Copenhagen - The Final Snegl

Our flight home wasn't until 5pm, so we had a leisurely morning at the hotel, then made our way over to our favorite bakery for one last Snegl.









Even Tony had to have one last Kanelstang (cinnamon stick).

It was a rainy morning, and we'd ducked inside the bakery just in time to avoid a sudden, believe it or not, Hail Storm!




We enjoyed strolling leisurely through the streets taking in Copenhagen. A fascinating city with a long history and a bright present. It is a College town, and there was a huge fascinating interactive touch screen outside a student housing building to promote it. I'd never seen a promotion like this before at this scale.


We'd hoped to visit the Glyptotek Museum, but unfortunately, we'd not realized it was closed on Mondays. It is the art collection of Carlsberg founder JC Jacobsen and a gift to the city of Copenhagen. It would have been neat to see. Instead, we went to see. . .



The Museum of Danish Design. As a shopper at Ikea, I've been exposed to the Scandinavian design asthetic for a good part of my life. Indeed, it seems that most of England (and the world for that matter) is furnished by Ikea these days. It was fun to see where it comes from. Such designers as Arne Jacobsen revolutionized chair designs, and you see his influence to this day.



We got to see a few Arne Jacobsen's chairs as well as other products he designed. He managed to design everything from buildings to chairs to small appliances.

The museum did hammer home the point that design has impact on our daily lives and that good design can improve our world. An example they showed was a Hospital gown that took into account needs for modesty, dignity, and respect for peoples different religeous beliefs. It was interesting to see how all of these interests have an impact on how the final design can be realized.






Of course they had one of my favorite designs on display. The Bodum Coffee Maker.







From there, we went for lunch at this cute authentic Danish lunch place. It is only open Monday through Friday, and the lady who owns and operates it comes in early to cook all the meats and assemble the smørrebrød sandiches herself.





They look so pretty in the window. We'd seen this place on Friday, and had to wait all weekend to eat here.








They were all very reasonably priced and are served on this Danish Rye Bread that Tony came to love.



We ordered an assortment and had a nice lunch outside the small sandwich shop. It was fun to try a bunch of different sandwiches. We figured that if we didn't like it, it was only a few bites.






With that, it was time to start to the airport. On our way to the station, we passed the stature of Hans Christian Andersen. He almost seemed to be tipping his hat to us as if to say thanks for visitng Copenhagen.




We boarded our train to make the easy journey to the airport. Once there, we were greeted with a pleasant surprise. . .





There was an outlet of my favorite Danish Bakery. They had some beautiful cupcakes with fresh fruit on them. We couldn't help ourselves, and we both had to have one last Danish Pastry for the road. . . or rather air.

Copenhagen - A Day of Gardens

Our last full day was going to be another exciting day of sites and sounds. We had a few sites still to visit - not least among them would be the world famous Tivoli Gardens. But first we had to get our priority straight.






We went to the bakery again to sample yet another Danish Pastry. This time Kanelstang Stykke. Again it was outstanding. I could make a habit of this. Thank goodness I don't live here. . .






From the bakery, we walked to the botanical gardens. This was another community improvement project that was paid for by Carlsberg Brewery. It is a beautiful park complete with a lake.










In the heart of the park is a classic Victorian Era Greenhouse. It was renovated in the 1980's, and looks wonderful. It reminded me a lot of the Bio Dome I visited with my parents outside of Tucson, but on a much, much smaller scale.





It houses a remarkable collection of plants from all different climates. I can only imagine how difficult it is to take care of all of these different plants during the cold Danish winters.



In one section of the greenhouse, some plants were even sited as having come from California. It was warm and dry, and made me feel right at home. I suppose just like the plants the room held. For transplants, I guess we were both doing well in Europe.

The greenhouse even had some flesh eating plants from the Amazon. I'd read about one of these exact plants recently when it ate a bird. The bird had slipped and fallen headfirst into its flower, couldn't crawl out, and died. The plant was slowly digesting the bird, but unfortuately, the bird was starting to rot, and the bacteria that were also eating the bird would ultimately kill the plant too. So in some way, the bird would have its revenge on the plant. Such drama in nature.

From the biological gardens, we walked across town, across a bridge to the neighboring island of Chistianshavn. There we went to the beautiful Vor Frelser Kirche (Our Saviors Church). It's most unique feature is its spiral steeple with an exterior stairway ascending to the top. At one point, this had been the tallest building in town.

It is definitely the most beautiful church we saw while we were in Copenhagen. Interestingly, we didn't see much stained glass in any of the churches here. Only clear. There was a really cute baptismal fount surrounded by frolicking creepy rococo babies.

Dominating the interior was the most amazing pipe organ. It is huge, and artfully constructed to appear to rest on the backs to two elephants. I guessing these are symbols of not only purity and loyalty, but also the royal family. I bet it is amazing to hear it play.

There are some wonderful sculptures of different angels lining the alter in the front of the church. Especially good was the statue of Michael blowing his trumpet. I would love to come to a service here, except, I'm willing to bet it is all in Danish.

Tony and I accended the tower to the top. It is a wood structure, and gets crowed with tourists. Tony got nervous when we emerged to the exterior spiral path leading up to the top, so I had to go on by myself.



It was a bit disconcerting, but I just kept telling myself to go on and enjoy the amazing views of Copenhagen.

There was only one thing to do after expending all that energy climbing that tower - have a coffee and a Danish pastry. This time, we tried a cake - Drommekage fra Brovst (Danish Dream Cake). It is a yellow cake with a caramel coconut topping. Was it ever good! I'm going to be scouring the internet looking for recipes when I get home.

We were only 2 blocks from the famous squatters town, Christiana, so we decided to take a walk on the wild side and go see it. It was a part of a military base until it was closed. After that, squatters moved in, and have stayed there some 10 years now. It is its own town with its own laws, and it is known for its free attitude towards art and hash.



Tony and I walked through as much of it as we could even into the "green area" where photos were not permitted. It reminded me a bit of Venice Beach. It was strange to see hash and marijuana sold so openly.





We walked back toward Copenhagen, and it was a stunningly beautiful and clear day. The view was amazing.

They had all of these painted elephants around town that were going to be auctioned off for a fundraiser. Tony found an elephant he wanted to adopt.











I did too.









That afternoon, we walked over to Tivoli Gardens. One of the oldest and most famous theme parks in the world. It was an inspiration to Walt Disney when he created Disneyland, and you can definitely see it in the park.










It is just across the street form City Hall, which put it only a couple blocks from our hotel. It was very convenient for us to go over there to enjoy an afternoon and evening, and the size of the park makes it very doable in that amount of time.






It was surprisingly not crowded, and as soon as the sun went down, it emptied out leaving us the park to ourselves pretty much.



They have a few rides, but as the space is fairly tight, there aren't that many. The park is definitely aimed at being a family park with a little bit for everyone. If you want a lot of thrill rides, I gather that there is another park a little further outside of town.






Mostly, the park is a place for people to wander around and enjoy on a sunny day. There are tons of places to get ice cream and candy. They have a midway with games. It is a very quaint park, that I imagine is really busy over the summer.

Alcohol is freely served in the park harkening back to its, I suspect, Oktoberfest roots. The park has its own Microbrewery, and after taking a few rides and needing a break, we sat down next to a lake and had a pint.



Here's something you won't see in Disneyland, two people having pints of beer made in the brewery right in the park.

With all of our running around, it was nice to stop and enjoy a beer lakeside. I guess this is what Tivoli Gardens, or any urban garden is really about - stopping to enjoy a moment.

Tivoli is beautiful at night when it all lights up. Tony and I wandered around the quickly emptying park and enjoyed the lights.





One thing I wasn't expecting was the large number of quality dining options. We looked around at the different restaurants represented in the park and saw some that are the same as the restaurants that had been recommended around town.


We went to Madklubben, a restaurant that we'd been wanting to go to, but didn't have time, so we finally got to eat there in Tivoli. They serve traditional Danish food. They describe it as food your grandmother would have made. I had a chicken that was delicious comfort food. I guess it is not uncommon to go to Tivoli on a Friday night to enjoy an evening in the park and have a nice meal.

Our timing was good, because no sooner had we gotten in the restaurant, then the rain came pouring down. We took the rain as a sign that it was time to start to wind down our day.

On our way out of the park, we saw a statue honoring the founder of Tivoli. He had a great idea and it changed the way the world thinks about urban parks. Now time for bed. It's been a busy, busy day.

Copenhagen - The Grand Tour

Rain had been forecast, but we awoke to sunny skies. As we would learn, weather is much more unpredictable here in Copenhagen than in LA or London. After a quick rinse in our tiny shower, we were on our way for day 2. As the weather looked to be good, we planned to do the Boat tour of Copenhagen.



We went down to breakfast, which was a very, very nice buffet spread. We had bacon, sausage, and eggs, but I made sure to save some room for a piece of pastry from Lagkagehuset, a bakery just a few blocks away. It turns out that they were recently voted the best bakery in Copenhagen, and they well deserve it. I could do some serious damage here.








This morning I had the Hazelnut Cinnamon Pastry. It was as amazing as I would have hoped. I definitely have my work cut out for me if I want to try to replicate these monsters.






Tony and I strolled down the quiet morning version of Stroget, which means Shopping Street in Danish, which is very busy later in the day. It is a beautiful area, built mostly in the 1800's it would appear, though occasionally, one will find buildings that are definitely from an earlier era.




We arrived at Nyhavn, which is Danish for New Harbor, and caught the 10:40 boat tour, which was just waiting for us. It was a beautiful warm sunny day (the best we saw while we were there), and it looked to be perfect boating weather as it wasn't windy.



The tour boat sailed out into the larger harbor and took in such wonderful sights as the new Opera House, which is waterside, and actually extends about 5 stories underground, or underwater. That must have been a challenge to build.






We went as far towards Sweden as the statue of the Little Mermaid. All the people on shore taking pictures of her made for quite a spectacle. In fact, she looked a little bored with all the attention.






We sailed past the building housing Noma, which recently had the honor of being named "Best Restaurant in the World". We can't afford to eat here, but I'm sure we will find something equally good.








It was a pleasant way to see the city and spend about 1.5 hours. It is as pretty a city from the water as from the land.







We arrived back at Nyhavn in time for lunch. We wandered around the city looking for one specific Hot Dog Cart that we'd read about called "Dop". They serve Gourmet Organic Hot Dogs.






The special that day was a Goat Hot Dog with Garlic Aioli sauce, Fried Onions and and Pickled Rose Pedals. It really was delicious and at $10 (after conversion), it was certainly the most expensive hot dog I've ever eaten.








But how often do you get the chance to eat a Goat Hot Dog in Copenhagen. . .








That afternoon, the moving Dop cart was located at the base of the Round Tower, which houses the world's oldest observatory. It is a really cool structure, but after the hot dog, we didn't feel like climbing all the stairs to the top.





Not far from the Round Tower is Rosenborg Castle. It was originally the summer palace for King Christian IV, and was situated outside of town. It is now part of a large urban park and is surrounded by the city. Of the castles we've visited, I could learn to live in this one. Charming. . .






It is still located on a manmade island surrounded by a moat. It is a beautiful manor house, and it is said to have been designed by Christian IV himself. It is here that he died.

The Royal Treasury is housed underneath the castle. There are some beautiful things to see in the castle including an ornate gold inlaid Colt flintlock pistol given to Fredrick VII by our own Abraham Lincoln.


We wandered around the lovely gardens enjoying the warm afternoon air. Many of the locals seemed to be doing the same. A beautiful final weekend of summer. I can only imagine that it must get much darker and colder here than it does in London over the winter months.



But for now, the wonderful roses dispel such thoughts. . .






Before we knew it, it was time for our afternoon coffee and pastry. We found the Holm Pastry booth, and grabbed a very nice danish. Sitting on the edge of a large fountain in a beautiful European square, we took in Copenhagen and wondered why there aren't more public spaces like this in the US.



The ones in Europe just feel so natural and organic in their creation and use - a pleasant and inviting way to pause and enjoy an afternoon.










At least I enjoyed it. . .







After a brief break at the hotel, it was time for dinner. We went back the same square that we had enjoyed the pastry earlier to a restaurant that served traditional Frikadeller (Danish Meatballs) and potato salad. We sat at a table enjoying the balmy evening weather.





And of course a Danish Carlsberg Beer.