This past week my sister, Allyson, and boyfriend, Henry, came to visit me in Copenhagen! I had been counting down the days until I got to see them and couldn't even believe the time had come to go to the airport and pick them up- it was honestly surreal. I couldn't wait to show them the amazing city that I am living in and to just act like a true tourist in my own city for a week.
Henry arrived on Thursday a few days before Allyson would be gracing us with her presence. After traveling for 15 hours, Henry was ready to lay down and take a long nap when he got here but I was in no mood to waste any time relaxing. We had a city to explore! Much to his chagrin, the afternoon consisted of walks to campus so that he could see my school and a small part of the city and a quick stop at Smalle Pub for a few celebratory, welcome to Copenhagen beers. Our meal timing was a little bit off kilter so for dinner we settled for a homemade cheese and charcuterie platter. We grabbed some crackers, brie cheese (the best!), salami, apples, hummus, and carrots from the store and set up shop in my room munching while getting ready to go out for the night. Thursday night just so happened to be a night that everyone from CBS that was traveling returned home and many guests were in town so we had decided that it was a big night to go out on the town and have a great time dancing the night away at Butchers. Butchers is a bar in the central square of Copenhagen and the inside is decorated with chains, stuffed animal heads, and other decor that makes the interior resemble an actual slaughterhouse (slightly creepy I know, but it is one of the most fun places we have gone).
As you can probably imagine, Friday morning called for a little bit of sleeping in but once we were both awake, I decided the best thing to ease our pounding heads was a walk to get breakfast bagels and then to Frederiksberg Park for from fresh air. I wanted to spend the day showing Henry more of the city but also didn't want to bore him when Allyson came and wanted to see all of the attractions so we settled for some more low key sight seeing starting at the Christiansborg Palace. The Palace is located right near the city center and is right next to the Old Stock Exchange
Henry arrived on Thursday a few days before Allyson would be gracing us with her presence. After traveling for 15 hours, Henry was ready to lay down and take a long nap when he got here but I was in no mood to waste any time relaxing. We had a city to explore! Much to his chagrin, the afternoon consisted of walks to campus so that he could see my school and a small part of the city and a quick stop at Smalle Pub for a few celebratory, welcome to Copenhagen beers. Our meal timing was a little bit off kilter so for dinner we settled for a homemade cheese and charcuterie platter. We grabbed some crackers, brie cheese (the best!), salami, apples, hummus, and carrots from the store and set up shop in my room munching while getting ready to go out for the night. Thursday night just so happened to be a night that everyone from CBS that was traveling returned home and many guests were in town so we had decided that it was a big night to go out on the town and have a great time dancing the night away at Butchers. Butchers is a bar in the central square of Copenhagen and the inside is decorated with chains, stuffed animal heads, and other decor that makes the interior resemble an actual slaughterhouse (slightly creepy I know, but it is one of the most fun places we have gone).
As you can probably imagine, Friday morning called for a little bit of sleeping in but once we were both awake, I decided the best thing to ease our pounding heads was a walk to get breakfast bagels and then to Frederiksberg Park for from fresh air. I wanted to spend the day showing Henry more of the city but also didn't want to bore him when Allyson came and wanted to see all of the attractions so we settled for some more low key sight seeing starting at the Christiansborg Palace. The Palace is located right near the city center and is right next to the Old Stock Exchange
After the Palace, we walked to the Stroget which is longest pedestrian shopping area in Europe.
Stroget leads right from the Palace to the Glass Markets so we decided that would be a perfect place to grab a late lunch. Henry settled for fish & chips and I stumbled upon a new stand, Smag. They serve a variety of mixed salads that you can choose from and then top with goodies such as almonds, hummus, avocado, and various seeds.
Once we were both fully food-coma induced, we hit the road back to my dorm room for a rest. I am sad to report that our rest turned into a quite lazy and uneventful night but I think the combination of jet lag and walking around all day had hit hard. Don't you worry though, the next morning made up for it when we went to my favorite place Paludan Cafe for a hearty brunch.
Stroget leads right from the Palace to the Glass Markets so we decided that would be a perfect place to grab a late lunch. Henry settled for fish & chips and I stumbled upon a new stand, Smag. They serve a variety of mixed salads that you can choose from and then top with goodies such as almonds, hummus, avocado, and various seeds.
Once we were both fully food-coma induced, we hit the road back to my dorm room for a rest. I am sad to report that our rest turned into a quite lazy and uneventful night but I think the combination of jet lag and walking around all day had hit hard. Don't you worry though, the next morning made up for it when we went to my favorite place Paludan Cafe for a hearty brunch.
Eggs, fruit, cheese, bread, yogurt parfaits, pancakes....what else could you ever ask for. We justified our feast as being fuel for the walking that we were going to be doing all day. Starting from the famous canal street, Nyhavn, to the Little Mermaid statue, and circling back around to Nyhavn, makes for the perfect afternoon, waterfront walk.
I had done the walk before but this time we even took a few new turns and I saw things that I had no idea even existed including the Kastellet. This is one of the best preserved military fortresses in Europe and lies right in between Nyhavn and The Little Mermaid Statue.
We also managed to stumble upon a few small art galleries on the streets on our walk and took a look at the Marble Church of Copenhagen.
To say that our feet were tired and swollen after walking would have been an understatement so we decided there would be no better cure to our exhaust then to sneak into a small cafe on Nyhavn, grab a few refreshments, and just relax before our dinner reservations.
At 7:00, we headed to SALT for dinner. SALT serves a pre-fixe two course menu complete with libations and Saturday night's dinner consisted of an appetizer of cooked cabbage with horseradish cream and some black crunchy things on top followed by Guinea fowl with shaved radish, spinach, and parsnips. The courses were first described to us when we sat down and I am not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical. However, everything was so incredibly delicious. I could not believe how the chef managed to extract so much flavor from every little ingredient and make such amazing dishes.
At 7:00, we headed to SALT for dinner. SALT serves a pre-fixe two course menu complete with libations and Saturday night's dinner consisted of an appetizer of cooked cabbage with horseradish cream and some black crunchy things on top followed by Guinea fowl with shaved radish, spinach, and parsnips. The courses were first described to us when we sat down and I am not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical. However, everything was so incredibly delicious. I could not believe how the chef managed to extract so much flavor from every little ingredient and make such amazing dishes.
In case you didn't notice, I made Henry my muse for the week. He was not very amused by my constant picture taking however.
SALT is located in the Admiral Hotel and so once we completed our meal, we finished off the night by just hanging out at the hotel bar. We opted for Irish Coffees in hopes of gaining energy to go out and meet up with some friends from my dorm but decided that a casual movie sounded much more appealing. After all, Allyson would be arriving the next day and it would have been rude to not be 100% energized when we greeted her.
Morning came too soon, as it seems to more often than not, and we awoke to a sunny sky. I decided this was the perfect time to kill an hour or two before Allyson's flight landed that afternoon by climbing the Round Tower.
The Round Tower has served as an icon of Copenhagen since 1642 when King Christian IV built the structure to serve as an astronomical observatory. Today, anyone can climb the tower by way of the seven and a half helical corridor that leads to the top where one of the best views of the entire city is offered.
So up we went!
In the hour between us waking up and getting to the top of the tower, the clouds started to take over the sun and so the view wasn't as beautiful as it could be but none the less, it was quite cool to look down and view the city from a whole new perspective.
So up we went!
In the hour between us waking up and getting to the top of the tower, the clouds started to take over the sun and so the view wasn't as beautiful as it could be but none the less, it was quite cool to look down and view the city from a whole new perspective.
We finished our tour of the tower with just enough time to get to the Metro station and ride to the airport to retrieve the one and only, Allyson Campion. We were sure not to greet her empty handed but of course had some goodies ready for her to enjoy once she passed through the arrival gate.
If you are reading this and don't know what the concept of "getting iced" is, Urban Dictionary just became your new best friend. We were kind enough to not make her get down on one knee but by no means was she getting on the metro to head her to hotel without finishing the delicious beverage that we had graciously provided for her.
If you are reading this and don't know what the concept of "getting iced" is, Urban Dictionary just became your new best friend. We were kind enough to not make her get down on one knee but by no means was she getting on the metro to head her to hotel without finishing the delicious beverage that we had graciously provided for her.
The three of us got on the Metro and headed to Frederiksberg to get Allyson all checked into her hotel. As we got up to the twelfth floor where her room was we were greeted by this...
Henry and I were left giggling at the fact that we had just climbed the Round Tower when we could have just taken the elevator up to the top of the Radisson Blu Hotel and gotten the exact same view of the city. We laughed it off, snapped a few pictures, and dropped Allyson's stuff. In typical Copenhagen fashion, the sun decided to show it's face after taking a hiatus early in the morning but it was still quite windy. We decided that the perfect way to spend the afternoon was at the Carlsberg Brewery. The brewery was a quick ten minute walk from the hotel (which we unfortunately made into about a half an hour after trying to take a detour through the park on the way and getting completely turned around) but made it just in time to catch the brewery's last open hour of the day.
The brewhouse and factory itself is not actually used to brew the Carlsberg beer anymore since he operations shut down in 2008 and moved to another location in Denmark. The entire is now staged with video clips and other historical objects to try and allow you to see what factory operations would look like if it was still in operation. In addition, there are also horse stables at the brewery. The brewery operations relied heavily on horsepower during the years after WWII when there was a shortage of petrol. Today, the horses serve as the Carlsberg mascot and ambassadors during special occasions in Denmark.
The factory is also home to the largest collection of beer bottles in the World (as certified by the Guinness Book of Records in 2007) with 22,206 bottles. The bottles are organized by geographical region and then sorted into brand and brewery. We were quite impressed by the size of the collection but honestly were just wondering what would happen if a huge earthquake ever hit in the center of Copenhagen, shaking all the bottles off the shelves and crashing down. I guess it's a good sign that the last earthquake that happened in all of Denmark was 10 years ago and only 2.5 magnitude.
A couple of hours to kill between our tour of the brewery and going out that night to the pub to watch the FC Barcelona game only meant one thing: treating Henry and Allyson to a Halifax burger. Halifax is one of the top rated restaurants in Copenhagen and for good reason. It not only has the cutest decor but also serves up one mean burger that can be designed to satisfy any kind of eater. A falafel vegetarian patty for Allyson, a naked, chicken burger for me, and beef with guacamole and jalapeños for Henry.
A couple of hours to kill between our tour of the brewery and going out that night to the pub to watch the FC Barcelona game only meant one thing: treating Henry and Allyson to a Halifax burger. Halifax is one of the top rated restaurants in Copenhagen and for good reason. It not only has the cutest decor but also serves up one mean burger that can be designed to satisfy any kind of eater. A falafel vegetarian patty for Allyson, a naked, chicken burger for me, and beef with guacamole and jalapeños for Henry.
As I mentioned before, one of the local Irish pubs was airing the Barcelona futbol game and we figured that watching the game with a few beers would make for the perfect, casual Sunday night out.
The game ended up being a good one, with Barcelona barely beating Real Madrid in a 4-3 game.
And while the game was entertaining and all, we managed to goof off a little and stir up some excitement of our own.
Before parting for the night, we had come to the decision to rent bikes the next day and explore the city like true Danes. While I would love to keep telling you all about our two- wheeled adventure, I am going to leave you with a little thing all of us great authors like to call a cliff hanger (well that and I also have an essay to write and I am here for school after all).
Check back soon for more insight into Copenhagen by bike as well as the rest of the week spent with Ally and Henry!
Check back soon for more insight into Copenhagen by bike as well as the rest of the week spent with Ally and Henry!