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COPENHAGEN

We decided to take advantage of the fact that our flight back to the U.S. took us through Copenhagen to stop off and see the city that was home to both the Vikings and Hans Christian Anderson.  As it happens, the city’s most famous resident, the sculpture of The Little Mermaid that sits in the harbor, was on tour in China while we were there, but there were plenty of other things to see to make up for her absence.

From our hotel The Square (across from Tivoli Gardens and a short walk from the main train station), we were within walking distance to the major tourist attractions in the city.  We lost no time getting to know Copenhagen by foot, exploring the kilometer-long pedestrian mall, the Stroget, on our first night there, despite the dramatic drop in temperature from 75-degree Turkey to 45-degree Denmark.  The Stroget is a wide street of shops, restaurants and kiosks, punctuated by open squares dating from various periods in the city’s history, and is entertainment enough.  But on this particular night, roving bands of young people dressed as zombies provided an additional element of street theater along the way to our chosen spot for dinner.

The Kobenhavner Cafeen was a cozy haven against the chilly night, with the warm ambience of a seafarers’ inn.  The ceilings were low, the walls were decorated with pictures of Denmark’s royal family and the staff was friendly.  Across from us a table full of happy Danes—it was easy to imagine them sailors—had worked through a meal which had obviously included much Carlsborg and several glasses of aqua vit.  On our right three students from Korea tried to make sense of a smorgasbord meal. We ordered traditional dishes, which were impossible to finish, they included so much food (in Graeme’s case, two kinds of potatoes).  When we exclaimed over the portions to the waiter he simply shrugged.  “We’re Vikings,” he said with a smile.  “We never give up.”

We spent the next day exploring the city, though we had little time for more than a cursory overview of most of the sights.  We paid homage to the author of The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid with a visit to Hans Christian Anderson’s bronze statue in the town square, saw the crown jewels and the massive solid silver thrones in King Christian IV’s castle at Rosborg, took a boat tour of the canals and harbor, walked along the waterways at Nyhavn and Christianshavn.  The weather remained stubbornly cold and dreary, however, so we avoided the venerable Tivoli Gardens amusement park, except for dinner at the brew pub just outside its gates.  If the beer is any indication, the park is worth a visit another time.  We also managed a visit to the Seventies-era commune of Christiana, Denmark's version of Haight-Ashbury, for a terrific vegetarian break from the usual meat-and-cheese-heavy fare of Copenhagen's other restaurants.