København

Hopefully, one of those carry-on’s you hauled onto the plane contained wads of Dollars/Euros/Danish Krone, as you’re going to needs lots of it in this city. Meal prices make Dublin look like a bargain, and I consider Dublin meal prices to be high.

We rented an apartment a short bus ride from the airport called Dragør, which is a lovely little town right on the harbor where small yachts were parked by the dozens. We spent much of the trip trying to pronounce the town, and were fortunate that our less than accurate attempts were interpretable by those we asked for directions.

From what I’ve heard, Scandinavian homes make as much use of available space as possible and what would be a 1 bedroom apartment most anywhere else, had three separate sleeping areas, two of which were lofts. One was above the main bedroom and the other above the entry into the eaves. Not sure whether I would make it out of the country with all my limbs unbroken should I have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night I was able to beg off the experience of loft sleeping. From what my friends said, it’s great space for children but not really enough head room for anyone of even modest height. However, the apartment did have a spacious kitchen and a lovely deck. At nearly $200 US/night, it wasn’t cheap, either, but when split by several people, the price was more reasonable and would be a good place if you were going to have a quiet relaxing, leisurely stay where you could enjoy the deck.

We were on the go most of the time and took advantage of the bus and train system to get into Copenhagen and the surrounding areas. Transportation costs are computed by zone and it was 2 zones to get from the airport to the apartment and three zones from the apartment by bus to Copenhagen or 3 zones by train from the airport to the central station. Oddly enough, it appeared to be cheaper to buy a 10-use 2-zone ticket and have it punched twice for a 3-zone ride than to buy a 3-zone ticket (a 10-punch 2-zone ticket was 150 DKK (~$25 US) or 30 DKK (~$5 US) for 2 punches whereas a single 3-zone ticket was 36 DKK or ~$6 US). It’s possible you could get a better deal buying a 10-punch 3-zone ticket, but all the stores in Dragør seemed to be out of 3-zone tickets of any variety. You can also get a day-pass for 130 DKK which is handy if you’re going farther than the airport to the city centre and back.

Copenhagen itself is very European in architecture with lots of lovely old world details that are sadly missing from modern architecture. The pedestrian area, just a short walk from the central train station, is one of the largest, if not the largest in Europe.

Copenhagen City Hall

One of the main streets in the pedestrian area

On the side of a building

Copenhagen Round Tower

Sculpture atop a building

Since one of my friends has relatives in the Copenhagen area and she spent many happy childhood days in Denmark, she knew of some of the best cafés and restaurants to visit. Our first stop was La Glace for their superb hot chocolate which comes with fresh whipped cream and free refills. It’s a really nice blend that isn’t too sweet. As mentioned, things are expensive in Copenhagen and a hot chocolate will set you back 75 DKK (almost $13 US) but it’s worth it, at least once. They also have an amazing array of pastries and confections that are really hard to pass by. It wasn’t until I returned from the journey that I read their pamphlet which explains that La Glace means “the ice cream” in French. They do offer what sounds like some lovely ice creams and sherbets but we were too busy sampling the cookies, tortes, and cakes and completely missed the ice creams – something for a future visit.

Two of the restaurants we visited in the City Centre had really good food – Café Europa and across the way, Café Norden. The prices appeared to be average for Copenhagen – a typical lunch option ranging from 150-200 DKK (~$25-$35), not including beverage. Speaking of beverages, at the local grocery store you can get a bottle of water for 3.50 DKK + 1.50 DKK bottle fee; however, purchase a bottle of water at a 7-11 convenience store (yes, they have lots of 7-11’s) or at a restaurant and it will set you back in the neighborhood of 20-25 DKK (nearly $5). It was a similar price for a bottle of Pepsi at a convenience store.

They do have a hop-on-hop-off bus tour as well as canal tours, but we didn’t get to either, which was a bit of a shame as there is so much to see. We were going to do the canal tour but the day we chose happened to be the coldest, windiest day we were there, and ended up missing out on that experience.

There are some lovely churches in the center of the city, and we happened to wander in to Trinitatis Kirke which is just next to the round tower, as they were having a free classical concert. A soprano, contratenor and tenor were accompanied by musicians playing violin, cello, organ, and double bass. They performed pieces from Bach, Mozart, Monteverdi and others. It was a really nice interlude in beautiful surroundings. Notice boards outside other churches indicated that these types of free concerts are frequent.

Church of the Holy Ghost

Church of the Holy Ghost organ

Marble organ – Trinitatis Kirke, Copenhagen

Traditional Organ – Trinitatis Kirke

Medallion in the ceiling at Trinitatis Kirke

Trinitatis Kirke – Clock just hanging on one of the supporting columns

Old fashioned buggies seemed to be the primary mode of transportation for children – I saw few of the modern strollers and other types of push chairs. Bicycling is a popular mode of transport for adults with hundreds of bikes showing up in clusters around the city. Interestingly enough, unless they have some new-fangled locking devices, I saw few bikes locked up. A refreshingly trusting society, it seems.

Buggies far outnumber strollers

Mind your pet

It’s hard to go anywhere in the world without finding an Irish pub – this is one of two I spotted.

Interesting art on one of the trains

Except for the last full day, we were blessed with unseasonably warm weather which made our trip more enjoyable as we were able to see and do more than we would have in inclement weather. Next stop – castle hunting!

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