København
Trip dates: January 21, 2017 - January 23, 2017
After Tromsø, we had a rapid succession of stops as we made our way southwest to Paris. First stop, Copenhagen! Before we arrived, we had a generally positive impression of the city as it seemed like everyone who's visited had loved it. After spending a day there, granted it was just one day and in the wintertime, we aren't quite in love with the city. We didn't dislike Copenhagen, but we also didn't love it. It doesn't seem like there's a whole lot to see or do and it's more of a hang out/sit outside in the summer kind of city, so not quite our cup of tea. We wouldn't mind spending another couple days here in warmer weather if we're passing through to somewhere else, but Copenhagen wouldn't be a place we'd visit again if it were the only destination.
We had originally planned to have closer to 2 days in Copenhagen, but because of our flight delays out of Tromsø, we didn't get in to Copenhagen until the evening. Since we only had one full day to explore, we tried to make the most of it. We went to Christiansborg Palace, which is on it's third reincarnation as a palace. It's mostly used by Parliament these days instead of the Queen's residences. We visited the Royal Reception Rooms, which were very ornate and fancy but not too over the stop or stuffy. We also saw the Royal Kitchen, though it's not used anymore, and the ruins under the palace, which show some of the foundation from the previous palaces and castles built here. I also found another inspiration for my dream library (the original library of my dreams is the one from Beauty and the Beast; at least this one is real)!
After touring Christiansborg Palace, we slowly made our way over to Nyhavn. It was a cloudy and overcast day, and it's winter, so the canal area wasn't very crowded. There were still people sitting outside though, what a bunch of crazies. Even though it's touristy and probably more expensive, we decided to have lunch here and had a proper Danish meal. The food was pretty good overall, although I probably wouldn't want to eat it everyday.
After eating, we made our way over to Langelinie - the quayside promenade with the statue of the little mermaid. We passed by Amalienborg Palace along the way, where the royal family actually resides, but the sun had already set by then so it was hard to see the palaces' facade (it consists of four buildings around a traffic circle).
Funny/sad story - so bicycling is a big thing here and there's a rent-a-bike system throughout the city with powered bikes that we were planning to use to get back home from the quay. We passed by a station as we were walking to the little mermaid so we decided to try it out. But sadly, no bike riding for us. Danish people are way too tall and all of the bikes, even with the seat pushed down to the lowest setting, was too high for me! Since then, I've been looking at rental bikes in other European cities, and none of those look nearly as big! Hmph!
We had another Danish meal for supper (they really know how to cook their salmon well!) and after a good night's sleep, we were off to our next destination!
