Copenhagen

The Keep on Trippin’ Tour started its time in Copenhagen by walking 10 minutes in the wrong direction when we got off the train from the airport. Ten minutes schlepping suitcases around construction on narrow, skinny cobblestone paths at 7:00 pm when you’re hot, tired, and confused is the equivalent of a much longer time under different circumstances. Our 15 minute walk to our apartment was now 25 more minutes. I spent the rest of the evening apologizing to Kathy as I got a little ugly during the journey. I still don’t know why we didn’t grab a cab

I’ve tried to have a good attitude about the city since…

I can’t say I’m sorry to leave Copenhagen. It’s a gritty city and clearly, they haven’t gotten the message that smoking is bad for you. Though inside restaurants don’t allow it, the outdoor cafes do. Wherever we walked, cigarette butts littered the route. It was disappointing.

We took a gamble and rented an apartment here. No more. I do hereby pledge to my beloved travel agent that I will use her services to recommend places in the future that don’t include suspiciously stained furniture, thread-bare towels,  and aren’t located in the middle of party central. Every evening, we’d need to open our windows to cool down the place and the windows pulled in the smoke and pulsating beat of the over-crowded social scenes on the streets and at near-by bars. Other than that, it was all good!

There does seem to be a good noise ordinance in place though and every night around 11:30, things quieted down quickly. Except the church bells. They continued every 15 minutes until midnight.

Copenhagen is another highly walkable city, and we like to take in as much as possible walking, peering into courtyards, discovering shops and businesses off the main routes. It gives us a taste of the city beyond the typical tourist sites. We supplemented our sightseeing with a boat tour, a city buses, a regional train, and their metro system to/ from the airport. All good.

We visited the Danish Design Museum and left disappointed. Seems our hopes of seeing a renewed House of Denmark furniture store was misplaced and instead we learned of the Dane’s influence on design though the ages. Yes, you can thank them for crinolines!

I always leave an area interested in learning a bit more about their history. Denmark was part of a huge union that included Norway and the slice of northern Germany my Sievers’ family came from. Now I get why my grandmother told people our family were Danes rather than Germans during World War II.

Mostly, I want to re-read Hamlet after taking the train an hour north to Kronburg Castle, where the story is set.

Copenhagen seemed much less diverse than we’d experienced in Sweden and Norway and a little bit of research this morning told me I was correct. Even in tiny Lærdal, Norway, pop 2100, there are 27 nationalities in their school. Below is the percent of immigrant population for each country plus the US.
Sweden 25%
Norway 17%
US 13.5%
Denmark 8%

So that’s my take on Copenhagen. I consider it a personal victory that I won over the cobblestone streets, and that I discovered smorrebrod, typical open-faced danish sandwiches, one of my favorite food finds on this trip. We’d been spoiled by the easy English in Sweden and Norway on all menus, signs and other posts. Not so much here. Others will enjoy the high-end shopping that fills the downtown, and I was excited to go to THE Royal Copenhagen store. But until I can expand my bank account, I don’t need to expand my suitcase with fine china.

One more stop. Talk you you in a week or so.