After my trip to Poland, I still had some free time and was looking for a fun day trip. Helsingborg, Sweden, was a 40-minute train ride and 20-minute ferry ride from Hillerød where I lived with my host family. My first impression was, “Oh, it looks a lot like Denmark.”

The Rådhuset or City Hal is one of the first things you see. Google said it’s one of the hottest tourist destinations.

These stairs at Kärnan beckoned me and I decided to climb my way up.

The entrance to Karnan – the keep of Helsingborg.

The view back down the street to the port.

I took lots of picture breaks because I needed breathers.

The view from the top was magnificent, especially the really nice clouds.

The pattern of the windows gave the buildings great texture.

Half of the city was below the fortress, the other half above.

The door to the tower was boarded up, so I couldn’t explore, but that’s okay. I was hungry.

A selfie in Sweden.

I walked all the way back down to the market square and found fish and chips for lunch. They were excellent. The did not have tartar sauce but remoulade, and it was marvelous.

After lunch, I visited Tropikariet, an indoor zoo (it was back up the hill). It was amazing – you were in there with the animals – there were no cages. The lemurs were jumping over you, and the birds were flying above. I enjoyed it because you were up closer and personal with the animals.

An aquarium was part of the zoo. The sharks were cool to watch and I had unexpected manicure from lots of little helpers – tiny fish that nibbled the dead skin from my hands.

I enjoyed my day trip, but decided that this part of Sweden was a lot like Denmark, but with hills.