The prima ballerina that caught his eye refused to pose nude for the scultpure.

Only the head is based on her.

The artist's wife stepped in at the last minute for the remainder of the body.

Despite her well publicised diminutive size we still couldn't help feeling underwhelmed as we stood at the water's edge but the longer we looked at her the more we began to appreciate her form.

Copenhagen isn't quite Venice or Amsterdam but it does have a network of canals and open waterways. Nearest the hotel was a stretch of water called Havnebadet, a wide expanse seperating the main island of Zealand with the smaller Amager Island.

We started at the harbour near Lange bridge and walked north past the wing of the Royal Library known as the "Black Diamond".

The large skewed cubes of black marble and glass stood out like two sore thumbs but were striking nevertheless.

Her face was pained reflecting the story's unhappy twist where she struggles with the dilema of killing the prince for her own rescue or not.

Next up along the waterfront was Knippel bridge an unremarkable drawbridge.

It did have at first glance some very boring lead lined towers on either side but when I caught the reflection of the harbour warehouses in it's porthole window it suddenly acquired a strange industrial beauty.

Julie thought I'd lost my mind when I started taking photographs of it.

Not much has changed since the days when the harbour would be teeming with sailors enjoying their on shore leave.

The Northern sunny side of the street is still filled with many bars bursting with tourists.

We called in at Hans Klodz, (13 Nyhavn) where I enjoyed a glass of warm and sweet and fruity Glühwein.

A few doors down in a restaurant called Cap Horn (21 Nyhavn) we had a very tasty lunch.

Julie tried the traditional smørrebrød dishes and really enjoyed the salmon gravadlax open sandwich and a rare beef salad with horseradish piled on top of buttered rye bread.

I had to make do with a tomato pasta dish. At least they had a choice available for the discerning vegetarian!

Since 1977 Nyhavn has been given the title of a ship & harbour heritage musuem which has served to protect the area. It was without question the prettiest area of the Copenhagen. Hans Christian Andersen thought so and spent most of his life at various addresses in Nyhavn.

I was thrilled to think he looked at the same sunny side of the street dreaming up fairy tales like the Ugly Duckling, and the Little Mermaid.

He was quite the prolific writer with The Snow Queen, The Sandman, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Princess and The Pea all from his imagination.

It was built in the 17th century as part of Copenhagen's defensive wall.

We crossed the frozen moat that surrounded the Kastellet obviously over the bridge not on the thin ice and we entered through the Norway Gate at the Northern end.

It was very peaceful here. There weren't many people around, a few joggers up on the embankment that's all.

At the southern entrance to Kastellet in an area known as Churchill Park there was a statue entitled "Vore Faldne" (Our Fallen) a war memorial in rememberance to Danish Soldiers who died during the second world war.

In nearby Langelinie Park there's an impressive fountain of the Nordic goddess Gefion ploughing furiously.

Danish folklore tells a tale of a Swedish king who promised Gefion all the land she could plough in one night. She cunningly turned her four sons into oxen (as you did in the 9th century) and set about turning over as much earth as possible.

The following day all the land she ploughed was thrown into the sea forming the island of Zealand on which Copenhagen is situated today.

They didn't half have a vivid imagination back in the dark ages!

We quickly realised that walking nearest the centre would be the shortest distance but the corkscrew twist was making the gradient much steeper there.

We took the slower but more gradual outer lane which made for a slightly easy walk.

It was built in the 17th century as an observatory tower for the University and the ramped corridor was designed for horse and cart access to deliver large equipment to the top.

The platform was plenty wide which gave Julie confidence to stay up there for quite some time. She didn't venture much towards the wrought iron barrier for a better view, she said she could see plenty from where she stood.

The sun was now slowly setting, silouhetting the towers of the Rådhus (City Hall) in the distance.

I didn't get a decent photograph, they were on a quick march and my camera was as bleary eyed as I was.

We did later stumble across a stray guard.

He was waiting at the traffic lights all red-faced as if he was late for the changing of the guards.

There was another soldier standing to attention in a toy shop window but he was made entirely from lego blocks!

As a visitor to this city it's popular to hire bicycles. We thought about it for a brief milisecond before realising that we would be safer off the roads and stay on our two feet on the pavements.

It's not like were keen cyclists at home.

Having said that Copenhagen has to be one of the most bicycle-friendly cities around.

All the main routes had seperate bicycle paths, some even with their own traffic signals for their lanes.

Danish pastries are popular the world over so when we came across Reinh van Hauen an artisan bakery on Købmagergade street we just had to pop in and try the real thing.

There was an array of sweet delicacies on offer.

I tried a circular one with custard in middle called a Spandauer. Apparently it's also known rather unappetisingly as a "baker's infected eye".

Here in Denmark they call them wienerbrød and as the name suggests its origin actually lies with bakers who came to Copenhagen from Vienna in the mid 19th century.

One of the city's premier museum is the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek housing the personal art collection of Carl Jacobsen, son of the Carlsberg founder.

He amassed items from Greek and Roman antiquity as well as a large collection of Rodin sculptures. He also gathered together many paintings from French Impressionists such as Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas as well as the post-impressionist Paul Gaugin and Van Gogh.

We always try to visit art galleries and musuem when we visit anywhere but the Glyptothek was shut whenever we walked past. We were either too early or too late.

In the centre of Christianshavn was the Church of our Saviour with its unique corkscrew spire.

The external golden staircase spiralling up the black tower was striking.

The whole thing sounded quite utopian and it was certainly a draw to see the social experiment in action.

The Danish government and the people of Copenhagen have been very tolerant of the commune on their doorstep despite its problems.

We entered through a side entrance by the murial on the side of a house where beneath a tree heaving with pixies and fairies a spiritual guru gnome sat on a rock alongside Puff the Magic Dragon. (or at least that was my interpretation)

After walking past a few arty instalations and a playground made out of recycled materials we turned into Pusher Street. As the name suggests it's main feature was an open air hash market.

There were plenty of "No Photos" signs up which was a little disappointing as it was quite an unique sight. Usually such a camera embargo wouldn't stop me sneaking a quick snapshot but I felt an slight undercurrent that I didn't feel comfortable in taking the risk.

Eyes were following us from some shifty looking characters huddled around empty oil drums keeping warm around the fire. I imagined they would pounce quite hard on anyone daring to take a photograph of them openly trading drugs.

Our walk took us through the embankment and onto the waterfront where there were a couple of properties that anyone would be envious.

That old adage of some (houses) were more equal than others certainly sprung to mind.

It was actually rather nice to have the place to ourselves. Everything was made of ice (of course), except for the outer shell. The bar was made of ice, the chandelier was ice, there was even an ice sculpture of the a rolls royce in the corner.

after about 10 minutes another couple arrived, followed soon by another pair of tourists. We all shuffled around looking like a group of smurfs on ice.

We finished our expensive fruity ice drink, our glasses were nowhere near melting. We left before spending any more money. It had been costly but a wonderful experience nonetheless.

It's location wasn't bang city centre either which was another downer. It was just outside the central district of Indre By in an area known as Vesterbro. It was however within five minutes walk of the Rådhus (City Hall) which would have been perfectly acceptable on a warm summer's day. A sub-zero winter's night and it felt a little too far away from the action.

It does claim to be a stylish hotel and to be fair the foyer did live up to this billing. It was a large open space dressed with drapes of string hanging from the high ceiling creating quite a dramatic effect.

We sat here a number of times before we headed out for the day. It was a very peaceful space.