My Weekend in Copenhagen
Copenhagen was a lovely city but was definitely my first dose of culture shock. Maybe it’s because London has been a relatively easy place to live, maybe it’s because my first trip to Europe visiting Vienna went so smoothly, maybe because I actually tried to use their public transportation, maybe because it was my first (sort of) solo trip. The tourist attractions had English but it was definitely not as English friendly as Google told me. For whatever reason, my trip to Copenhagen left me slightly startled and gave me the resolve to be better prepared for future trips, since I’m working my way up to a fully solo trip coming up soon.
My two friends from my sorority back home, Kelsey and Kirsten, are studying abroad in Copenhagen this semester. I thought I would go check our their new home and meet up with them. We don’t hang out much at school so this was a great opportunity to spend some time together, which I really enjoyed! I also got time to explore the city myself a bit since I stayed at a hostel (Urban House Copenhagen, which was pretty nice for my first hostel experience!). It was a great mix of alone time and hanging out with friends.
I arrived Copenhagen Friday evening and after making my way to my hostel, settling in, and walking around, I met up with Kelsey and Kirsten for dinner after strolling through Strøget for a bit. I don’t remember the name of the place because their service was awful, but at least their drinks were good! I highly recommend “Passion Love” - it’s offered all over the city. One thing I noticed was how clean the streets were, save for some cigarette butts. Kirsten also pointed out that people would leave random glass bottles on the street for the homeless people to collect and cash in for money, which I found really interesting. Afterwards, we went back to Kelsey’s place to hang out for the night.
We all got an early start to Saturday. I ate breakfast in the 7-Eleven by my hostel. 7-Eleven… ? Yes, they are surprisingly nice in Copenhagen, with freshly baked pastries and sandwiches and fruit. I got a huge parfait, a pear, and chocolate croissant for about $10 and sat looking out the window into the city listening to my music! After breakfast, I met up with Kirsten, Kelsey, and her friends, who were going on a hunt for the hidden giants of Copenhagen. They were designed to get the inhabitants of Copenhagen out into the countryside and exploring. I went along for just the first giant, Teddy the Friendly, who is located off in the woods by a lovely pond near the Höje Tasstrup train stop.
After our little hike, I headed back into the city to do some exploring. I got the 48 hours Copenhagen Card upon arriving at the airport (go downstairs to the Arrivals area, Terminal 2 and follow the signs for the Information Desk), which gives you free transportation (train, metro, bus) and free entry to lots of attractions. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting this — it made my weekend so much easier (read on to see how I struggled with transportation once my 48 hours were up) and I was able to hit a lot of tourist attractions to get a bang for my buck. I found I ended up spending a lot less than I did in Vienna for this very reason!
My exploration of the city started with walking up the Round Tower, the oldest functioning observatory in Europe. I then walked around, getting lost in the twisting alley ways until I stumbled upon a square where I got an authentic hot dog/sausage wrapped in either bacon or prosciutto (honestly can’t tell because the menu wasn’t in English and I just said I would have whatever the person in front of me ordered). I sat on a bench eating my little snack listening to a street musician, who had garnered a very large crowd. It was worth sitting there in the cold for 20 minutes!
I then walked until I found water. The Copenhagen Card comes with a free canal cruise so I redeemed my ticket at the ticket booth and hopped on the boat. The hour long cruise showed me all the sights and was a great way to see the city. Below are some of the sights I saw on the cruise! The canal cruise was probably my favorite part of the weekend -- I highly recommend taking one if you visit Copenhagen, especially if you get the Copenhagen Card!
I stayed on the boat an extra stop to get off at Nyhavn, even though I had started the cruise at the stop before (no one noticed!), since I really wanted to walk around the area. The colorful houses stood out as the sun set, lights around the trees twinkling.
I then wandered back to a train stop and went back to my hostel for dinner that I grabbed at a 7-11 (yes, that was my primary food stop this weekend) and to FaceTime some friends back home. People in my hostel room (I opted for a 8 person female room which I think was the move) were already sleeping at 5:30 pm with the lights off, so I decided to eat my food downstairs in the hostel lobby. After dinner, I met up with my friends at Kelsey’s place, where she and her friends were having a movie night.
Sunday was another day of solo exploration. I slept in, showered, and checked out of my hotel by 11 am, then dropped off my luggage with Kelsey since she is located in the heart of the city. I then started walking with no destination, figuring I would visit whatever I discovered. I stumbled upon the King’s Garden, where I found Rosenborg Palace. I had free entry into the palace’s museum and treasury, where Denmark’s Crown Jewels are located, so of course I popped in for an hour. The grounds are decorated with a pond and a cute garden with lots of statues.
I spent the next few hours checking out some museums. I popped into the National Gallery, where I saw pieces from Matisse and Picasso among others, then the Natural History museum (they had a really cool exhibit on fluorescent minerals, which a science geek like me loved), and then headed towards the Botanical Garden, where ducks walked right up to you on the pathway. The Palm House there houses a little greenhouse with tall trees, a pond with fish, and many small plants. I met a girl from LA there, visiting her friend from Denmark. She thought I was Karen from New Orleans, but that’s ok!
The main reason why I just walked around until I saw something cool and went there was because my phone had terrible service. At one point on Sunday, I had wandered far enough out where maps said it would take me 45 minutes to walk back. I didn’t have good enough service to map out a transit route though, so I stopped in a random cafe to order some tea to warm up and use their Wifi to do so! I had to get rid of a 20 Danish Kroner coin but the tea was 25 and I asked if I could use the coin and then pay with card for the other 5 — he said not to worry and took just the coin! Good man. I found directions to get back to the city center via bus so I could go check out Christiansborg Palace, which was one of the other things open past 4!
The palace has the Tarnet tower, which is the tallest in the city. You can go up to the top for free and I had the best views of the whole city from up there! Afterwards, I went down down down and visited the ruins beneath the palace.
