Colourful Copenhagen

Colourful Copenhagen

Hej!

It's been a while since I last posted (as usual), but in-between work and doing spells of my uni project I thought I'd give a little update on how I'm finding Copenhagen. I can't believe I've been here 3 months already!

To celebrate, I've put together a list of the most colourful places to see in Copenhagen, which wasn't hard to do. Colourfully-painted streets are everywhere, as many of the cities' buildings are made even prettier with traditional Nordic colours. You never have to go far to spot an amazing place, but these are a few of my favourites...

Nyhavn

A pretty blue Nyhavn building and a 7-11 slushie to match.

One of the biggest tourist attractions in Copenhagen is Nyhavn, the brightly-painted waterfront constructed as early as 1670. I'd definitely recommend a wander down the harbour if you're coming to Copenhagen, as it's full of history, bars and restaurants, and Hans Christian Andersen even lived in two of the buildings. It's also really central, so from here you can easily walk into the middle of the city and go shopping, or go over the bridge into Christiania.






At the moment there's also an art installation along Nyhavn by Ai WeiWei. Installed on the UN's International Refugee Day, Soleil Levant consists of over 3,500 life jackets worn by refugees arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos, and draws attention to the current humanitarian situation throughout the world.

You can also hop on a really interesting boat tour that goes round to visit Andersen's Little Mermaid, which is another must-see, along with the many canals, palaces and listed buildings the tour will show you round.

Palads Teatret

me lookin fly

Stairs image via  Contemporary Art Daily.

Another colourful place to see is Palads Teatret (Palace Theatre), painted in 1988 by Poul Gernes, a Danish artist and graphic designer whose work is super bright and fun.

After having lived in London right before moving here, I'm noticing a lot of differences in lifestyle. Even the thought of cycling to work instead of having to run for the bus and tube makes me feel more relaxed, and the way of life here seems a lot less hectic, which is definitely good for me.

Using a bike to get around is so fun, and there's nothing better on a sunny day than to explore the city by cycling round all the little side streets. (Biking isn't so fun on a night out though, as we're all covered in bruises...)

Overall, Copenhagen is an amazing city and actually rated one of the best places to live in the world (it's not hard to see why)!
I love living here, and that's without even considering the many chilled days we've had lazing in the parks that surround our accommodation, or intern trips to the beach when it gets really warm... Though today it is chucking it down and while the weather is very English in that respect, I'm still missing the Lakes!

Thanks for reading!
Indy xxx

Moving to Copenhagen!

Moving to Copenhagen!

I've just moved to Copenhagen for my next fashion design internship with Anne Sofie Madsen (their stuff is amazing!), with one of my closest friends, Anya.

We flew in on Thursday night and after having a nightmare trying to sort out accommodation, we booked an Airbnb to stay in that morning before we set off to the airport - this is how organised we are...

Travelling just before the weekend was a good idea, as it gives us a couple of days to get used to our surroundings before we start work (a must-do when moving abroad). Here's the lowdown on our first day of exploring our new city.

The amazing architecture of the oldest building in Copenhagen - the Stock Exchange Building, built in 1640. I love the spiral tower, it reminds me of a unicorn's horn! The city is full of beautiful old buildings alongside more contemporary architectural designs, so there's always something inspiring to look up at.

Saying my goodbyes right before I set off to the airport. I'm going to miss my family loads after seeing them for just a few days throughout this whole year, but my internship year is a fab opportunity that allows me to get some much-needed experience in such a fast-paced industry.

Our last-minute Airbnb for the two weeks before our student accommodation is ready is fab, and we couldn't ask for a better place to stay. It's covered in fairy lights and pretty little decorative features, plants and lamps; nobody does interiors better than the Danes.

Colourful, cool street art is everywhere, and we also found some really interesting shots of Earth from space, teamed with little explanations! You wouldn't find this kind of stuff in London...

A colourful little side street found in the centre of the city.

We stumbled upon this cute little pizza restaurant, called Gorm's. The interior was lovely and relaxing, full of candles, foodie books and stripped-back wooden tables. I can tell I'm going to love the whole concept of 'hygge' while I'm here - everything's so chilled and cosy.

We had the 'Denny Special,' an unusual signature pizza by Gorm's, with mozzarella, thin potato slices, rosemary, goats cheese and truffle oil. Potato's not ordinarily something I'd expect on a pizza, but it was thoroughly enjoyed in the restaurant's nice, warm setting, paired with a coffee (and a beer)!

I've also been learning some Danish on my free Duolingo app, and trying to get the hang of it... I'd highly recommend the app, it's easy to use and the activities make languages so quick to learn. Everyone speaks English here, but I feel it's an amazing opportunity to learn a new language in practice.

So that was our first day in Copenhagen - we got a bit of exploring done, while trying not to be ran over by bikes... Bikes are everywhere here, it seems like there's more bikes than people. It's such a good way to get around the city, as each road has a designated bike path that looks a bit like a wider pavement. We can't wait to get our own, it's such an eco-friendly way of getting around and the city is carefully designed with biking in mind.

I'll be posting updates of how settling in and exploring goes, maybe along with some of the updates I promised from my visits around London's exhibitions and shows!

Tak for læsning!
Indy ♡

Benicàssim Festival

Benicàssim Festival

Okay, so I'm aware that my blog is full of travel stuff at the moment, but I've been on a couple of holidays just recently so it's all I've been up to the past month!

I got back from a trip to Spain with my flatmates and a couple of other friends about a week ago. We had gone to the festival in the first week and Barcelona for the second week (more on that in a later post). The festival itself was in Valencia, so after arriving at Barcelona airport we took the three hour bus to the town of Benicàssim. The bus was freezing as the air-con was on way too low - or high? But as soon as we finally arrived we had to trek our suitcases through the heat and what seemed like miles of bumpy dirt paths, so I'd have been grateful for any cool air!

Just a warning that this is going to be a really photo-heavy post, as usual...



Playsuit: Missguided
Shoes: Superga
Bag: Primark
Anklet: from a stall in Benicassim town. I haven't taken it off since I bought it, so it's survived a lot of swimming in the sea and wandering around Spain!

Landing at Barcelona airport - the sunset looked amazing. I always love flying while the sun goes down, the colours are unreal.








Issy's bag: New Look
Stopping off at a service station for a snack and a break while on the way to Benicassim from the airport.

Our faces got progressively glittery as the week went on. We also didn't get Wi-Fi by the tent so I made my own Snapchat filter. So clever.

Right at the beginning of the week, on the bus en route to the beach.

Enjoying watermelon from the fruit stand! Grabbing some fruit and freshly-squeezed orange juice in a morning was so refreshing after waking up in a boiling tent.

Headband: Claire's Accessories - I don't usually shop here, but I'd gone in with a friend once as she looked for something and thought this would actually be really cool for festivals!

The inside of the Toastie Shack was really cute, with bright bunting and metallic signs. It even had a disco ball. Amazing.

Some of the pretty streets we found in the town. There were quite a few colourful buildings too, it's such a nice place! We spent most of our days sunbathing / sleeping on the beach and going in the sea to cool down, then wandering around the town looking for nice places to eat.

Vegetable and smoked cheese bruschetta, with aubergine, courgette, tomato and leek.

Salmon carbonara - this was actually really nice but I ate the tiniest bit as I was so full after my bruschetta starter! I think our stomachs were shocked whenever we tried to eat a full meal, as we lived off baguettes and crisps whenever we weren't by a restaurant.

Playsuit: Missguided (as seen before)
I actually look tanned on here - I somehow ended up being the only one of us that didn't burn! My face doesn't tan well though, so it always looks really pale in comparison to the rest of me when I go away.

Necklaces: New Look

Dress: ASOS
Shoes: Topshop

Bralette: Calvin Klein
Tattoo: from a strange shop in the town

After looking back on this post, I've realised I haven't put photos of the acts themselves - I mainly took videos or all my images were on Snapchat, which weren't saved to my phone. Oops. We saw some amazing people though, some of my favourites were Mac Demarco, Biffy Clyro, The Chemical Brothers, Muse, Hannah Wants, Skepta, The Vaccines, Disclosure and Bloc Party. I did miss a few acts I wanted to see, like Massive Attack, as everything is on until about six in the morning due to there being no acts on in the day. I'd really recommend the festival on the whole though; I just didn't sleep great and I am always tired anyway - I struggle to stay awake past 10PM at the moment. It was lovely being able to camp at a festival without getting caked in wet mud though, as there was obviously very little chance of rain. I'm used to English festivals, where it pours for about a week and everything gets ruined due to basically camping in a swamp. Overall, the festival was a great experience for my first time at Beni - but here are some tips for next time...

Tips

• Make sure to get enough sleep, even if it is on the beach during the day. Just don't fall asleep in the sun!
• Take some old trainers you don't mind getting ruined. My white Supergas were brown by the end of the festival, but I had to wear them while in the arena to avoid my feet getting trampled while in sandals. The dust and stones also get into sandals really easily, so trainers were often more practical.
• Buy a couple of disposable cameras to use while you're there.
• Learn a bit of Spanish before you go. It goes a long way when you're trying to communicate, I know I struggled sometimes.
• Buy the Benicassim bus card at the beginning of the festival. It's only 15 Euros and makes getting on and off the bus so much quicker, you even skip the queues sometimes.
• Take tons of baby wipes and antibacterial stuff - 'Wet Ones' wipes are really handy for keeping hands clean and bacteria-free. You and everything you own will either get covered in dust from the ground, or sand from the beach.
• Be prepared with all the medications and creams you need. I was our camp's go-to pharmacist as I had loads of different creams with me, from antihistamines and calamine lotion for bites to aqueous cream and Elizabeth Arden's 8-hour stuff to use as extra-strong aftersun.
• Drink a lot of water and wear a hat. Being dehydrated and getting ill from sun stroke is absolutely not fun.
• Buy a cooler box and make sure to get ice from the supermarket every day to keep drinks and aftersun cool. Drinking warm Desperados is never fun.
• Take a good portable charger for your phone. I lasted the week without my phone dying once, as I had bought a RavPower charger for about £20 - it charged my phone a full six times! This also stops you going to the charger tent and spending 10 Euros on a charger that will only charge your phone once, if that, before it breaks; this happened to a friend.

Have you ever been to Beni? How did you find it?
Indy ♥

Dalyan

Dalyan

While in Turkey, we went on a day tour to Dalyan, organised by a tour guide friend, to visit the mud baths and see the turtles. The day featured lots of boat rides, some amazing views and an hour of being slathered in herb-infused mud. The bus journey took about three hours each way, but was so worth it.

Dalyan is a town in Mugla, surrounded by the most beautiful mountains and amazing turquoise sea. It's home to the endangered loggerhead turtle, who lay their eggs on the protected beaches.

Mud Baths

The mud baths - there were about five different areas of mud, each mixed with a different type of skin-enriching plant, such as rosemary and rose. Afterwards our skin did actually feel really good! The only downside was that we had to spend about half an hour trying to scrub ourselves off in the showers (and it was literally everywhere).

This makes me laugh because I look like something that just crawled out of Shrek's swamp and Robbie looks really good. There were also a lot of fat, muddy men that actually looked like Shrek himself.

Seeing the Turtles

Lunch was included in the tour, a salad buffet with a choice of chicken or fish. When it comes to choosing between meat or fish, I almost always choose fish!

We also ate some freshly caught and cooked crab while on the boat, and got to hold some of the live ones - they creep me out so much.

(not a real turtle)

I bought this for my little sister, Sailor, from the shop near the buffet place.

Lycian tombs cut out of rock. I had to zoom in a bit for this photo so it looks nowhere near as amazing as the real thing.

(a real turtle)

It was so cool seeing these swimming around and coming to the surface to catch pieces of crab! I've always loved turtles so getting to sea them in their natural habitat was a really good experience.

The Beach

We went to the beach before heading back, to see where the turtles lay their eggs, which are surrounded by metal cages. People also aren't allowed to sunbathe or stay around the area and are told to move further down the beach, in order to protect the eggs.

So there was our day trip to Dalyan! It was a great experience and a fab day, so I'd really recommend it to anyone thinking of going to Turkey. I think it also cost around just £20 in total too, so it's really affordable. We had gone to Pamukkale last year on a tour, which was also amazing, but I actually think I preferred this one more.

Thanks for reading!

Indy ♥