We looooved Copenhagen! Last weekend we braved the cold and some rain and visited the design city, where 36% of the citizens commute to work by bicycle (after loading up on fresh local pastries, of course)!
We stayed at a cool hotel that was newly renovated this year and centrally located, but in the somewhat “red-light” district, so we passed a few “ladies of the night” on our way to/from the hotel. Ha ha. It wasn’t seedy at all though, it’s a nice area (Vesterbro neighborhood) with pretty brick buildings and tons of restaurants and trendy shops. Apparently, they shoot a lot of the Danish version of “The Killing” in this area (a hit show that was copied in the US last year).
We
arrived early Saturday morning and after drying off and warming up with coffee and yummy pastries, we strolled down Stroget, Europe's longest pedestrian street. We found Illum Bolighus, an ultra-cool and artsy department store with
a ton of fun merchandise to peruse, including awesome furniture. We also happened to find some really great
fall boots for Matt here.
As we walked
around, we came across loads of great cafes, from funky and eclectic to
sleek and modern.
The restaurant scene is also really diverse. We could definitely live here and be very
happy! We strolled along the harbor,
through Nyhavn
ooh-ing and aah-ing at all the quaint,
colorful townhouses.
For lunch, we took a long walk to the other end of the island for the Nørrebro Bryghus Microbrewery. Matt went with the traditional smørrebrød (3 delicious open sandwiches with different toppings, like smoked salmon, chicken salad and pâté), while I had a hugely satisfying burger, and we both enjoyed large pints of the local beer.
With full and happy tummies, we continued
our walking tour and visited the statue of the Little Mermaid. Slightly overrated, but a must-see I guess,
as it’s the most-visited attraction in Copenhagen.
Since we didn’t get into Noma (nor were we really expecting to since it’s rated the world’s best restaurant for the third year running, ha), our Saturday night ended in the hip meat-packing district. We checked out a few restaurants and chose Paté Paté, where we were able to snag the last space at the bar. It was cool, with mismatched tables and chairs, lots of candles, eclectic music, big crowd and very friendly staff (I think the waiter had a crush on Matt, wink wink).
St.
Saviour’s church was our first stop on Sunday, which has a funky spire at the
top you can visit. It was a steep climb
up, and some of the stairs were somewhat ladder-like, so it was a bit of a
scramble at times. After the viewing
platform, the stairs turned into an outdoors spiral staircase winding around
the exterior of the spire. I made it
about ¼ of the way up and then chickened out as it was really windy and I
thought I might blow away! I went back
down and Matt went up to the tippy-top to take photos (he said the top just
gets narrower and narrower until it ends, so no top platform or anything). Eek!
Christiania
(“free town”), was just a short walk from the church, so we decided to check it
out. Yep, it’s a total hippie enclave in
the heart of the city where marijuana seems to be the herb of choice. No runners, no photos and no E.U. There's actually a sign with totem poles as you leave saying "now entering the European Union".
We also watched the changing of the guards at the palace (they
wear big, furry hats like the Brits) and basically gave a full-on marching band
concert.
In
the afternoon, we rented bikes from the hotel, which was a great way to see the
city! We visited the Carlsberg brewery
and went on a fabulous, self-guided tour and saw the biggest beer collection
ever (note, their invention regarding the reproduction method of pure
yeast is still used by almost all breweries all over the world). Thank you Saccharomyces Carlsbergensis!
We
also took the bikes to Frederiksberg Park, and walked
around there (no bikes allowed inside). There
seem to be quite a few beautiful parks in the city.
So, we didn’t go in the Tivoli
Gardens, although it looked quite charming. However,
we did ooh and aah at the nightly fireworks display.
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