Day 6: Taking on Tivoli (& Sweden)
Visiting one of the oldest amusement parks & taking a trip across the strait
June 21, 2022
Having previously heard (from multiple people) about Sankt Peders Bageri, the oldest bakery in the city - having opened in 1652 - I had decided that I would go there one morning before breakfast. Since Google said the bakery was only a 5-minute bike ride from our hotel and seeing how we had a day trip to Malmö, Sweden planned, I figured it would be a good morning to grab some pastries to-go, making sure to grab a quick breakfast from the hotel a bit earlier around 7 am.
Biking for Sweets
Biking along the streets before rush hour was calming, but I still got admittedly a little turned around since I was still trying to figure out how much data I had on my phone plan and opted for using a screenshot and trying to memorize the street names (I also was still getting acclimated to street names being displayed on the sides of buildings rather than on poles at the intersections). Arriving a bit before 8 am, I found the bakery to be a bright yellow building with pretzel decor adorning the building and sign. Overwhelmed by their available options, I opted for a cinnamon roll before biking back to the hotel, where I met up with the rest of the group.
Sweden Bound
Around 8:30 am, we met in the lobby since we had a chartered bus to take us to Malmö, located about 40 minutes away across the Øresund strait (the Great Belt - the body of water that separates Denmark and Sweden). Taking the Øresund Bridge, half of which is above ground and half of which is an underwater tunnel, we were able to see a large wind farm with dozens of wind turbines located out in the water, which helps provide energy for the city of Malmö.
Arriving in Malmö around 9:30 am, we were dropped off at Scaniaparken, and while we waited for our tour guide/tour to begin, we were able to see some of the public buses, which were partially powered by trash burnt from local high rises and homes, as well as partially explore the park. Once our guide arrived, we walked along the waterfront, observing some of the local housing units, as well as a retirement facility that included an enclosed, heated greenhouse that residents could have access to year-round - even in the frigid Swedish winters. We continued along the waterfront, seeing the Citybadet - a local swimming facility - and an art installation by Sigurður Guðmundsson with smoothed stones along the harbor called “Diamonds are Everywhere”. We also briefly stopped at the Turning Torso, a residential building that also happens to be the tallest building in Scandinavia, which was designed by Santiago Calatrava. With some free time before our next appointment, we also stopped at a large limestone quarry called Limhamns Kalkbrott, one of the largest open-pit mines in Northern Europe, which now serves as a nature reserve for the European green toad.
Around 12 pm, we briefly stopped in downtown Malmö, walking down some pedestrian paths and along the city’s canal where people were sitting along the waterfront relaxing. Since our next meeting wasn’t until 1 pm, we thought it would be best to grab lunch and stopped at Malmö Central Station since there was a wide variety of food options in addition to amazing-looking desserts to be enjoyed during a fika break (more on fika later!).
Arriving in northern Malmö after our lunch stop, our next meeting was near Malmö University at the Trafikverket (the traffic authority), where we learned about VisionZero, a program pioneered in Sweden, that strategizes to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries through the use of infrastructure and road design. Using their mission statements, planners and engineers understand that you cannot prevent all crashes, but you can prevent fatal ones by understanding that humans will make mistakes, and need more user-friendly street designs.
Returning to Copenhagen
Around 3:30 pm, once we were done with our meeting, we were on our way back to Copenhagen and officially done for the day. Once we had returned to our hotel, a few people in our group decided to go to Tivoli Gardens (the amusement park) that evening. Since the park closed at 10 pm, I decided I’d meet up with them a bit later since there were a few things close to the hotel that I wanted to check out first.
Taking a quick walk up the street from our hotel, my first stop was the IKEA planning studio that I had seen on my first day in Copenhagen. Rather than a “traditional” IKEA store, the planning studio was much smaller with a few of the traditional room set-ups (even a courtyard set-up with outdoor furniture!) and areas where you could sit and design your “dream room”. After finishing up walking around the store, I headed back to the hotel to get my bicycle, briefly stopping in one of the local flower shops that were all over the city.
Back on my bicycle, I quickly headed out to northern Copenhagen to see the Alexander Nevsky Church - the only Russian Orthodox church in Copenhagen adorned with gold onion domes and an ornate facade - as well as an area where the cruise ships departed from, although I was more interested in the signs that pointed to different destinations like Oslo, Norway, and Klaipėda, Lithuania. Seeing by then how it was around 7 pm, I decided to head to Tivoli, and along the way, while I passed Amalienborg (the royal palace), I saw one of the flags was raised on one of the palaces, meaning some of the royal family were currently there.
Come With Me To Tivoli
Once I got to Tivoli, I purchased both the entrance and unlimited ride tickets (for a total of about $60 USD, which compared to other amusement parks seemed like a deal). Walking through the ornate gates to the park, I admittedly didn’t know much about Tivoli apart from the fact that it was the third oldest amusement park in the world and served as an inspiration to Walt Disney when he was designing his parks, however, I was quickly amazed by the park and quickly understood why some people only purchased entrance tickets to walk around the grounds.
Passing through the grounds, there were a few stages, where music concerts or festivals could take place, lush gardens, and restaurants throughout the park. After passing by a carousel, a few roller coasters, and a bumper boat pond that offered a great view of City Hall, I met up with my classmates. We first went on “Den Flyvende Kuffert” (The Flying Trunk), which vaguely resembled Disney’s “It’s a Small World” ride, which took you through 32 different scenes, all from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales. Stopping to get something quick to eat, we checked out the various food stalls throughout the park before returning to take on the Ferris wheel, which offered great views over the park and even parts of Copenhagen, The Milky Way Express, an intergalactic roller coaster, and the wooden roller coaster, which is one of the oldest running wooden roller coasters in the world.
By 9:30 pm, most of the rides had begun to shut down and the lights were just coming on (although the sun had barely begun to start setting), so we decided to walk around a bit before stopping by one of the ponds for a brief water and light show before leaving when the park officially closed. Since not much else was open after 10 pm, I stopped at the next-door McDonald’s a little curious to see what it was like in a different country, and was surprised to find that it was a 2-story building with a conveyor belt that would bring the food from the kitchen on the top floor to where you would order it on the ground floor! Sitting on the second floor, I finished my dinner before heading back to the hotel which was just up the road and called it a night.
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