Familiar Faces in Historical Places: A Visit to Copenhagen

Our weekend in Copenhagen was short, but eventful!

Friday evening after my conference, I went to dinner with a coworker and then Aaron and Yacine met us out in the Meatpacking District. The area was mainly butchers and empty warehouses until about 15 years ago, when the city began developing the area. Now, it is filled with trendy restaurants and swanky clubs. Late at night, drinkers spill out of the darkened bars.

Saturday we made a quick stop for breakfast and then joined a free walking tour of the city. We've found that walking tours are a great way to introduce the city history, familiarize yourself with the neighborhoods and learn some interesting facts like: the highest point in Copenhagen is 19 meters above sea level; Denmark was trading partners with the French during the Napoleonic Wars so the British bombed and destroyed a lot of the city; Denmark has the oldest reigning monarchy in the world which dates from the ninth century; King Christian IV "spent all the money, drank all the wine and slept with all the women"! He was responsible for many of the beautiful and lavish buildings that make up the city today, but he also basically made the country go broke and had at least 24 children.

After the walking tour, we rushed to do a canal cruise. We toured through Nyhavn (the picturesque, colorful street next to the canal),  Christiania (a free town, 'hippie' commune within the city),  the Copenhagen Opera House (one of the most expensive opera houses ever built), and the popular little mermaid statue (which pays homage to Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, but is actually quite small!).

Following the cruise, we tried to go to Rosenborg Palace which houses the Crown Jewels. Unfortunately, we arrived only a half hour before it closed, so we didn't go inside but walked around the magnificent grounds. Then we headed back to picturesque Nyhavn for a few pints of my new favorite beer, Tuborg Classic... it is delicious!

We had a few more pints at a hole-in-the-wall, local pub and then went for dinner at a restaurant called Tight. A few of my coworkers had gone there for dinner the weekend before and said that it was delicious. It was a great recommendation. Afterwards, we said goodnight and bye to Yacine since he had to leave really early the next day.

Something I haven't mentioned is that my sister, Chelsey, studied abroad in Copenhagen when she was in college. I came to visit her and stayed with her host family while she was there, and her host family came to Seattle and stayed with us for a week. It's been almost 10 years since I've seen them, so we made plans to meet up for brunch. We walked around Parliament and then went to brunch at the National Museum of Denmark. It was so good to see them and catch up... I just can't believe it's been so long!