In Reykjavik, we deplaned outside. Last time I deplaned in Iceland on my way to Norway, it was February, and the weather was very different.
Windmills in Oresund - Denmark, you are so efficient! (left) | Danish flag on Radhuspladsen - city hall. (right)
After a blessedly uneventful flight, we arrived in Copenhagen, a little groggy, but excited for our adventure to begin! Having purchased the Copenhagen Card in advance, we now activated them, which gave us 72 hours of all-inclusive train and bus travel, access to every museum and castle we could think of, and even a boat tour! So perhaps we shouldn’t have been too surprised that once we retrieved our bags, it was an easy commute by train then bus to the front door of the flat we'd call home for the next few days. We’d arrived! And wow were there so many bicycles. And the buses and trains all worked together so well. Except a minor hiccup getting into our flat: they had changed the keys to enter the building, and hadn't alerted our flat owner! After short text exchange, they suggested we ring random apartments until we were let in to the building. We were skeptical, but it worked! Danes were incredibly nice and patient with us. It all felt so… easy. Why haven’t we travelled to Europe before? This was a question I would ponder silently to myself throughout the trip, mostly when inhaling pastries and really good strawberries.
So Cozy! So Danish! So Hygge! (photo: Airbnb)
The apartment was beautiful, and very Danish - lots of cozy places to sit, natural wood surfaces, light, candles, decorative plaster ceiling from another century with modern basket-like light fixtures. It was very comfortable. The only weirdness was one we had known to expect: the bathroom. The bathroom was a narrow afterthought between the kitchen and the living room, with the toilet at one end, a tiny sink in the middle, and a linen closet at the front. And most importantly, a handheld showerhead above the sink with the drain in the floor. So when you showered, you had to remember to move the toilet paper or you would have a soggy mess. This kind of bathroom is totally normal in Europe - the adults had both experienced this before - but to the kinder, this was a new kind of surprise. Frankly, she found it a bit terrifying. One benefit - the bathroom was always cleaner post-shower.
The bathroom and the shower (photos: Airbnb)
Just as soon as we put down our bags, we were back out on the street in search of food. We’d eaten some on the plane (burritos from Chipotle - which did not travel well!), but it had been a while, and frankly, we were starving. We decided to seek out sustenance by wandering around the Norrebro neighborhood, where we found ourselves sitting down at a little pizza joint.
Stefanos, you were so good to us
I asked the woman behind the counter which was the best pizza. She recommended the Norrebro’s Favorit, telling me flawless English all of the goodies that were atop the brick oven fired pizza. We ordered two. She was correct: it was delicious. The pizzas were quickly downed, along with some Pepsi Max, which is diet Pepsi not extra Pepsi, and some other interesting sodas (mine involved honeydew). The pizza was so good that one of us (read: Dan) was already plotting our return.
Having been fed, my overly ambitious itinerary left me determined to get us sight-seeing as soon as possible. The first stop was designed to please the youngest member of the entourage: the Stroget, the main shopping pedestrian street in the heart of Copenhagen. With Rick Steves’ Copenhagen guidebook/walking tour in hand, we were ready for shopping and seeing cool stuff. I was gently told by my companions to pull my head out of my books to look at the things I was reading about and to please stop being so embarrassing (to which I responded: “not possible”).
Don’t mess with us - said the dragons of Radhuspladsen
A pleasant afternoon stroll down the Stoget
Stork Fountain; There is an excellent Victorian style bathroom just below this statue. If you know, you know.
The stroll was pleasant in the afternoon light and there was so much to see all around us! For example, @mini.turbodb saw her first person smoking tobacco in a pipe. While the Stroget was very touristy (to be expected) - they even had signs in English telling tourists to stay off a giant plastic duck outside the plastic duck store. We were all having fun settling into our European adventure.
@mini.turbodb went shopping, while Dan went picture snapping. @mini.turbodb learned a lesson in European taxation - “25% extra on everything! That’s outrageous!” Our explanations to her on all that they get for their taxes - healthcare, excellent transportation systems, a social safety net - fell on deaf ears. Sigh.
Cool Building in Copenhagen
After an unsuccessful shopping trip, our walk continued past the Stork Fountain and down the street toward the Christiansborg palace (the parliament building) and the Borsen (the stock exchange). There were statues and cool buildings everywhere.
The roofline in Hojbro Plaza
Bishop Absalon riding high at Slotsholmen - the founder at the birthplace of the city
Christiansborg Palace - @mini.turbodb was very impressed with the concrete balls (which were installed in 2011 after an attack in Norway)
After admiring the concrete balls, and the statues of the militarized bishop who founded the city, we moseyed toward the water along the Havengade promenade where there were trampolines! For anyone! (Bouncing for everyone! So much fun!) We all took turns. We eventually made our way toward the Nyhavn Canal, probably the most iconic image of Copenhagen around.
Like so much of the city, the Nyhaven canal was colorful and historic, and overall, beautiful. We’d return to this area multiple times over the next few days
We worked our way through the evening crowds and headed for the train station, and eventually back to our flat. The hours we’d spent awake were beginning to take their toll on us and we could barely keep our eyes open we were so exhausted.
Our little kitchen was still bathed in daylight even at the end of the day
Our “backyard” - a place of tranquility in the busy city
We had managed to stay awake until 8:30pm local time when we all crashed out - success! We’d eaten, toured, and overall, we’d arrived! Yay! I went to bed with a huge smile on my face, and an eye mask on my eyes as the sun basically never set. Tomorrow would bring even more adventure, and one of the days I was most looking forward to our whole trip!
The Whole Story
Very nice photos, beautiful areas. As a child some of my best friends were a family from Denmark and they were wonderful people. Later in life I knew two young women from Europe. A nurse from Switzerland and a travel agent from Finland, both very smart, beautiful, and spoke a number of languages including perfect English. Something I learned from them is that in their homelands most people spoke multiple languages because in the small countries they were all close to each other so they frequently encountered people of different languages. I'm looking forward to more about your travels there.