We landed in Copenhagen on a sunny Friday afternoon, the kind of sunny glow that comes after a light shower. It would have been about 4 months since we had all been in the same place after Erin had so rudely moved to London earlier this year. To say there was excitement in the air would be an understatement.
As a group of four twenty-somethings from Carlton, we headed to Omar’s Wine Bar to properly catch up. The food was delicious, staff were lovely and the weather wet. It absoutely poured down. At one point, Jo and I (sitting on the outer edge of the umbrella) were jacketed up and leaning in as far as we could to avoid the downpour. We’re all of the school of thought of ordering one of everything–share, and reap the rewards of tasting a little bit of the entire menu.
Erin had taken the weekend off work, and was due to fly out on Sunday which left Saturday as our only full day with her. To that end, the itinerary was flooded with all the-most-Copenhagen-things-possible-to-do-while-in-Copenhagen.
Erin in Nyhavn
H.U.G Bageri for all the best Gluten Free pastries,
Dodging tourists and taking photos in Nyhavn,
Meandering and observing Freetown Christiania,
Experiencing jelly legs and clinging on to the narrowest handholds available as we climbed up and up the Church of Our Saviour,
Clinging on for dear life
POV: knees weak, arms heavy
Lunch at TorvehallerneKBH Market (this particular market would become quite the staple for us over the 6 days. Reminiscent of South Melbourne market, it has a mix of cafes and restaurants serving up delicious food and drink, as well as vendors like fishmongers, butchers and fromageries.)
Dizzying ourselves up the Round Tower,
Doing the quiz at the palace.
Trying to figure out what was what at the fishmonger
Not long after setting up on the palace lawns, the rain set in so we rushed back to the market to buy bits for ‘house dinner’, like we used to back in Melbourne.
Haddock in progress
We slayed dinner
We wrapped the evening the best way possible: Eurovision.
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Farewelling Erin back to Lundun the next morning, the remaining trifecta scurried to HART Bageri for the famous Cardamom bun and coffee. (By the way, during this coffee and pastry session I spent a good portion of time running around a laundrette trying to figure out how on earth to get the machines going, translating every which sign from A4 print outs, marketing materials from the manufacturers and posters explaining how economical it is to use a laundrette.)
HART Bageri numero uno
Breakfast for every one of the 5 days
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Founded in 1958, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is located about half an hour north of Copenhagen by train. Named after a previous landowners apparent marriage to three different women named Louise, the museum has a wide range of work across paint and sculpture, to multi-media and charcoal.
Untitled (Raft at Sea) by Robert Longo
All the work is amazing to look at, but two exhibitions stuck out to me. One is the work of Robert Longo who does these large, photo-realistic charcoal drawings that have a level of detail and realism that is beyond what I though would be possible in a handmade piece of art, let alone through charcoal. The second was a series of videos by Bouchra Khalili where “individuals recount their forced illegal journeys” while drawing it on a map. A birds-eye shot of the map shows their hand as they sketch the kilometres of travel they have undertaken to find work or safety, while off-screen they talk about why they made certain decisions and how they travelled.
The Mapping Journey Project by Bouchra Khalili
It was a particularly sobering exhibition to sit with while we were on our own, very different tour around Europe. We are so unbelievably lucky.
Monday started like every other day in Copenhagen. Coffee and pastries at the bageri. Truly, I ate so much food in Copenhagen I loved every bit of it. For example, lunch that day was at a whole in the wall serving up beautiful, juicy and slightly spicy chicken sanga.
Poulette’s chicken sanga
With our stomachs full of just some of the great produce of Copenhagen and minds full of the designs in the Designmuseum and knowledge from our walking tour, we headed home for dinner.
In the Designmuseum, Copenhagen
Walking tour!
This is where the night took an unexpected turn for scared-of-heights-Adam.
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We arrived at Tivoli Gardens not long before sunset (which in Copenhagen at that time of year is quite late). Wandering around, Hayley and Joëlle were adamant to go on a ride, and in all honesty I knew I needed to tick it off the list. We started on the rollercoaster, nerves buzzing and heartrate rising as we waited in the queue. Before the ride started, we were wondering who would be the biggest screamer. Turns out it was yours truly.
Loving it, promise
As the sun set and night was closing in, Hayley and Joëlle disappeared off to The Star Flyer, one of those tall poles with dangling chairs that lifts everyone up while spinning, meaning the chairs all flair out and fly through the open air. I passed on this one; I knew my limits. When the other two came down (literally and figuratively) there were whisperings of a second go, but an election not to. Then, as we were leaving the worker ran up to us; there were a couple of kids that wanted to go on it, but they needed some adults to balance it all out–would we be interested in helping?
It is a hard argument to deny a free ride.
I’m more proud of this achievement than I am of the haddock.
Spinny spinny I don’t want in-ny
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Bread and cheese–if it ain’t broke
On our last full day in Coppenhagen, we swung by Jægersborgade, a shopping street before hiring bikes to explore the city on two wheels. While Hayley and Joëlle browsed in one of the stores, I was approached by an older woman. She was doing a survey on how people found the area, the facilities etc. After answering in ways I hope make the local council realise it is bizarrely hard to find a water fountain, we sat and chatted about Australia, how she found living in Copenhagen, my onwards travels and how much she enjoyed the atmosphere of Rome. It was a really sweet interaction, and one of those situations I realised I was craving through travel. Meeting strangers.
BIKES BIKES BIKES
Gosh I love bikes. Freedom machines truly.
The company we used allowed you to grab a bike, which you could then lock and reserve for later use. Our major stop was to Islands Brygge Havnebad, a public swimming platform. Despite it being overcast and ever slightly nippy, Jo and I were going in. Copenhagen has a lot of these public swimming spots, which on hot summer days I can imagine being quite busy. Being the aforementioned slightly nippy, overcast day, we had no issue finding a spot for the towels.
It’s higher than you’d expect
It’s also colder than you’d expect
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We wrapped Copehagen the same we started, with Omar’s for a drink that evening and Hart Bageri early the next morning before our flight to Switzerland.
