Copenhagen - the bold and beautiful

Scandinavia: That name is so familiar, in part because we grew up with IKEA and the Swedish meat balls. There is also my all time breakfast favourite of Danish pastries or Danish, which the Danish call Austrian bread, which is its true origin. Norwegian salmon,  ABBA, Royal Copenhagen porcelain and the list goes on..

I was really looking forward to Copenhagen especially since I would
be catching up with my childhood buddy, Jalmit who has since 1992 sunk her roots in Denmark and raised her family there.

NOMA, the much touted restaurant, was closed reported Jalmit and so that fell out of my list. Instead we would eat Danish ice cream in the park, hot dog at Tivoli and an (organic ) Smorgasbord lunch in one of Nyhavn's many restaurants. Yes, Jalmit is into organic meats and vegetables.. even though the prices of things and food produce is 2.5 times higher than the OECD average.

After a three hour flight from Kyiv to Copenhagen ( CPH ), I landed in Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup and was taken to hotel Nyhavn 71. What a beautiful sight, this property is located at the end of a row of colorful warehouses turned restaurants along the water. People were just enjoying themselves, eating and making merry while catching the last rays of the summer sun. After completing check-in, I quickly grabbed my cardigan and headed out for a stroll along the harbour waterfront before turning in for the night.                                 

Bright and early, after a delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel that cost a princely 335 Krone ( 45 Euro ), I was ready to discover Copenhagen.

Jalmit came to meet me in the hotel and from there, we walked to Amalienborg, home of the Danish royal family. Four palaces with rococo interiors surround an octagonal courtyard with a statue of King Frederik V (1771). Everyday at 12noon, there is the changing of the Royal Life Guards.

I was tempted to buy a pair of earrings fashioned as miniature replicas of the royal tiara in the  Amalienborg museum souvenir shop,  possibly the cheapest and prettiest item I could buy that cost less than my breakfast ! I ended up posing for a picture next to a Royal Life Guard instead.

The Little Mermaid statue looks forlorn landwards from her tiny rock
perch. She has had her head decapitated and vandalised several times by hooligans. Each time, she is restored to her former glory and continues to attract busloads of tourists, as the icon of Copenhagen.
We stopped for Danish ice cream in a park nearby and watched tourists scramble up the tiny rock to take selfies or simply touch the Little Mermaid as if it was some kind of religious relic.

The most dangerous encounter in Copenhagen are the cyclists, they are all over the place and they do not stop for anyone except when a draw bridge is drawn. That was the remark made by the tour guide on our canal tour by boat. This is a must-do as you get to see the most interesting parts of Copenhagen. The ride last approximately one hour and is highly recommended.

We stopped for a smorgasbord lunch back at the harbour along Nyhavn. We each had three open sandwiches with different toppings. It was delicious and quite filling too. After lunch, we visited Stroget, the world's oldest and largest pedestrian street stretching from the Town Hall Square to Nyhavn. Along the way, we wandered through the smaller streets and stopped at several well-known stores like Illum, Georg Jensen, Royal Copenhagen Porcelain. I didn't know Ecco, Pandora are Danish too.  My impression of Denmark for its sense of  high style, quality and design just leapfrogged.

One last stop for the day was at La Glace, where we enjoyed coffee with cakes, which was very very good. Too sweet for Jalmit, so I had a double portion.

The following day, we started our breakfast at Torvehallerne, a wonderful market with many stands selling anything from gourmet coffee, crusty Danish to fresh fish and meats. Super easy to get to from Norreport Station ( North gate subway stop ), I would gladly revisit this food haven in future.
After a leisurely breakfast, we walked to Tivoli Gardens where Jalmit's husband and two kids were to meet us. We were so blessed with good weather as we enjoyed Europe's oldest amusement park.

On the last day, we visited Christianborg palace which is a palace and government building. Here you find the seat of the Danish parliament, the PM's office and the Supreme Court of Denmark. We climbed up the Rundetaarn, a 17th century observatory tower right in the heart of Copenhagen to get a panoramic view of the city.


The other climbing expedition is the Church of Our Savior, with its helix spire and external winding staircase, which Jalmit pointed out to me, her feet planted firmly on terra firma. We wandered around the Town hall and visited the Hans Christian Anderson statue next to it, before heading back to Nyhavn.

I made a beeline for Magasin du Nord to get some pastries from Bakery Lagkagehuset and boxes of danish cookies to take home. I was seduced by Danish chocolates which tasted very good but out of respect for Belgian chocolates, I thought it was wise to give it a miss. At the back of my mind, I have already the Danish brand of the down duvet I covet and will be ordering them when I get back home.