Copenhagen

Copenhagen

When my mother introduced our next destination on the trip, she said that it served in many ways as the inspiration for Disneyland. This awoke the Disney Princess loving toddler in me, and I got VERY excited.

DAY ONE

               The way that we got to Copenhagen from Hamburg was, according to everyone online, going to be the most exciting thing you could ever imagine – the trip was to involve taking a train, which would then ride on its tracks onto a ferry, then riding the ferry with the train on it to the other side, then, riding the train off the boat and on to Copenhagen. A train that goes on a ferry over the ocean that then chugs onto tracks into another country. Sounds great, right? Well… here’s what actually happened:

We got on the train in Hamburg… it’s a smaller train than we were used to, which makes sense, since it’s going to go onto a ship’s hold. We took the train for a while, until it did, indeed, ride onto a large ferry, parking in the storage hold of the boat.  We were then asked to get off the train and walk upstairs onto the ship itself, which is full of other passengers making the journey from Germany to Denmark, some from the train and others with cars in the ferry’s hold below. The ferry itself is fine, but not a really special experience, unless you count getting seasick as a special experience!  The train is stuffy, with no air conditioning and the sea is choppy and the big ferry pitches and lurches a lot. Luckily nobody threw up, but it really nauseated me. So, on the one hand, there are great views of Germany and the water and Denmark. On the other hand, you got your seasickness. Take your pick, life isn’t perfect!  

As  the ferry arrived in Denmark, we were asked to go down to the hold below to get back on the little commuter train.  The train headed off the ferry, but unfortunately the tracks on the Denmark side were being rebuilt, so we only took the train five minutes to a bus, which then drove us the rest of the way to the Copenhagen train station. But it was all fine, because we still got to Copenhagen! 

When the bus arrived at the Copenhagen train station, we were greeted by a lot of bicycles. More than I had ever thought possible – it turns out that bicycles are a big part of life in this city!  We were able to walk to our hotel, even though we passed a store that wasn’t really kid friendly (I don’t want to get into details – let’s just say it was some grown up stuff!). 

When we got to the hotel, we wanted to have dinner. We booked it, with a great recommendation from the very helpful people at the front desk, and then headed over to Frk. Barners Kælder. The waiter was super-friendly and helped us choose some local specials, including a plate of herring.  I got the salmon and it was delicious! The meal was very heavy, but also fantastic! My parents tried Aquavit because Rick Steves loves it. It’s a very strong alcohol which is a local speciality. It wasn’t their favorite. I smelled it and it smelled like rubbing alcohol. Gross! 

Eating so much food exhausted us, so we headed to our hotel, right next door, and went to sleep.  

DAY TWO 

               The next morning, we headed off to explore the city. First, we went to view the town hall with our trusty Rick Steves guide book. We took his walking tour, which we always find is a great way to explore a new city. We went on through churches and cathedrals, like Saint Peter’s Church and Københavns Domkirke. The churches were very large, yet had a crazy attention to detail that even I didn’t think was possible! Then, we walked along the canal and saw Gråbrødretorv, a big square lined with colorful buildings.

One of my favorite spots was Københavns Domkirke, a large church with lots of marble. Marble statues, marble ceilings, marble accents. What surprised me was how vast it was, yet it seemed small from the outside. I really liked how even though it wasn’t ornate, it felt really grand. I also liked Gammeltorv, a large square, because of the big fountain in the middle. The fountain’s sculpture is  of a woman who has water coming out of her breasts right next to her son, who is peeing water! As if the Mannequin Pis, a famous statue of a boy peeing in Brussels, wasn’t enough! What a sight! 

We ate at Le Pave, which was pretty good and had a great view of Gråbrødretorv. The meal that we ate was very yummy and the spot is very scenic. We had  a typical open-faced sandwich in Copenhagen, a smørrebrød. It’s a piece of rye bread with meat, fish, or vegetables on top. It was delicious, even though it was very heavy. You would not believe the amount of butter they managed to slather on my thick piece of bread!

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After our meal, we continued on and walked along Nyhavn and there were rows of colorful houses. Hans Christian Andersen lived in one of them! That really wowed me, because it brought me back to a book that I used to read, a large collection of his fairy tales! I used to really enjoy reading those stories, and seeing where Hans Christian Andersen lived when he wrote them really brought back those memories.

After that, we headed back to the hotel and stopped at a supermarket to grab some cheese, hummus, and olives. We also picked up some drinks from a social hour at our hotel. A perfect dinner to end our night! 

DAY THREE

               The next morning, we started our day by heading to the least well-known statue of Copenhagen: Agnete and the Merman. This mysterious statue is based on an old folktale about a woman, Agnete, who goes for a swim and falls in love with a merman. Agnete is very impulsive and leaves her land-based family behind. She lives happily with the merman for many years and has seven little mer-kids. Agnete is fine, but when she hears the sounds of her old life in the distance, she leaves her mer-family, promising to return. However, once Agnete returns to her old life, she loves it so much that she decides not to go back to the merman. So, the merman is left to be a single father and is forever remembering his runaway love. You can tell how this story, even though the statue wasn’t there at the time, may have influenced Walt Disney or Hans Christian Andersen.  It got me thinking… Ariel has six siblings and her mother is not mentioned a lot in the movies. Just a theory…  

Agnete and the Merman is an underwater statue, so there wasn’t much to see.  In fact, we couldn’t find it at all — we kept going to different corners of the canals where we thought it might be and looking down in the murky waters.  After the trip, I did a bit of research, and it turns out that the underwater statue may have been taken out for restoration. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it might explain why we couldn’t see the statue no matter how hard we looked. There isn’t even a plaque explaining it, but there is a sign saying to watch out if you’re in a boat, which is better than nothing. The water was too murky and reflective for us to see through it. The artist must not have taken pollution into consideration. It seems kind of nonsensical to put a statue where no one knows about it or can see it, but art is art!  

After that, we headed to Rosenborg Castle to catch a tour from Copenhagen Walks. The tour is given by an American who

now lives in Copenhagen. It was a very funny tour and also very informative, which is surprisingly hard to find! The tour guide was dressed like someone in the golden age of Rosenborg Castle, Hans Christian Andersen! In the castle, we got to see fancy china from that time, thrones, and we even peeked in the armory. The bejeweled chairs, dresses, plates, and…well…everything showed just how fancy and royal the castle was. 

When we finished the tour, it was time for lunch, so we headed to Big Apple, a café located right near Rosenborg Castle. It’s a very cozy and relaxed atmosphere. There are jars of flowers covering the tables and hanging on the walls. The sandwiches and juices there were wonderful and a nice break from all the heavy food. I especially loved the avocado, pesto, mozzarella & tomato on toasted rye sandwich. I might be biased, because I’ll eat and love anything with avocado, but I don’t think that I’m alone. The avocado was very ripe, and the rye bread was fresh. 

When we finished eating, we headed to Nyhavn, a pretty canal lined with colorful buildings, and took a boat tour around the canal. The boat tour was nice and informative, but it was super hot and sunny. I was being boiled alive.

When we got off the boat and into the shade (thank god!), we headed into the supermarket to get some dinner as we had the night before. We wanted to get a good meal in before checking in on the crown jewel of Copenhagen, the place we’d been walking by and waiting to visit, the very place that inspired Disneyland… Tivoli Gardens!

So, after our early dinner, we headed to Tivoli, the place that inspired Walt Disney to create the Disneyland amusement park.

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Walking in, we could immediately see how visiting this place so many years ago got Disney thinking about all the things he would create.  There are tons of roller coasters. One roller coaster that I saw turned you upside down. Another ride that I saw (but couldn’t bring myself to ride) was a large swing that took people up, upside down, and all around. Tivoli’s great for thrills, but if you’re looking for fairy tale rides in foreign languages, you’re also in luck! There is one ride that our family rode all together, it featured all the stories that Hans Christian Andersen wrote, turned into a small, temperate ride. We also rode bumper cars and got multiple brain injuries (just kidding!). It’s amazing to think that Walt Disney came there many years prior, drawing inspiration from this early amusement park, the city’s ornate castle, Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, and the wonderful setting of Copenhagen.

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Dora