pic of us at the palace

Day 15: The Best Copenhagen Day Ever!

I didn’t really sleep.

There were a number of young and drunk people yelling and chanting early 2000’s hip hop outside of our hotel window.

Tony didn’t hear it because:

  1. He is the best sleeper on earth
  2. He wears earplugs, which worked out to be smart in this situation.

Anywho, once we were up Tony thought we should just go for it and get the breakfast in the hotel. It was cold cuts and yogurt and toast and the worst coffee in America… oops… sorry… the worst coffee in Denmark.

So I had muesli with hot water and shitty coffee, but we did what we needed to do and got up out of there to enjoy the day!

We rented some bikes (with a handy GPS attached!)

Bike Rental

And made our way over to one of the castles.

Rosenborg Slot

Afterward, we were wandering around and stumbled upon a fabulous market!

Called Torvehallerne, this public space was filled with beautiful produce, funky and fabulous food and drinks, skincare, and all kinds of fun! Here’s a pic:

Torv Market (before lunch)

And HERE’s the website (in case of you randomly being in Copenhagen).

We decided to come back at lunchtime.

But first, to the Round Tower! Built in the 17th century to be used as an astronomical observatory, our tour also included the attached chapel and library hall.

Here’s the beautiful chapel:

Round Tower Chapel

And here’s the super cool winding hall up to the top of the tower! (Please notice Tony being silly/creepy over there in the corner).

Round Tower hall with creepy tony

Atop the tower was the observatory, with a great view of the city:

Us on top of tower

Then it was time for lunch! Tony hit up an “egg wrap”, which is basically super thin yet large omelet that functions as a wrap for veggies and other goodness. I had a salad from this place called “Paleo”. Check it!

Pic of lunch

Tony wanted a bit of dessert afterward, and he stumbled upon the bakery Nazi – AKA Café Rosa.

Rosa was not playing any games, and made it clear that we were interrupting her baking by asking for Tony’s carrot cake – but it was worth it!

pic of tony's lunch dessert 1

Once we were all finished with the market, we hopped back on some bikes, and cycled our way over to the Royal Palace. I risked my life while riding to show you how awesome and bike friendly Copenhagen really is! There’s Tony up ahead:

pic of tony riding

And here we are once we arrived at the Palace:

pic of us at the palace

By this point, we were both feeling Copenhagen.

Staff at the front desk of our hotel told us that more than 50% of the city’s population rides a bike, but that seemed like an underestimate to us. There were HUGE bike lanes everywhere, special traffic signals, specifically for bikes, and very patient easy-going drivers, who seemed used to bikers being everywhere.

Bikers in mini skirts.

Bikers drinking a coffee (or beer) while riding with one hand.

Bikers chatting, listening to music, and so on and so forth. It was very fantastic!

For example, here is one of many bike parking lots, sitting just outside a little café where I grabbed a coffee:

bikes from coffee shop window

We returned our bikes (there are little stations to return the bikes all over the city) and wandered around in the city for a bit. When we came upon Nyhavn:

Pic of Nyhavn

It was high time for another dessert, and Tony wanted a repeat of the amazing Belgian waffle a la mode that Travis’ wife Amanda introduced him to the day before! Here it is:

Tony with waffle

Then, upon another of Travis and Amanda’s recommendations, we jumped on a boat tour of Copenhagen. It was fabulous! Here are some highlights:

Pic 4 of boat tour

pic 5 of boat tour

We even got to see the famed Little Mermaid statue:

pic 3 of boat tour

It was a fabulous way to see the city and hear little facts about different buildings and neighborhoods:

Once off the boat, we decided to walk around to the “other” side of Copenhagen, and check out “Christiania” – the hippie town with a reputation for an amazing street food extravaganza:

pic of papiroen

It was a long walk, but completely gorgeous. Walking from one side of the city to the other from 5:00pm to about 6:30pm meant that we were accompanied by hundreds of city-dwellers afoot and on bikes, leaving work and heading over for some amazing street food (and drinks).

Let me just tell you, the walk was worth it!

Inside street food 1

inside street food 2

After we did a lap and made a thorough assessment of our options, I grabbed a local beer from a microbrewery, and Tony grabbed some pizza:

tony eating pizza

For our second course, we hit up a Brazilian place and got the “mixed grill”, which involves our favorite: meat and veggies:

Lisa and Street Food Copenhagen

food from brazilian place

To wrap it all up, we decided to have an open-faced little sandwich with tenderloin, onions, and a bit of pickle:

pic of sandwich

That was our favorite, and came from this little gem, called Handmade:

Handmade

We were full, and weary, after an amazing day! We decided to bike home, since we needed to get clear across the city. Here’s Tony heading over to our bikes for the Trek home:

Tony walking to bikes

It was a beautiful, and an epic way to end the perfect day. Awesome sunset, easy biking, and happy people everywhere, getting their weekend started:

bike ride home

We were so sad the day was over!

It may have been our best.

We quickly washed up and passed out! Tomorrow, we start the long journey home… talk to you then!

Love Lisa (and Tony).