In case you don't know, everyone in Copenhagen rides a bike. I made the decision not to invest in one when coming here simply because it is cold enough and riding a bike when it is so windy and rainy sounds quite miserable if you ask me- i'll just stick to riding the stationary bikes at the gym. I have been thinking more and more about renting one for the last month or two that I am here but until then, I have been strictly using my two legs and the Metro to get around. However, Henry, Allyson, and I all decided that why they were here it would be fun to rent bikes for the day and explore town. Biking made it much easier and quicker to get around to all of the tourist attractions that I wanted to show Allyson and Henry, not to mention biking is such great exercise! Fortunate for us, the day that we decided to head down to Nyhavn and rent the bikes the bike gods were smiling down on us, bringing us a sunny and relatively warm day. I had done some research the day before and found a company that was highly recommended for bike rentals and very inexpensive so we headed there around 10 am and rented the bikes for 6 hours. We figured that would be plenty of time to see all of the attractions that we wanted while also fitting in a nice lunch break.
Our first stop on our new mode of transportation was the Amalienborg Palace. I have been here a few times and have posted about it before but it is just somewhere that everyone who comes to Copenhagen should visit and is quite pretty so I had no problem taking Allyson and Henry back. What was even more exciting was that we timed it just right so that we arrived at noon. This meant that we got to see the main changing of the guards ceremony. While the changing of the guards happens every hour of every day, the big event happens at noon. I had only seen one of the smaller ceremonies so this was even a first-time thing for me.
For the ceremony there is a whole guards playing music and marching around. While it was entertaining watching the actual guards, I personally enjoyed watching the Asian tourists holding up their Ipads and skipping around the square in unison with the guards. Either that or taking pictures of diva Allyson. What is even funnier is that this is her imitating the pose that a 40 year old man had made just minutes before this picture was taken...and he was actually being dead serious. Can't say I blame him though; the scenery is quite lovely.
After we saw our fair share of men marching around in funny hats and playing the drums, we crossed the street to the Marble Church for a quick peek inside to basque in it's beauty.
Another thing about Copenhagen is that the weather is about as bipolar as they come, so while the sun was shining bright at noon, we knew very well that at any minute, it could start to rain and become miserable. To ensure that we were not going to be caught in any sort of downpour, we moved right along to our next attraction: The Little Mermaid Statue.
The water around the statue was lower than I had ever seen it, meaning that you could get very close to the rocks and, if you are Allyson Campion, even get down and embarrass yourself and everyone you are with by trying to recreate the statue.
Like I have mentioned before, the statue is something that so many Danes take pride in but really is nothing special. One does not need to spend more than about 10 minutes at the monument before remounting their rental bike and trekking along to the bigger and better. In our case, that meant heading over the to Rosenborg Castle. The Rosenborg is home to The Crown Jewels of Denmark but unfortunately is closed on Mondays, which just so happened to be the day that we decided to go visit. The Castle is still so beautiful on the outside and situated right in the middle of a lovely little park so it was definitely still worth our time.
Like I have mentioned before, the statue is something that so many Danes take pride in but really is nothing special. One does not need to spend more than about 10 minutes at the monument before remounting their rental bike and trekking along to the bigger and better. In our case, that meant heading over the to Rosenborg Castle. The Rosenborg is home to The Crown Jewels of Denmark but unfortunately is closed on Mondays, which just so happened to be the day that we decided to go visit. The Castle is still so beautiful on the outside and situated right in the middle of a lovely little park so it was definitely still worth our time.
Oh, and did I mention how Copenhagen weather can be bipolar. Yeah, no joke the sky goes from bright blue to dark gray in minutes as seen in the pictures above. We took this as a hint to start heading towards our lunch destination to not only refuel but also to get inside, but not before a walk around the Botanical Gardens. It is a little early to be visiting the Botanical Gardens since the flowers really start blooming in late April and the Green House is also closed until then but they are still worth taking a visit too.
Also, let it be known that bikes are actually not allowed in the Botanical Gardens whoops (not that we would know because every sign is in Danish). So unless you want one of the garden gardeners, who ironically rides a bike around the place, to scorn you in Danish, which of course you listen to about 3 times, before he understands "sorry, english?" and then repeats himself in english, lock your bike up outside and then take the gardens by foot.
As the three of us clueless Americans walked our bikes to the exit of the Botanical Gardens, we unanimously agreed that the best thing to do after being publicly humiliated was to sneak into my favorite cafe for some good food and relaxation. I can't remember if I have posted about Cafe Norden before but I honestly don't really care because I will tell you about it again and grace your eyes with this...
As the three of us clueless Americans walked our bikes to the exit of the Botanical Gardens, we unanimously agreed that the best thing to do after being publicly humiliated was to sneak into my favorite cafe for some good food and relaxation. I can't remember if I have posted about Cafe Norden before but I honestly don't really care because I will tell you about it again and grace your eyes with this...
My friend Helen celebrated her birthday a few weeks ago and graciously invited me to join her and a few others for brunch at Cafe Norden. Once I was presented with this plate of mouth-watering goodies, I was immediately in love and decided that everyone that comes to visit Copenhagen will be going here with me. So naturally, I decided that after all of our biking around, Allyson, Henry and I deserved a good meal and this is the perfect place. Our lunch consisted of various sandwiches, nachos, and a whole lot of eyeing and drooling over the cheesecakes that sit like trophies in the display cases. I am still not sure how we refrained from ordering dessert; probably because our actual meals were big enough to feed a small army (see below).
I also wasn't kidding when I said that our lunch consisted of sandwiches. The above picture is of my Club Sandwich, which in Copenhagen means very small pieces of rye bread piled HIGH with greens, chicken, BACON, and other goodies. In addition to the food, Cafe Norden has some of the cutest dećor including in the bathroom.
After lunch, I decided that our Copenhagen tour would continue in the Christianshavn area of the city. It is this part of town that Christiania resides as well as The Church of Our Saviour. The church has a seriously crazy winding spire with an external staircase that you can climb to the top. We had planned to embark on the climb but we unfortunately got to the church at 4pm and the last climb is at 3:45. The great thing about being on bikes was that no matter what we did, nothing really seemed like a waste of time because we were getting everywhere so much quicker and easier than if we had walked, while also just getting to see so much more of the city as a whole and through a whole new perspective- or maybe I am just justifying our poor timing. Either way, we were right across the street from the free town of Christiania which I had been planning on taking my little minions too anyways so we snapped a shot of the church of crossed the street.
I really couldn't tell if Allyson and Henry was taken back by Christiania, amused, or what but it really is a different experience so almost every emotion when first visiting is acceptable. After walking around the little free town we realized that our 6 hours with the bikes was almost up and so we headed back towards Nyhavn to ensure we weren't late.
The ride back across the bridge and along the canals is one of my favorite but this time we stumbled upon something that I had heard about but had never actually experienced. On the waterfront, right before you reach the main street, Nyhavn, you can find a stretch of trampolines that are built into the ground. These are clearly more for young children but like that would ever deter us from abandoning our bikes and bouncing around.
Overall, our day on bikes was so incredibly fun but also very educational. Our experience taught me that
1. True Danish bike riders go SO fast! Seriously stay to the right side of the bike lane to avoid any angry looks or people ringing their bells at you. Or by all means go ahead and try to keep up with the speed demons, see how your legs feel after about 5 minutes.
2. Do not try and ride through the stop lights when they turn yellow. You will not make it and then cars will find it necessary to speed towards you before hitting the brakes and slamming on the horn to try and just scare you right off your bike.
3. More often than not, a street in Copenhagen will be a one way street. Therefore, if you want to get somewhere you might just have to go in a big circle before getting there.
4. IT IS REALLY FUN! Regardless of all the scary things that can happen while biking in the city, it was actually quite relaxing at times.
1. True Danish bike riders go SO fast! Seriously stay to the right side of the bike lane to avoid any angry looks or people ringing their bells at you. Or by all means go ahead and try to keep up with the speed demons, see how your legs feel after about 5 minutes.
2. Do not try and ride through the stop lights when they turn yellow. You will not make it and then cars will find it necessary to speed towards you before hitting the brakes and slamming on the horn to try and just scare you right off your bike.
3. More often than not, a street in Copenhagen will be a one way street. Therefore, if you want to get somewhere you might just have to go in a big circle before getting there.
4. IT IS REALLY FUN! Regardless of all the scary things that can happen while biking in the city, it was actually quite relaxing at times.