Pop Quiz. Do you know where Copenhagen is? No prize, but pride awarded to those that do!
Truthfully, I had to look at a map to figure out where this place was located. I had a vague idea that it was somewhere in Europe, but got it confused with Belgium. For those that don’t know— you’re not alone clearly— it’s located right south of Sweden and north of Germany.
I confess this because I bought a ticket before actually knowing where it was. The trip was over President’s Day weekend and I wanted to be outside of the US. Holiday weekends are insanely busy and expensive, yet in a foreign country, it’s just any other day. When looking at prices it was cheaper to head to this vague European country called Copenhagen than most US destinations. Why not? Direct flight. Done.
For the life of me, I could not persuade Grant to join me. “It’s too far” he exclaimed, yet he decided to do a whirlwind trip to Denver, Nashville, and Las Vegas. The good news was that when I proposed this to Emily she readily agreed recognizing the insanity of the short trip, but also the adventure that awaited.
SAS airlines, a star alliance member, took us from LAX to Copenhagen non-stop in a whopping 10 and a half hours. It was a smooth flight and fairly comfortable in coach. We did upgrade to an exit row, where we placed our bags at our feet to give us a reclining feature.
Two things happened on this flight worthy of mentioning. One, this was the first flight where I was let on without a boarding pass or had my passport checked. When getting on the plane, we just looked at a camera and the door opened. The way of the future! The other is a woman who died. Not literally, but she got sick or something and woke up the entire plane. Her demise was not ideally timed as it was happening during the sleep period, but when is a good time to make whaling dying noises? Haha. She survived and so did we.
Upon landing in Copenhagen, we were greeted by a driver holding up a sign with our name, who whisked us away to our hotel. The hotel gave us a one-way ride for free due to our high tab. An extra perk that was greatly appreciated. Emily and I stayed at the Comwell Copenhagen Portside by Wyndham which was located right next to the Orientkaj station. Our rooms were new, they had a deep bathtub that I used every night, but the area was under construction. It appears that this was the first hotel opened in this developing part of town. It didn’t bother us because it was quiet at night and we were gone in the morning before construction began.
With our hotel being at the end of the M4 Metro/ Subway line, we always knew where we needed to go to get back. This was helpful to me at least because the names of the stations were not English-friendly. Names like Radhuspladsen, København H, and Kongens Nytrov are difficult to remember let alone say out loud. Even if you tried to put an English spin on the words, they are pronounced differently in Danish. Fortunately for us, English is commonly spoken and there was always an English translation wherever we went.
After mapping it out, we went to Kongens Nytrov. This is the main tourist spot and home to the Strøget (a very long pedestrian shopping area) and the famous Nyhavn area. If you ever google Copenhagen, Nyhaven is the first thing that usually comes up, and is a boardwalk of colorful buildings. After snapping a few photos, then a few more, we lucked out and were able to take the final canal tour of the day.
The tour took us through most of Copenhagen’s waterways and we got to see quite a few of the main sites on the tour. This was also the first time we noticed the weather. A heavy coat will do you wonders in the cold, but on the boat, we kept getting splashed. Granted this was 100% our fault as we could have easily gone inside the covered portion of the boat, but what is the fun in that?
On the boat, the driver highlighted that a huge storm was coming and recommended we return to our hotel. We ignored that advice and went souvenir shopping down the Strøget. We both picked up a few tchotchkes and wandered around snapping some photos. They also had churros, which smelled too good to pass up!
Emily did not want to eat in the touristy area and wanted to eat local food. However, we did not pre-plan food. So we played subway roulette and choose a random stop to get off at for food. The first stop was a bust. Second stop, we made work! Let me set the scene a little clearer- we had just gotten off a 10+ hour flight with minimum sleep, we were in hurricane-like winds, and there we were trying to find a restaurant to eat at that was still open and not 500 Danish Krones. After talking to locals who recommended Mexican, we ended up at a little spot called John & Woo. It was a nice bistro and we got a quick bite.
Afterward, we trekked back on foot instead of taking the Subway. The winds were knocking things over left and right and there we were just trying to find out hotel. Eventually, we made it back, went to our rooms, and attempted to acclimate to the time change.
The next morning, more refreshed, but not rested— we began the hop-on hop-off bus tour at Gammel Strand. We got the multi-route pass and planned on taking each one to make sure that we saw everything. First up was the Red Line. This took us to various spots including castles, churches, monuments, etc. It ended at Tivoli Gardens, which is the world’s oldest amusement park. It was closed for the season, but we did get to peek inside a bit and it seemed very kid-oriented.
The Tivoli food court was open and we did get to try the smørrebrød. We tried the potato, meatballs, and roast pork. I can say I tried it. I cannot say that I loved it. It is an open-faced sandwich built on a thin layer of dense sourdough rye bread called rugbrød. It was different, but I didn’t love the “bread” (if you could even call it that), and am not going to be craving this anytime soon.
After the Red Line bus tour, we lined up where the Red and Green lines met waiting to be picked up. And we waited, and waited, and waited. Turns out the Green bus did not run as frequently as we thought and had set times. We finally hopped on the Purple line and took that tour. Upon its conclusion, we stayed on as it magically turned into the Green line. So we got to do all three routes.
Fun facts about Copenhagen that I learned/remember from the tours:
They are an extremely green city.
Their goal is to be carbon neutral.
They have two bikes for every person there.
They charge a 180% tax on any new cars on the road.
They have free green kayaks that can be rented so long as you clean up trash in the harbor.
During the summer, locals swim in the harbor because the water is so clean
Hotels do not give bottled water and tell you just to drink from the tap
Their waste-burning plant was designed to also be a ski slope in winter or a hiking destination in summer
With this being a hop-on, stay-on-the-bus tour, the one stop that I knew we had to double back to see was Freetown Christiania, also known as Christiania. This hippie communion has about 900 residents and 180 children living there. It stands out as this area appears a tad weathered. What is unique about this area is that it has an open cannabis trade that took place there for close to half a century. What looks like an innocent hippie communion turns into a drug paradise when you get to a huge sign that says no photos allowed past this point. Pass that point there are what can best be described as multiple lemonade stands that are all hocking their version of marijuana. You see lines of people waiting, and tables of people smoking, and no one is batting an eye. It is a different vibe than the more rigid, strait-laced Danish we were used to seeing.
When we finished up it was dinner time so we sauntered over to the Torvehallerne. A foodie’s paradise, its twin glass halls house vegetable stands, and food stalls. We stopped and I grabbed some cacio e pepe with homemade pasta, while Emily grabbed some danishes. Right next door was a pizza place called Frankie’s that seemed popular. Learning from our mistake the night before— we saw something edible so we ate there. It was pizza, it was fine, but nothing memorable. The only interesting thing is that Danish people traditionally use forks and knives for everything including pizza. So the pizzas came out uncut.
We took the subway back to the hotel for the evening so we could get a good night's sleep for Sweden the next morning.
The next morning we woke up and went to København H (central station in Copenhagen). There we grabbed a quick Danish. Unlike America’s 7-11s that have rotating hotdogs, in Copenhagen, they have a full-on bakery. See a picture of just one side of the case they had.
Apple Maps had been fairly reliable up until this point. The map wanted us to take a specific train, but as we wandered around we found one that went to Malmö, Sweden sooner. We hopped on that one and we’re off. The distance between Copenhagen and Malmö, the third largest city in Sweden, was only 35 minutes so this was a must-do side trip.
What was extremely nice about taking the train was that we didn’t have to go through immigration in Sweden. When we hit the first stop at the border— Swedish police asked politely for our passport and looked for the Copenhagen immigration stamp. They saw it and let us continue. It was a bummer we didn’t get a stamp on the passport, but I think we much rather miss out on all the headaches required to get said stamp.
Malmö is a solid mix of old and new. The train station was modern, but the streets scream European architecture. I couldn’t tell you what that one thing in Malmö to visit would be, but it’s a nice city. A lot of places were closed and then it being Sunday didn’t help. We did pick up a few souvenirs to serve as a reminder of our journey.
Unlike in Copenhagen, we knew what we wanted to eat in Sweden…Swedish Meatballs or as the menu has it Kalvköttbullar med whiskygräddsas, pressgurka & rärörda lingon. Serveras med potatispuré. Translated to mean Veal meatballs, whisky cream sauce, pickled cucumber, lingonberries, and mashed potatoes. Think home-cooked IKEA meatballs. The food was delicious and I would have made the trip over just for this. As we looked around at the other tables it was the most popular dish on the menu. If you ever randomly find yourself in Malmö, Sweden be sure to stop at Bullen Tva Krogare and you will not be disappointed!
The one thing that I saw that seemed unique to Malmö was the Disgusting Food Museum. Why not go from one extreme to the other? Emily told me I was dumb and passed, but I went through with it anyway. Here I learned about all sorts of disgusting foods from around the world. It was hysterical reading about what they thought was disgusting in the US namely roadkill, pop tarts, and root beer! After the exhibits, you got to try some disgusting food.
First up we’re the bugs— crickets, mealworms, and silkworms. Then came the durian fruit, century egg, and two kinds of Vegemite. The cheese was next and I almost asked for seconds they were so good. There was one that was kind of sad— su callu. This Sardinia cheese is made by feeding a baby sheep its mother’s milk, immediately slaughtering it, removing the stomach with the milk still inside, letting it ferment for some time, and eating the cheesy stomach contents. I can see why people think this is disgusting, but if you didn’t know where it came from— it tasted just like stinky cheese.
Dung beetle, June beetle, hakarl (ammonia cooker shark), and some sort of Swedish fish up next followed by the worst thing I tasted— salted black licorice. Ugh. When I told this to Emily she laughed as she went out of her way to get some at a grocery store. Finally, the last round was hot sauces. There were five in total and after two - I tapped out. With a flight the next day, no point in being in pain for no glory.
Afterward, I hit the last must-see Malmö stops, Malmöhus Castle, which is Scandanavia’s oldest preserved Renaissance-style castle. At this point in the trip, if you have seen one castle you have seen them all. This one was not particularly grandiose and besides the moat surrounding the perimeter, there wasn’t much else to aww over. Emily and I met back up and we made our way back to Copenhagen. We again ignored Apple Maps and found the train we were to be on. by pure luck. The timing could not have been better as we got on the train without delay.
Our final dinner in Copenhagen had to be Danish so we went to a place called Fik Barners Keelder, Classic Danish Cuisine. With that name alone we knew this was a winner. We tried the Shell Patty (puff pastry with Chicken Salad), Emily got the Danish Pork (crispy pork belly) and I got the Miss Barner’s stew. My stew was interesting… pork tenderloin, little weenies, bacon, and mushroom in a paprika sauce over mashed potatoes. Glad I tried it, but don’t think I would do it again!
Grant had texted when we first got to Copenhagen that my cousin Ben and his wife Jacqueline happened to be in Copenhagen this same weekend. Talk about a small world! We texted trying to meet up but had opposite schedules. They were in Malmö when we were in Copenhagen and vice versa. Finally, we were both in the same spot. We met them and their friends as they were finishing dinner. It was great seeing them and glad they are so happy together! Next time I come out to Europe, we will have to coordinate so we can see each other longer!
With everything closed, we grabbed a quick street dessert (waffle) and went back to the hotel. I stayed up entirely too late finishing a show on AppleTv and then eventually fell asleep.
When we checked into our flight the airliner failed to provide us with a boarding pass. Mixed in with a lot of Covid verbiage that seemed scary— we thought we would get to the airport 3 hours early (in case something came up). This is the recommended timeframe, but getting to an airport that early was strange. I tried self-checking in at the kiosks to no avail. We made our way to the counter and they quickly printed and stamped our boarding passes. What was super nice was that they gave us carts to carry our luggage, which saved my back. After two security lines and three passport checks —we were able to make it onto the plane without issue.
At the end of this trip, I feel like I know where Copenhagen is on a map and really where all the landmarks to visit are. Would I do it again? Probably not. I think this is a “one-and-done” type of country, but I did have fun! Now to plan Memorial Day out of the country! Haha.