Copenhagen (Days 37-39)

Wow. I thought I loved Prague (and I still do) but Scandanavia is a whole different animal. During my stay in Copenhagen I came up with a new theory as to why I never studied abroad. Initial reasoning: I didn't want to be confined to doing work/only traveling on weekends and I wanted to take leadership positions on campus. I also knew that one day I would be able to travel like I wanted to (that time is now!!!) New theory: I subconsciously knew that I would LOVE Europe so I saved my friends and family the pain of me being exposed early on and either never returning or only looking for jobs across the pond. Yep. New theory wins.

Copenhagen is just the beginning of my Scandanavia exposure as I'll be traveling to Oslo in a couple days (YAY!!!!!!!!!). So far my thoughts are that Danes are super trendy, fashionable, fit, attractive, and (mostly) nice. Lucky for me I have a couple friends who studied here and were able to give me the inside scoop. SO. HELPFUL. So thank you Danielle/Jamie, Laura, and Claire (through Mackenzie). You all rock :)

Site Highlights:

Nyhavn: The very picturesque street in Copenhagen! If you've seen pictures of the city, they're probably of this point. Nyhavn (pronounced NuHaven) has a bunch of restaurants and cafes along it and is also the starting point for the water tours (which I didn't do).

The Little Mermaid: Another famous site. The Little Mermaid is a statue on the water that pays tribute to Hans Christian Anderson, the writer of the story. She has been beheaded twice and is a VERY popular site for tourists!

That's all folks.

Amalienborg Palace: One of the many homes of Danish royalty, this is where the changing of the guards takes place everyday at noon. While the palace is pretty, my favorite part of this site was the garden located just past the palace grounds. The park had some really cool architecture and stunning views of the opera house.

Opera house

Changing of the guards

Love their hats!

Christiansborg Palace: Another palace, this has a free tower that you can go up to have beautiful views overlooking the city. On a clear day (which it was when I visited) you can even see Sweeden across the bridge!

It has been pretty chilly here, like 40 degrees

The palace, complete with sun shadow

Other sites worth mentioning: I will talk a little more about a couple of these in the food section but Christianshavn (a town where marijuana is legal) was a fun place to walk around and explore, the National museum gave me a good history lesson, and the various gardens were probably my favorite part of the city. My brief 2 day stay didn't give me time to see Tivoli or the Louisiana Museum which were high on my to-see list.

Food Highlights:

Ugh. I don't know where to start! 

Markets: Markets with food truck-esque stands seem to be a trend in Copenhagen, and I'm a HUGE fan. The two big ones that I visited were the glass market and Copenhagen street food. After grabbing food at each market I would go to the nearest park, sit down, enjoy the scenery, and eat my food. It was very peaceful!

Entrance to Torvehallerne Market (aka the glass market).

The first night I grabbed a sandwich at smag 

It was SO GOOD that I went back the next morning to grab breakfast at grød, a famous porridge shop.

Porridge was topped with Greek yogurt, muesli, and applesauce. It was one of the best bowls of oatmeal I've ever eaten! It seems to be Scandanavian to put some sort of apple or rhubarb compote in with yogurt as a natural sweetener, definitely a trick I will bring home with me.

Recommended by Laura and Claire as a "local" spot, I munched on some spring rolls for lunch the next day.

Most of the stalls looked like street vendor stalls in a giant warehouse

My wraps! One was teriyaki chicken and the other was avocado. The yogurt dip was the flavor add on these.

La Glacé: A cake shop. I got an almond chocolate cake with apricot preserve. Incredible. It was better than the cake I had in Vienna! But I may be biased because almond is probably my all time favorite flavor.

Juice shops: I hadn't seen these in Europe and was thrilled to find one of my go-tos in the states here in Cooenhagen. There were two that I tried that I enjoyed (both recommended by Danielle). Joe and the Juice was described to me as the Abercrombie of juice shops. And thats exactly what it was...attractive people serving healthy food. I had the avocado pesto sandwich. The second was called The Big Apple. Here I enjoyed a strawberry-ginger-apple juice (delicious) and a croissant. I think I preferred the vibe of The Big Apple more, but I would honestly visit both places again.

JUICE!

Overall, I liked the lighter/healthier cuisine of Copenhagen and can't wait to continue eating my way through Scandanavia!

Summary:

Rating: 9.5/10 (Katie)

Likelihood of Returning: 95% (K)