Copenhagen
At the end of August, we spent a weekend in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. Copenhagen is easy to reach by plane, train, bus or even ferry.
Our flight from Munich is a direct flight with Lufthansa, but since the plane already did not arrive on time, we start our trip with a delay. There was a lot of wind and thunderstorms all over Germany this week, so many flights were canceled and passengers were referred to the train (which itself has to deal with cancellations). So maybe we should be happy that the flight is leaving at all.
We already decided beforehand that we want to go for a two-day pass for public transportation. The good thing is that they charge by the hour, so it's actually a 48-hour pass [↗] that will last from the time we arrive early Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. There are different sizes available, each covering different amounts of fare zones. If you don't have anything extraordinary planned, the small card is enough to cover the city center and the trip to/from the airport.
At Copenhagen Airport we leave the arrivals zone and follow the signs to the trains. Soon we see a bright red area on the right where we can buy tickets. The machines are foolproof and you can hardly go wrong.
There are several trains and a metro, all going from the airport to the main train station in the city center. I would recommend taking the metro, even if you have to change trains once. But it's easy, and the connection is fast. Our hotel is just outside the city center, so we have to take one more stop on one of the local trains after arriving at the main station. But again, we hardly have to wait.
We arrive at our hotel after 9pm and as we have a room with harbor view, I can't resist taking a first picture.
Even though the hotel is a bit outside the city center it's not too far for a walk. So we grab the things we want to take with us and head towards Cirkel Bro. The idea is to take some pictures in the late blue hour and hopefully find a place for dinner. The first one was successful, but the restaurants here close the kitchen early and so dinner is cancelled.
Next morning, we start the day with a good breakfast buffet at the hotel. It's quite cloudy, but as so often in cities by the sea, this will change frequently during the day. We don't have a fixed agenda for the day. I have marked the places I'm interested in on a map, and we'll decide on the way where to go next.
The start is with the Round Tower (Rundetårn) [↗], an old astronomy tower. You can get to the top of the tower to get a nice overview of the town, but the real highlight is the 4-meter-wide spiral ramp that leads to the top. Only the very last part to the platform is via a narrow staircase. In fact, it's so narrow that it's only accessible in one direction and you have to wait until the light turns green to go up.
From here we walk to the Marble Church (Marmorkirken) [↗]. Copenhagen's city center is not too big, so you can easily reach most of the interesting places by walking. Unfortunately, the church is closed for some rehearsals today.
We continue to Nyhavn, have an early fish-and-chips lunch nearby, and check-out a local art exhibition in one of the backyards. Nyhavn [↗] is clearly the must-see spot for any visitor to Copenhagen. Nowhere else it is as crowded as here.
After looking around, we discuss a bit whether we should do one of those canal tours or not. The boats are pretty big and there are 6 people in a row. Also, some boats are covered for the most part. You need to queue up (even if you have bought a timed ticked online) and take the boat that is there. Ours is almost full and ready to departure but we are lucky. Walking all the way to the back of the boat we find 2 seats with undisturbed views backwards.
After almost an hour we're back to Nyhavn and keep on strolling through the city. The next place I want to visit is called "The Crystal". It's the headquarters of Nykredit, a Danish financial service company.
Since we had an early lunch, we decide to have an early dinner as well. We saw a nice garden restaurant this morning and return there for a very good steak dinner. While we're sitting under the huge umbrellas it starts to rain, but when we're ready to go, it's already over - good timing 🌝.
It's still before sunset and therefore the opera is not illuminated. The evening light is nice, but we're at least an hour too early. On the way back to our hotel we make a detour to visit the August Bournonvilles Passage. We've been here before this afternoon, but the blue hour shot is what I was looking for.
By the time we get to the hotel it is almost dark and so we do some more photography near the hotel.
Next morning the sun is shining, and I decide to take some photos before breakfast. First stop are the nearby Kaktus Towers with their interesting architecture. I also cross the Bryggebroen (a bridge near our hotel) for a quick look at the strait and then return to the hotel for breakfast.
It's already Sunday morning and we have to check out, leaving Freya's backpack at the hotel. We will pick it up this afternoon since the train station we need to take is nearby anyway. We want to go to Norrebro this morning, but first, we stop at the main station to see the nearby Axel Towers.
We continue on the Metro Circle Line to Norrebro and stroll around the neighborhood a bit. This is a non-touristy neighborhood with some nice graffiti.
Finally, we take the Metro for a short ride back to the Marble Church [↗] which is open today.
The rest is quickly told: We have lunch near the church, slowly return to the hotel to pick up Freya's luggage, and take the same public transportation as on Friday. The flight is a little late, but not so much that it is worth mentioning.
