Denmark, home of Hans Christian Andersen, Danish pastries and Danish design. What a contrast from Turkey. Copenhagen is a beautiful, compact flat city with the most wonderful old (but not ancient) architecture. There is so much colour everywhere, particularly in the buildings. We took a boat trip through some of the many canals, reminiscient of Amsterdam because the Dutch helped build this city. The New Harbour area was absolutely full of locals and tourists on the Sunday afternoon we visited. Just to sit in the sun, eating fine food and drinking lots of beer appeared to be a national pastime in the very short summer.

Copenhagen is full of bicycles - there are said to be two per person and looking at the roads you can believe it. They have their own traffic lanes and traffic lights. The cars give way to them. Miraculous.

Slick Danish design is everywhere - glass, pale timber, colourful plastics and stainless steel and minimalism.

The new Opera House is low, flat and very elegant. It is about as different from Sydney Opera House as you can get even though both are Danish design.

Rosenborg castle, in the middle of the city, is a contrast to the more grand castles of Europe, but gives a real insight into the lives of royalty in Scandinavia in the 17th century. The castle was built by Christian 4 in 1624 and was the home of successive kings until recent times. All the kings in Denmark are either named Christian or Frederick so there is always 50-50 chance of guessing who is ruling at any particular time. The next one is easy however when Prince Frederick (married to our Mary) becomes king.

The Our Saviours Church where Frederick and Mary got married in 2004 is very plain on the outside, unlike European churches, but inside is elegant simplicity in the Danish tradition. The contrast makes the inside all the more appealing. Italian marble statues of the twelve apostles line either side of the interior and are seriously impressive. These were sculpted by the famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen who returned from living in Rome specifically for this commission.

They certainly know how to build bridges in Denmark. Of course they have to, given that the whole country is made up of countless islands. The Great Belt Bridge is over six kilometres long and joins Zealand where Copenhagen is situated to Funan, which is a small stepping stone island to the Jutland Peninsular. This bridge is only slightly shorter than the famous Oresund Bridge which links Copenhagen in Denmark with Malmo in Sweden and was opened only a few years ago.

2005 is the bicentenary of Hans Christian Andersen and the celebrations are going all year. This is particularly so in the town of Odense where he was born. There is the obligatory Hans Christian Andersen Museum which is surprisingly good. It not only chronicals his life achievements but also provides an interesting snapshot of life in the 1800s in Europe. Without a doubt he is one of Denmark's national icons and we just had to have a photo taken with him.