Copenhagen: Sun 29 Sept – Tue 1 Oct: Accommodation

 

Sun 29 September

It was a day of travel today with an early start departing Como. It was much easier navigating the narrow cobbled lanes on a Sunday morning at 7 am so we were thankful for that. Also, the drive to Milan was much more pleasant given the early hour and lack of other cars and trucks on the road.  The return of the car and our flight to Copenhagen all went smoothly and we made it to our hotel near 3 pm. The sun was shining but it was rather cold, at just 13 degrees, but we set out to do some exploring. We followed the path of another GPSmyCity for Copenhagen and used this to fill in the time until our 5.30 pm dinner booking. Our dinner was at Vækst and little did we know what a treat we were in for. It turned out that this was a Michelin restaurant, I did not know this when I booked, and we enjoyed a most wonderful meal and dining experience. Our booking was for 5.30 pm, the only slot I could get, and I had imagined us trurning up and dining solo for the whole night. Not so, when we arrived just before 5.30 pm there was a queue at the door and people jostling past each other to gain first entry. It turns out they didn’t have a booking and were hoping to get in but , no chance! This is a place you have to book in advance. The restaurant was huge and spread over two floors but it was not long until every table was taken. It was just a stroke of good luck that we would end up in such a nice place enjoying a fine meal at the end of this long travel journey and, it goes without saying I’m sure, that I would highly recommend this restaurant. We have one more day to go on this journey and then we head home.

 

Mon 30 September

Today was our final full day of sightseeing for this trip and we had a 2.5 hr walking tour booked for 10.30 am. This was with Rikke (pronounced: Reggae) from Copenhagen Free Walking Tours and it was a great way to explore the city. We discovered where the founder of Carlsberg beer was born and raised and that Queen Mary and King Frederick were in residence at their royal palace. We also saw where Jorn Utzon, of Opera House fame, had studied architecture.

Our tour finished at around 1 pm so we had lunch in one of the harbour front restaurants along Nyhavn, which is a bit like the Darling Harbour area of Sydney. 

It was rather cold out with a stiff breeze making the ‘feel like’ temperature around 7° so we decided to take a canal tour for the afternoon. We had to wait a little bit for a covered-boat option so that meant finding a pub to sit and wait out the time until the boat departed as it was just too cold being outdoors. The canal cruise was a great way to spend an hour as we were able to pass by many key points of interest and through a range of different neighborhoods. Our guide was very informative as well and one thing he mentioned was how climate change was impacting Copenhagen. He said it was becoming much warmer and that they didn’t even have a frost last winter. He also said tourism was booming as more people where visiting this higher part of Europe in summer as they tried to avoid the heat waves plaguing Italy, France and Greece. The sun even came out for the hour of our cruise which was greatly appreciated by me! It was 4 pm by the time our canal cruise finished so we headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner given my phone told me that I’d already covered 12.4 km today. 

Dinner tonight was at Københavner Cafeen which was an option suggested by our guide, Kikke, but it was only just ok. The food was too cold and the wine too warm. All first world problems for sure but I would definitely not recommend this place. We’d enjoyed our short stopover in Copenhagen but we are very excited to be heading home to family and warmer weather. Copenhagen is easy to navigate and very flat, which makes getting around by foot easy, but it’s a very expensive city to visit so factor that in to any plans you might craft. Our hotel, 25 Hours Indre By, was comfortable and well located in the middle of the city so an easy walk to any of the main attractions.