It was nearing Christmas time once again, and this year it was Kristi’s family in Estonia who were going to be graced with our presence. As this would be my sixth visit to Estonia I thought it would be nice to go via another country I hadn’t seen, and decided upon the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
We flew into city in the evening of the 19th December. Our hotel was along the old harbour of Nyhavn, so wasn’t too hard to find, but dragging our suitcases through the snow and bitter wind was hard going.
 The next morning there had been a fresh layer of snow and the wind was just as nippy as the previous night. Still, couldn’t complain, it was a white Christmas after all. We walked along the colourful buildings of Nyhavn, and up to Kongens Nytorv, or King’s Square. Because of the Climate Change Conference being hosted in Copenhagen that week, large globes, decorated by prominent and local artists, had been placed all over the city, many of which were around the square.
 We continued on to the Amalienborg and Frederiksstaden (or the royal palace complex), an impressive collection of four palaces set around an octagonal square with a large statue of one of the kings on horseback in the centre. One interesting thing about the Danish monarchs I found was they pretty much only had one of two names, either Frederik or Christian, alternating between the two. I imagine quite confusing at large family gatherings.
 The road leading from the palaces ended at the Marmorkirken, or marble church. One of the largest domes in Europe, copied from St Pauls in Rome, sits atop this magnificent church, and my, is it big. We couldn’t enter due to a Sunday service, but were able to take a look inside when we passed by on our last day.
 We then headed onto our next site, the Rosenborg Slot (castle). We were getting pretty cold by now, with our various extremities rapidly going numb. We made our way through the snow covered royal gardens, and found a café near the castle’s entrance where a much needed hot drink and cake went down nicely. Warmed up sufficiently, we entered the now museum, slightly disappointed that it was still freezing inside, but guess that’s why it was used as the summer residence by the royals.
 With the winter daylight fast ebbing away, we headed through the Latin Quarter. After a bite to eat we followed the Stroget, the main pedestrian shopping street, heading in the direction of the hotel. Along the way we ascended the Rundetarn tower, which instead of steps has a wide ramp leading to the top, and in the evening we found a small Italian restaurant for dinner.
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