Norwegian Getaway Review: Part 3 – Copenhagenfeatured

I woke up with an extra pep in my step on our first full day in Copenhagen. It didn’t last long – the jet lag was killer and I’d go from super energized to can’t-keep-my-eyes-open exhausted within a matter of minutes, but I was so excited to get out and start exploring.

Stephanie had put together a Google map of all of the places we wanted to visit and we started our day with the site the furthest out: the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. We hopped on the 34 bus right outside of the hotel, rode it two stops to Copenhagen Central Station and hopped right onto a train out to Humlebaek. Our Copenhagen Card made it super easy, too – we just showed it to the train conductor as he came by to collect tickets.

Humlebaek is located about 40 km outside of Copenhagen, a brisk 40 minute train ride from Copenhagen. By the time we were on the train, I went from full energy to totally sapped. This jet lag was going to take a few days (and an extra few cups of coffee) to kick. Thankfully, there was a coffee shop right outside the train station where we could recharge with a caffeine infusion. The coffee shop we visited was downright adorable, and you know you’re off to a good day when there’s a smiley face in your cappuccino. The Danes might be the happiest people ever and I just wanted to bottle some of their joy and take it home with me.

The museum is a short ten minute walk from the train station and it was the perfect day for a stroll through the quiet neighborhood. The weather was in the low 60s, warm, but not too warm, and the air was fragrant from the wild flowers growing in the parks and front yards we walked past. It was a peaceful start to the day.

We scanned our Copenhagen Cards at the entrance and made our way into the gift shop to figure out our first move. The Louisiana Museum houses more than 3,000 works of modern art, including a pretty awesome light installation that, as our luck would have it, was closed during our visit. I was bummed to miss it, but there was so much art to dive into that we couldn’t fret over it too much.

We spent an hour and a half walking through the exhibits, each one unique and fascinating and stunningly beautiful. The museum wasn’t too crowded in the morning hours, so we had plenty of space to take in each work.

At the end of the museum was a small café serving up Danish delacacies and sweets, and we started our morning with a couple of treats on the outdoor patio, looking out at the sculpture garden and water. The sun was shining down bright and I couldn’t have asked for a better start for the day.

We continued our way through the museum, walking around the outdoor exhibits (which were even more beautiful than the indoor ones!) before landing ourselves back at the gift shop to plot out our next move.

There were so many things to see and do on our list, so we started whittling away by looking at what was closed on Monday’s. We landed on a visit to the Cisterns and, having just missed a bus to the train station, embarked on the short walk back…where we missed the train by exactly one minute.

The public transit system in Denmark is nothing if not reliable, clean and simple. The only things you can really ask for on public transit, really. Chicago offers none of these qualifications, so I appreciated them all the more. Trains were running every 15 minutes at this time of day, so we didn’t have too long to wait. The wait felt even shorter because we were able to hook into the wi-fi of a nearby 7-Eleven (two notes there: 7-Eleven’s are everywhere in Denmark, no lie, and two, high speed wi-fi is also everywhere).

Our ride back to Copenhagen felt much shorter than the ride out, and we immediately headed outside to catch the bus to the Cisterns, a series of underground tunnels and channels that now house pop up art exhibits. Stephanie had assumed the bus would pick up at the bus depot in front of the train station (where most buses stop). It would only be our luck that the bus did not stop there, and we spent a half hour walking around the perimeter of the expansive train station, still unable to find the bus stop.

With so much to do and see left on our list, we made a group decision to change plans and leave the Cisterns for next time, skipping ahead to the next thing on our list: a canal tour. We had 20 minutes until the next bus, so we waited it out by grabbing lunch at Andersen Bakery, a well-known eatery in Copenhagen. I ordered a hot dog (which was definitely different than the hot dogs this born and bred Chicagoan grew up on!) and Stephanie and Mom split two smørresbrøds. Dine on Danish cuisine? Check that off the list.

The canal tour picked up across the street from where the bus left us off near Gammel Strand and a fresh new boat pulled up right as we arrived. We scored some primo seats in the back and waited while the boat slowly filled up before heading off through the canal. The tour took just over an hour, taking us through Copenhagen’s robust canal system and past many of the city sights, like the Old Stock Exchange, Amalienborg Palace, the new opera building, Freetown Christiania and even the Little Mermaid Statue (which is teeny tiny and in the middle of nowhere – a definite skip). We road under grandiose bridges, through old, narrow bridges and sleek, newer bridges and it was the perfect way to acquaint ourselves with the city, especially on a gorgeous spring afternoon.

When we debarked back in Gammel Strand, we decided to pause our plans and walk around, as we had unexpectedly found ourselves near Rådhuspladsen, the City Hall Square. Rådhuspladsen was where all of the shopping and action was. It almost reminded me of Rome and the area near the Spanish Steps, with long streets lined with high end boutiques, big name stores and cafes for days. In fact, it’s one of Europe’s longest pedestrian streets. We stopped for some iced teas and a snack before window shopping our way up the street.

As we walked past what had to be the millionth Joe and the Juice shop (seriously, though, if I didn’t know better I’d think it was the national juice chain of Denmark because it’s everywhere!), we spotted the Rundetaarn, or the Round Tower, which was on our list of things we wanted to see.

The Round Tower was built in the 17th century, built by Christian IV as an astronomy observatory and is still in use as an observatory by amateur astronomy buffs. It was open until 6:00 pm on the day we visited, and we squeaked in at 5:30 pm, scanning our Copenhagen Cards and beginning the walk up to the observation deck.

The walk up isn’t entirely taxing or difficult, but it’s not easy, either, with steep inclines and a final leg up two regular flights of stairs and a tight staircase of thin spiral steps at the end. If you walk along the outer wall, you’ll have a less steep walk up, but you’ll have a longer walk than if you walk along the inner wall, which is much steeper but a quicker path up.

At the top of the tower is an observatory with panoramic views sweeping across the entire city, out to the water. I couldn’t get enough of the warm sun or fresh air and the views in front of me only made it better.

We didn’t stay long – Mom didn’t join us on the walk up because her back hadn’t been feeling great from the long flight – so we took our pictures and made our way back down to her.

Sunset in Copenhagen in the middle of spring falls just after 9:00 pm, so we knew we had three hours of daylight left, but we felt content with the amount of sightseeing we got in for the day and decided to head out for dinner before going back to the hotel. And there was only one place for dinner on our list: Papirøen.

Papirøen is the home of Copenhagen Street Food, located on Paper Island, with a gorgeous view of the city in front of it. The market is a celebration of street foods from all over the world and has every possible cuisine you could think of or want, each served from a stall decked out like a food truck. Booths line each aisle with unique offerings – duck fat fries in one booth, Indian curry in the next, Bibimbap and Jup Chae at an Asian Fusion truck in the back, Danish hot dogs at a stall in the front, even American barbecue makes an appearance. And desserts. Don’t get me started there. I only have three words for you: Crème Brulee Doughnuts.

There’s music and plenty of fun spaces to sit and enjoy your food at, both indoors and out. Lounge chairs line the waterfront outside so you can enjoy your food and a beer al fresco, right on the water, with the most beautiful of scenery in front of you.

Next to the market is one of my favorite exhibits in Copenhagen, the Wish Tree Garden. Started by Yoko Ono in 2016 (and running through the end of 2017), a group of trees sits next to the Market, with paper slips to write your greatest wish on and strings to tie them to the trees. When the trees are full, the wishes are sent to Iceland, to be buried at the base of the Imagine Peace Tower (where, to date, over a million wishes have been buried).

We poured through each tree, looking at the wishes others had brought with them. Some of them were hilarious. Most of them were for love. Others were poetic and thought provoking. We didn’t leave a wish, ourselves. I wish I had, but there’s always a next time. At least, I like to think there is.

The bus that took us to Papirøen would take us back in the general direction of our hotel, but we instead opted to take the long way, a walk across the bridge towards Nyhavn. It was just too beautiful an evening and beautiful evenings call for long walks, especially after heavy meals!

The 66 bus picked us up right in Nyhavn and dropped us off at Copenhagen Central Station, where we had a 20 minute wait for our bus back to the hotel (bus service slows down on many lines after 8:30 pm). We browsed through a grocery shop inside the train station, grabbing water bottles to bring back with us to the hotel. Have I mentioned that everything in Denmark is pretty expensive? A 25% VAT tax is added into the price, and every day pricing on basic items (like water bottles) were at airport-like prices.

We headed back out and waited at the bus stop for a while. The entrance to Tivoli was right in front of us and I was still so intrigued by this park that it kept me long entertained until the bus slid up to the stop.

The bus left us off two stops later, right in front of our hotel. The sun was still out, well past 9:00 pm, which always trips me up when we travel to this part of the world at this time of the year. We poured through pictures from our day back up in our room while we watched more CNN and we planned for the next day.

And I stayed up until 3:00 am, long after everyone had gone to sleep. #jetlagproblems. But if it was good for nothing else, I got to look up anything I could possibly want to see on our last full day in this amazing city.