Overnight my cold had taken a turn for the worse so I was glad that although we had to wake early, we were spending the first five hours of our day on a train to Copenhagen. We arrived just after 1pm and immediately got a taste of the Christmas excitement we were in for when we exited the train station in front of Tivoli. Even though it was still daylight (for another couple of hours, the lights and Christmas decorations were already making the world’s oldest amusement park look like Denmark’s other favourite son  Hans Christian Andersen had a hand in things.

We were able to check in when we arrived but despite my cold now being quite invasive, we decided to go out and take a look around. I was still in search of semi -fashionable  headwear. We didn’t find that but we did come across a lego store. It was amazing – not only did they have architecture and Star wars lego we had never seen before, including the new large size Sydney Opera House, there was also, I kid you not – lego pick and mix. You can just go in and buy the extra, odd bits you need. It was amazing.

Shortly after we left the Lego store, we saw our first Danish Christmas market. That’s when it probably happened. Dan stopped to take a photo with his phone and minutes later realised his wallet was missing. He was pretty tired – my cold induced snoring had kept him awake all night. Fortunately we had learned lessons from my disaster episode in Sweden a few years ago travelling solo where all my access to cash of any kind was in my wallet when I lost it. Dan had a travel card, with a spare carried separately and I had still had all my cards. The one thing we didn’t contemplate however is that you need your licence to hire a car. Yep. That was gone too. I know my limits and one of them is driving and automatic (they confuse us manual drivers) on the wrong side of the roads up windy hillsides in the snow. Dan is a much more confident driver than me and I’m sure would have accomplished this task with ease. Alas, we will never know because we have now re-organized our trip so we can do it all by train. No hotel in Austria but I am sure we should be able to find a tour from Munich to see the Disney Castle and go up on the reticulated railway to the peak at Garmische Patinken.

We decided to get over it and try and kill my cold with some Gloog at Tivoli. It was the best way to raise the spirits. They just go so over the top with Christmas at Tivoli that you can’t help but smile no matter what sort of day you have had. There are lit Christmas trees everywhere, tables and chairs shaped like sleigh, hundreds of Christmas Market style stalls, toy soldiers and even a big (Trojan) reindeer. The whole place is lit up like a, well, Christmas tree and most of the rides are open. I didn’t get a chance to go to Tivoli last time – it is closed in February) but I doubt there is a more perfect time to visit than Christmas. We wandered around for a while just drinking in the spectacle. It was only about 6pm but it had already been dark for a few hours so that magical feeling of lights that twinkle like stars was already present. (A Winter’s Tale – Queen – this track somehow appropriately captures the Tivoli Christmas mood without the schmaltz – RIP Freddy)

Eventually our hunger got the better of us – we had passed a yummy smelling pulled pork sandwich stall near the entrance but we thought we might be able to find something we could eat sitting down. There is a dearth of mid range food at Tivoli. There are plenty of rather expensive restaurants selling steaks and the like. Then there is sideshow alley food (done the Danish way which is slightly more interesting than a dagwood dog. When the guy at the entrance explained the Danish map to us he said – over here every hour there is a light show, over there are the rides and the rest is places to eat and drink. He wasn’t kidding. We kept wandering past the Asian places – we have so much good Asian food on our doorstep and in our own country – takeaway Chinese is not really what I’m looking for at a Scandinavian amusement park. We settled on a hotdog place. The grilled smoked hotdogs were a definite step above the footy franks they put in dagwood dogs. They are served in rye rolls with a choice of tomato sauce, mustard, French dressing (mayo) and a sweeter Danish equivalent. I chose the Danish version – I probably would have preferred the hotdog on the bun sans sauce. We also got some chips – with plenty of salt (one of my pet peeves in Australian fast food outlets) and mayo and tomato sauce. The sauce dispensers here are pretty convenient- they are hung upside down with a kind of teet on them and the sauce is dispensed by milking the teet, in much the same manner as you would mile a cow. Dan washed his down with beer in a recycled cup. You pay 5 kroner (about $1) extra for the cup and you collect it when you return the cup to a recycling station. If nothing else, it must cut the rubbish in the park dramatically.

Satisfied with our fairground dinner, we decided to go in search of some Danish Glogg. You could choose that, Swedish Glogg or German Gluhwein. We went for the Danish stuff. It comes with raisins, slivered almonds and quite a kick. After consuming the rather liege glass (slowly as even warmed you could still strongly taste the alcohol) we decided it would be a good time to check out the amusement part of the park. Many of the rides were way too scary for me but if I hadn’t had a cold that felt like I was doing somersaults in a swimming pool, I probably would have given the rollercoaster a go (despite the fact it turns upside down at a few points). Rides are not really Dan’s thing but I did get him to come on the (quite small) ferris wheel. It was a good choice because we were able to see the whole park in all its glory. We missed the light show because when we made it to the lake where it was supposed to happen, there wasn’t another one for about 45 minutes. My cold induced tiredness was not going to stay awake that long so we wandered back to the hotel. It was then that the lurgy really settled in – probably a good tip = Glogg isn’t any better at curing a cold than any other alcoholic beverage. The hot toddy principle may well be a myth that only works on proven alcoholics. We settled in for the night in our twin beds (which are always jammed together like a double bed. The good thing though is that the Europeans seem to have learned that whether you sleep in a double bed or two singles pushed together, you need two donnas. A very civilized approach to a good night’s sleep. (Coma Girl – Joe Strummer – although one of the most simple musically, this is still one of my fave Strummer tracks – lyrically spot on and more pop catchy than many of his tunes.)

Christmas themed activities – 7  War museums and model shops – 1.5