a stunning sunrise over the Irish Sea and the plane makes a sharp turn West towards Scotland and the North Sea.

A glance through the inflight magazine and a tea & scone later, we are preparing to land in foggy Denmark.
Outside of my airplane window, nothing but fog can be seen as the Airbus 320 fights the strong Northerner winds and break through thick clouds , lining up with the runway over a sea of eolic windmills and the island of Kastrup.

Upon disembarking, I walk through several passageways and halls before clearing immigration and queuing for a metro ticket into town.
Riding the Copenhagen metro seems like being on some sort of ‘airtrain’, similar to those in Osaka Kansai or New York JFK airports, with the difference that this one actually takes you through several IKEA-like neighborhoods and into the city center in less than half an hour with perfect Scandinavian efficiency.

I decide to disembark in Christiania and walk around empty streets. In the end, it is a Saturday morning and the city is still sleeping.
Outside the Royal Palace, a few Russian tourists gather and pose around an equestrian statue, under the striking Royal crown-shaped bell tower, whilst I rapidly take a few snaps and carry on walking, guided by an improvised map I managed to find at the airport.

Without even knowing ,I am walking around Nyhavn, a colourful street which, with its tall buildings and nautical theme, has now become one of Copenhagen’s main icons.
For a moment, I travel back in time to previous visits to Stockholm or Amsterdam, and it is just that, apart from the uncanny architectural resemblance, bicycles here are also a must-have and define an important part of the Danish lifestyle.

I somehow feel jealous. Cycling is an excellent way to commute and a mean of transport I have surrendered to my little ‘Edwina’ (my car), since we do not have the weather nor the proper cycle tracks in Dublin yet.

Moments later, a group of tourists take photographs in movement. Almost with perfect timing, I spot the blue Royal Guard marching their way to Amalienborg, which is a complex of palaces and castles built rococo style and where tourists pile up in an extremely organized crowd whilst friendly police men take pictures and, in their almost perfect English, provide instructions on when and how to move in order to take the best photographs of the ancient and daily ceremony of changing guards.

Once this is done, I proceed to the star-shaped Kastelet which, previously working as military barracks, has now been transformed into hip office blocks, painted in a proud Danish-red, also becoming the urban joggers paradise.
Just beside it, the small (and rather disappointing) ‘Little Mermaid’ timidly overlooks across the canal to a bleak and industrial port area.

With lunch time just around the corner, I slow down the pace and walk back into town through wide avenues surrounded by colourful houses, bike shops, coffee houses and bare trees before crossing another canal and find my hostel near the busy Aboulevard.
The landscape has slightly changed, with Halal shops, internet cafes and Iranian sweet stores filling up the street landscape and suggesting an immigrant influence in the area.
The hostel is pricey (as everything in Copenhagen), yet very comfortable, with an ample seating area and most importantly, large bean bags which make for a perfect place to rest the legs before venturing into town for further sightseeing and a bite to eat.

The short Scandinavian days force me to see everything I can while sunlight lasts. Recharged, I head straight into Tivoli, to fantasize and feed my fetish of mechanical fair rides as holiday makers scream their lungs out whilst being thrown back and forth , or up and down in thrilling old-fashioned attractions.

Main sights covered for the day, I walk around the Old Town, rushing through tourists and busy Christmas shoppers before accidentally bumping into a beautifully lit Christmas market and pause for some mulled ‘glogg’ and a schnitzel.

Exhausted, I walk back to the hostel and relax for the evening under a dimmed lamp, earphones on, laptop charged, comfort food eaten and a resting on a large blue bean bag.

In the morning, with only a few hours to spare, I rush into town though the Royal Place and towards Christiania where The Church of our Saviour with its golden tall spiral-shaped tower extend its invite to be climbed.
The initial climb consists in a series of wooden staircases which, with an awful timing, vibrate tremendously as the clock marks 10 o’clock and the heavy church bells ring dramatically for over a minute.

Once the main tower is conquered, an additional set of copper steps (which are the spiral part of the tower) are challenged through the wet and windy weather, whilst vertigo sensations are forced to be controlled. As a reward, a 360 degrees view of  a flat Copenhagen can be appreciated, strongly grabbing onto the wet railings.

My short stay in this country could not be completed without the cliche ‘morning black coffee and a Danish, whilst reading the newspaper and overlooking a canal’ moment, just before finally taking the metro to the modern airport.

I am flying Norwegian Air Shuttle for the first time. I also have on board wifi for the first time!
As we take off, the sight of the Oresund bridge spanning in between Denmark and Sweden slowly disappears in the dense fog before a short movie is played and the ‘Facebooking at 30,000 feet’ begins.

We prepare to land in Helsinki over 90 minutes later. I spot vast farmlands covered in snow before landing heavily. I have now made it to Finland.