The Happiest Place on Earth

Okay I’ll be honest, when a friend of mine suggested we go to Copenhagen for a weekend I was a little skeptical. Of all places to visit…Copenhagen? What’s in Copenhagen?

Well, after our trip to the capital of Denmark this past weekend, I am 100% eating my words and I am so glad that Hannah (a good friend of mine from high school who happens to be studying at University College London this semester!) made the suggestion. It may have been a little chilly, but Copenhagen was an incredible city to visit and, even though this was my first trip out of the UK so far, I’m already feeling like it will be a tough one to beat!

I want to preface this by saying that there is no way for the photos that follow to fully do this city justice (some that follow are courtesy of Hannah because my phone ran out of battery again…oops!). Anyone who has been to Copenhagen will probably understand when I say that the city just has this amazingly quaint feel to it that is completely unique, and no camera can capture that kind of atmosphere! So bear that in mind as you’re looking at these photos (there are lots!) and potentially wondering why I’m making such a big deal about this cold, windy, grey-skied little city.

First off, we timed our trip PERFECTLY because all of the little Christmas markets in Copenhagen opened up this past weekend, making this Nordic city feel more like the North Pole than Denmark! That basically meant that Hannah and I would exclaim “Julemarked!” (Danish for “Christmas Market”, and one of the only Danish phrases that I absorbed while we were there) whenever we saw one of these little markets, and would proceed to warm up with a mug of mulled wine or cider (delicious!) before proceeding to our next destination. The whole city was decked with a dusting of artificial anticipatory snow, garland draped throughout the main streets, and more Christmas lights than I’ve ever seen in one place. It truly was a winter wonderland!

We passed these two Christmas Markets over and over again as we explored the city!

With these stops sprinkled throughout, the city felt so cozy and welcoming even to two clueless twenty-one year old girls wandering around aimlessly trying to translate street signs and convert between three different currencies (Hannah was trying to understand the Danish Kroner in terms of the American Dollar, while I was trying to compare back to the British Pound, so needless to say it got a little complicated).

So what did we actually do while we were in Copenhagen, you ask? More than you would probably expect!

Our flight got in late Friday night so we found a restaurant with traditional Smørrebrød (Danish open-faced sandwich) for dinner, and then we woke up early Saturday morning, grabbed ourselves a quick breakfast of Danish pastries, and set out for a full day of sightseeing!

Sidebar: the word for coffee in Danish is basically just like coffee in English but with a Boston accent. Needless to say I felt right at home ordering my “kah-fee” in the morning!

The City Center of Copenhagen is small enough that we did everything on foot, and could basically navigate the whole city by the time we left! Our first stop was Nyhavn, the iconic street of colorfully painted houses along the canal that is probably what the majority of people associate with Copenhagen. Of course, we had to start off with the most touristy thing we could do, but going early in the morning was a great way to avoid crowds and tour groups!

Warning: this is definitely not the last selfie you’re going to see in this one.

A quick walk along the water brought us up to the next most iconic spot in Copenhagen, the Little Mermaid statue! As a Virgo myself, I felt a special connection with my new mermaid friend, because, you know…

Benefit to being a Virgo: being yourself is being a mermaid! So, me being a little Virgo, I’ve decided the Little Mermaid and I have a lot in common.

Told ya…

Then we set out towards the northern area of the city where all of the parks and palaces are! We chose to go into the Rosenborg Palace, originally built as a summer home for the Danish royal family in the seventeenth century, and what was even more stunning than the palace itself were the grounds it sits on! Hannah and I spent as much time walking around the grounds as we did in the palace, despite the chill and the breeze (read as: strong and persistent gusts of wind).

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…

Hannah and I finally got a photo together!

Beautiful gardens, chilly traveler

After the Rosenborg Palace, we made our way to the next park, which is home to the Copenhagen Botanical Gardens. This enormous and gorgeous greenhouse sits in the middle of an extremely expansive park that seemed so full of life even in the middle of November. We could only imagine how unbelievable the park must be in the spring!

Back to the Christmas theme, we went to Tivoli Gardens on Saturday night, the second oldest amusement park in the world (built in 1843!), which was completely done up for the holidays! When I say that there were Christmas lights everywhere, I need you to imagine the most decorative Christmas display you’ve seen and then at least double that. Again, these photos in no way capture the extent of the scene, but the whole park was full of stalls selling Christmas ornaments, Belgian waffles, hats and mittens, children’s toys, more mulled wine and cider, and any other winter and/or sweet food items you can think of! Neither of us were too interested in the amusement park aspect of Tivoli, but spending the evening there just to walk around, check out the vendors, and take in the decorations was completely worth it!

Just based on the entrance you can probably tell that Tivoli is nothing like your average American amusement park

Velkommen = Welcome (look at me, I’m basically bilingual already!)

Santa lit the Tivoli Christmas tree the day we were there!

Walkin’ in a winter wonderlanddddd

There’s nothing better than twinkly lights and hot apple cider on a cold Copenhagen night!

 My favorite part of the Tivoli experience though? An unbelievable light show they did to the Nutcracker score over one of the ponds in the park! They actually projected ballerinas to look like they were dancing to the music! A photo in no way captures the moment, but if you look closely you can see that the pink figures are the ballerinas! I was absolutely mesmerized and couldn’t stop watching.

We had less planned for Sunday as we were flying out in the early evening, but still managed to keep ourselves busy exploring more of the city! Our first stop was the Statens Museum for Kunst, or the National Gallery of Denmark. The museum had a great variety of pieces ranging from European art of the 1300s to modern Danish and Nordic installations. A small sampling:

Some more strolling through the city, and it was soon time to head back to the airport and reluctantly leave wonderful Copenhagen. To cap off our Danish experience, though, we had to try the traditional (and apparently well-known) Danish Christmas beer! Not sure what makes it Christmas-specific, but they only sell it in the winter and the season just started last week so everyone was very excited about it!

And then we found a restaurant in the Copenhagen Airport that seemed to be obsessed with the Red Sox so that deserved a photo too! As I’m sure you can probably tell from the photo, I was exhausted from the weekend by the time we got to the airport Sunday night.

So there you have it, all it took was 48 hours in Copenhagen and I’m a huge fan! Despite the constant cloud cover, Copenhagen has earned the title of Happiest City in the World, and having immediately loved the charm and atmosphere of the city I can definitely see why. Until next time, Denmark!

Cheers!