October 2016: 5 days in Copenhagen

At last, I visited Copenhagen, a city that has strong ties to my childhood memories.  The name Copenhagen was a source of immense amusement to me and my sister in our childhood.  When my father was in elementary school, a question on his geography test was “Where is Copenhagen?”  His answer, “Jekhane Copen moshai hagen” [translation: a place where Mr. Copen goes to crap.  “Hagen” means to crap in Bengali.]  My dad was full of such funny tales, and they kept my sister and me well-entertained.

My sister was visiting Copenhagen for work, for a week.  Because of our history with Copenhagen, she asked me to come along.  The Copenhagen trip dates coincided with Durga Pujo, my favorite festival.  But I decided to skip the festival as I got to see it every year, but a trip to Copenhagen was once in a lifetime event.  My hubby intended to travel to India, so Copenhagen became a way-stop on his way to India.

Day 1:  Landed mid-day.  The apartment my sister rented via Airbnb apartment near St. Andres Kirke/Norreport station had no elevator, so we had to climb two flights of stairs with our luggage.  The one-bedroom apartment, while small, came well-kitted, and from the quality of the things we could tell the owner possessed good taste.  My husband and I felt so jetlagged that a shower and nap seemed the best option. When we woke up, it was nearly dark.  Shops close early in Copenhagen on Sunday.  Thankfully, we found a Lebanese restaurant in Stroget that was open late, and ate a very satisfying dinner of fresh warm bread, tzatziki, humus, falafel, chicken kebab.  We walked through Stroget, a car-free  pedestrian shopping area between Norreport station and Kongens Nytorv, that had twinkling lights embedded in the cobbled path. It looked as though the stars had descended to the grounds.

Day 2:  Woke up late.  Ate brunch, showered and dressed, and set out on foot.  In October, the weather had turned chilly and windy in Copenhagen.  It is a charming, walkable city.  I had brought only a fleece jacket that failed to protect me against the cold winds.  I borrowed my sister’s quilted jacket as additional layer, and wrapped a scarf around my face to protect against the cold winds.  The very first thing we noticed were people on bicycles.  The bikes appeared to be the "king of the road".  Parking lots for bikes abound.  People fastened baskets to the bikes to haul stuff, and attached covered four wheeled carts to carry children around.  We loved the city with its cobbled sidewalks, colorful rowhouses, tiled roofs, copper sculptures with green patina, the dragon shaped handles of the staircase railings.

We walked on Gothersgade past the Botanical Garden, Rosenborg castle, King’s garden to Nyhaven.  On the way to Nyhaven, I saw some antique shops selling mid-century furniture, and I was so tempted to buy some. But how was I was going to bring them back home?

At Nyhaven we took an hour long canal boat tour, passing under low bridges.  We enjoyed the canal tour.

Then we walked to the Copenhagen street food warehouse at paper Island [it closed in 2017. You can read about it here].  The warehouse was filled with food trucks selling a wide variety of food -Korean, Moroccan, Indian, Thai, French, coffee, pastries, beer, etc.  Beer was cheaper than water.  The food was delicious.  We didn’t expect to find such delicious food in Copenhagen.  Fed and watered, we walked through Christianhaven to see Vor Frelsers Kirke [kirke =church].  Then we walked past the stock exchange, past the Holmens church where a wedding just ended.  I love weddings, so seeing a wedding party is always a treat.  We walked through the shopping district at Kongens Nytorv, past the Marble Church (Frederiks Kirke), and Amalienborg palace.  We walked at least 6 kms.  Our feet were so tired at this point that we took a cab back to our lodging.

A green copper dome tops the beautiful Marble Church with the golden lettering in Danish "Herrens Ord Bliver Evindelig" (the word of the Lord endureth for ever) at the top of the entrance.  We sat in the church for sometime to enjoy the gorgeous paintings on the church walls and the domed ceiling. The organ inside the church was impressive. 

Day 3:  We walked through the Rosenberg castle, the Botanical Gardens, and then to the Danish Design museum.  

In the Botanical Garden shop, I saw a plant called "Ceropegia woodii" colloquially known as "String of hearts" with which I fell in love. I wish I could have brought it back home with me. The botanical garden had an interesting statue.

Knowing my adoration of Scandinavian design and furniture, my husband thought visiting the design museum is a must for us.  If I saw something in the distance that attracted my attention, we walked up to it.  It was not so much the sight but the walk itself that gave us immense pleasure. Walking did not even seem like a chore it does in the US.  There’s so much to see along the way – the colorful doors, the wrought iron shoe scrapers, the little grocery stores in the neighborhoods.  The Danish Design museum was a treat for a mid-century modern lover like me.  We ate lunch at the museum, then walked to the Kastellet and Little Mermaid.  I could not omit Copenhagen’s signature landmark, the Little Mermaid.  And then to the Papriroen street food warehouse to eat an early dinner.  Then we walked back to our lodging.  Another 6 km day!

Day 4:  Woke up to a gloomy, rainy day.  We decided to visit Frederiksborg Palace.  At the food hall, an American tourist we met had recommended this palace.  It requires a train and bus ride from Copenhagen.  At the Norreport train station, no person was available to ask a question, and we didn’t quite know how to buy tickets.  Finally, a passerby explained that we had to use a machine to buy tickets.  Copenhagen is a credit card friendly economy. We paid for all transactions with a credit card.  We bought tickets, and when the train conductor came by, we found that we didn’t purchase the right amount of ticket.  At this point, it was pouring heavily, so we decided to abandon our quest and return.  To take the return train, we had to get to the platform on the other side.  The conductor advised us to walk through the door of another train that was stopped alongside our train. That felt naughty and fun!!

Back at the Noreport station, my husband decided to go back to the apartment. I explored the Stroget shops on this dank and dreary day. I wandered through the plaza, and popped into any shop that took my fancy.  I loved the department store, Ilums Bolighus with its swoonworthy decorations, furniture, dishes.

Day 5:  Checked out of the apartment. My husband left for India, and my sis and I moved to the Tivoli hotel.  Dybbolbro station and Fisketorvet mall were within walking distance. After the apartment, it felt very industrial.  I took the train back to Norreport and wandered over Amagertorv (Amager square), and browsed the furniture, housewares in Ilums Bolighus again, and drooled over them.  My sister’s colleagues recommended the café Lagkagehuset. While the coffee was too strong for me, the Danish was delicious. We went for dinner at Goomi, a Chinese restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious. The owners originate from Singapore, so the food tasted like Indian-Chinese.

Day 6:  Boarded the train from Dybbolbro station to Copenhagen central station. Went to customer service to buy a package deal that included a round trip ticket from Copenhagen to Humlebaek and entry to Louisiana museum. It was long wait to buy the ticket. After the 35 min train ride from Copenhagen to Humlebaek, followed by a 10 minute walk through the town, I reached Louisiana museum. Thank heavens, it did not rain! I saw some nice houses in my walk through the town. The gardens at Louisiana museum were beautiful, so were the sculptures. The museum overlooks the sea, It’s a beautiful old house, extended by a massive compound of halls, hallways and underground passages, all surrounded by a huge, verdant sculpture garden. It was raining outside, so I could not enjoy the garden fully. After spending three hours, I came back to Copenhagen.

Day 7: Departed Copenhagen. The remarkable thing was that we did all financial transactions in Copenhagen including cabs and train with credit card. I loved two Danish designed items -Berendsen non-touch soap dispenser and Gustavberg toilet. Every day items that merge both function and form (aesthetics).