Accommodation - Air BnB. Perfect location and although small the apartment proved to be the most pleasant so far. Having a Nespresso was a big plus for us and even inspired us to take a trip to the closest Nespresso store (10-minute walk). The bathroom was fine and the shower system worked great; providing shower body wash and shampoo was a nice touch. The bed was incredibly comfortable and even though the building fronted a busy side-street, we were set way back beyond an interior courtyard so even with windows open it was still very peaceful.
Food. When eating out we tend to focus on fresh foods for supper so we often gravitate to Asian venues, particularly Vietnamese.
Transportation. Metro fast, modern, virtually all escalators. Note that Uber was not available in Denmark.
Attractions. Harbor cruise, Tivoli Amusement Park, daytrip to Roskilde to see the Viking Museum and the burial sites of the Danish monarchy, Museum of Danish Resistance, The National Gallery.
Currency and money. Nearly all transactions were be done with credit cards although Amex is rarely accepted.
Since we want to see as much of the city as possible using public transport we opted for one of the city passes. Specifically, we went with a 48-hour Copenhagen Card which gets us free transportation on trains, busses and metro for all zones as well as entry to the major attractions we hope to see.
Oh, and a neat thing about this card is you do it all digitally right on your phone. Once activated you don't even need to connect to wifi, and the interface is very user-friendly as well. So, as we go about exploring the city over the next three days we'll be using the card pretty much non-stop.
strolling near our apartment
one of the many canals in the city
We made our way on foot to our first objective, the National Gallery of Art. Our route took us through the King's Gardens and people were out everywhere taking in the sun and putting the pandemic behind them, at least for the moment. (It should be noted that Denmark has removed all Covid restrictions.)
Directly opposite one corner of the gardens was the art museum, an imposing structure but looks can be deceiving, particularly in Copenhagen.
the fountain in front of the museum is open to the public, literally
The museum is noted for its collection of Danish and Nordic artists and that was our focus this morning:
"In a Roman osteria" 1866 by Carl Bloch
"An Egyptian jar-seller at Gizeh" 1876-1878 by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann
Scarlett Johansson's ancestor?
"The author Emma Kraft (1844-1925)" 1860-1870? by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann
"Evicted Tenants" 1892 by Erik Henningsen
"Breton girl looking after plants in a hothouse" 1884 by Anna Petersen
"A wounded Danish soldier" 1865 by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann
Leaving the museum we walked across the street (the other side from the King's Gardens) and strolled through the Royal Botanical Gardens. Ostensibly part of the Museum of Natural History located in one corner of the gardens, there is no cost to get in. There were few flowers (mostly the occasional tulip) but lots of green and lots of folk out soaking up the sun.
With our passes now activated we left the gardens and headed for the metro. The Copenhagen metro is clean, fast, and user-friendly. Virtually no stairs, you get up and down via escalators and/or elevators.
We got off the metro at the Gammel Strand stop across from our next objective: a canal boat tour. After a 20-minute wait for the next boat we were on board and cruising the canals and for a short time in the open water of the harbor.
the royal yacht
the opera house
the "Black Diamond", royal national library
After returning to the dock we walked a few meters to a nearby cafe, sat outside and enjoyed a pint of Kronenbourg 1664.
Making our way back to the apartment we talked about supper and since we had the fixings for a nice salad we decided to eat at home.
Tomorrow Susie is off to her baking class and I'm going to track down some notable burials in the Assistens Cemetery.
We were up at 0600 after a reasonably good night’s rest. Once showered and dressed (in that order) we packed up and went downstairs for breakfast. A little before 0800 we grabbed our bags, checked out and walked across the street to the train station.
We made our way inside and right away saw our Copenhagen train listed on the departure board: platform 11 places D-F. No sooner had we walked down to the platform than a train pulled in. Although it was a bit early we assumed this was our train. Mind you we had moved along the platform to a position where we could no longer see the platform departure board. When the doors opened we got on board but Susie discovered we were in fact on the train to Innsbruck (Austria) - probably best to get off this train.
It wasn’t long before our train arrived and we boarded, found our seats and settled in for the next five hours. It should be noted for you train buffs that from here on, for any remaining legs of our itinerary reservations were required on all train seats. Those had to be arranged for and acquired in paper form separate from our mobile tickets.
The additional cost for each reservation varied widely and it's unclear to me as to who makes the money off this arrangement. Then again, given how many passengers have been in both classes on the trains so far, having reservations isn't such a bad idea.
our train - not pretty but very comfortable and we had great window seats facing one another
masking for much of the trip duration
snack provided on the Danish portion of the trip - this was actually quite tasty
just love the name
While Denmark is pretty flat and the landscape rather bland compared to the dramatic Elbe river valley, still the vastness of the cloud-filled sky reminded us of the wide open sky in Michigan. A sunny day helped too, of course.
As if to make up for the flatness of the land our train then passed over the huge expanse of water known as the Storebaelt:
Note that we only went part of the way above ground. The vehicular traffic traveling on the bridge alongside the train tracks rose up and over a high suspension bridge (rather like the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan) while the train plunged underground into a very long tunnel.
Eventually we reemerged into daylight and continued our way at rather high speed into Copenhagen.
Copenhagen central station
Since we were running about a half hour late we texted our next host, Lars, of the delay. (The wifi on the train worked well this time.) He had given us directions to the apartment from the train station; it was an easy walk he said and so it was.
Upon leaving the station we found ourselves directly across from the world-famous Tivoli Gardens, a stop we hope to make before we leave for Stockholm on Wednesday.
right across from an entrance to Tivoli gardens
Anyway, after a walk of about 15-20 minutes we reached our home for the next four days. Our host Lars was sitting across the street waiting for us (he had given me his description before we left the train). After swapping hellos he gave us a quick rundown of the neighborhood, the nearest ATM and grocery store being our two primary concerns. (Oh, and regarding the ATM and cash he did note that Denmark is trying to move toward a cashless society so that was good news. Still we would take a few hundred kroner out nonetheless.)
The tour of the apartment over, he left us the keys and was off to check in another American couple who had reserved the apartment above us. Susie and I settled in and did some unpacking before going out in search of the ATM and grocery store. We found a bank ATM right around the corner and soon found the Netto grocery store just a block or so down our street.
That evening we strolled around our neighborhood in search of a place for supper and found a nice little Vietnamese place called Salon de Annam just a couple of blocks from home.
After dinner it was a short walk back to the apartment and to bed.
So, our Scandinavian adventure has begun!
Tomorrow we stretch our legs and see more of greater Copenhagen and who knows what else?
