Greetings! This edition includes highlights from my recent trip to Copenhagen. Writing this from the Naples Airport… keep an eye out on your inboxes for that update 😛 Now, into the travel journals.

On the first night I stayed in the CPH Studio Hotel located on the south side of Copenhagen. I would recommend this hotel for a late night flight arrival given proximity to metro station and that it’s less expensive than the hotels downtown. In the morning, I walked around Freetown Christiana. This self-dubbed anarchist commune hosts around 850 full-time residents, and has become a massive tourist attraction located just south of the main city center given its uniqueness. Before the cobblestones were dug up in 2024, Freetown Christiana was known for its booming drug trade. In accordance with Danish officials, incidents of violence and overdoses incentivized the street’s shutdown.¹ I enjoyed walking through the neighborhood on a quiet Friday morning, listening to the birds chip and observing the street art.

Besides the map below, I refrained from taking pictures since that seemed to be the common courtesy based on online testimonies and personal experiences shared by others. One feature that stook out to me was to enter Freetown Christiana via the main entrance, you walk through a rectangular wooden arch donning the neighborhood’s name, “Freetown Christiana” facing the paved city streets. However, when you exit through the same way, it’s etched in the back of the wood ‘You are now entering the EU,’ further solidifying the neighborhoods distinct identity.

Having a significant amount of time before my friends landed, I stored my bag at another hotel downtown, grabbed the daily essentials, hit up the local grocery store, and headed out to explore. A big shoutout to Eva and Nikolai for amazing recommendations! That morning/early afternoon alone I walked through many of the main tourist attractions: – Christiansborg Palace, Dronning Louises Bro, The Lakes, Rosenborg Castle, Amalienborg Palace, and The King’s Garden. I even ran into the changing of the guards in the street!

I attempted to enjoy a typical Danish lunch at Toldega Bodega, but they were fully booked. Instead, I enjoyed beef pho at ‘The Vietnamese Heartmade Kitchen”– the menu description was “slow-simmered beef brother infused with star anise, cinnamon, ginger, served with thinly sliced beef and fresh herbs.” I’ve never consumed pho with that specific spice assortment, but, boy, was this combination spectacular.

Finally, Pratty and company arrived!! Before dinner, we grabbed drinks at an awesome outdoor beer garden. I tried and loved ‘Flyversjus.’² From what I understand, at its most basic it is aquavit (scandinavian spirit distilled from potatoes or other grains) mixed with lemon soda. Delicious. New favorite cocktail even though I have no clue how to pronounce it again (I tried several times). After drinks, thanks to Kenzie’s restaurant recommendation, we enjoyed a spinach pasta and hot honey pasta – out of this world.

In the AM, we hustled to Sankt Peders Bageri for freshly baked cinnamon rolls & buns. So doughy. So sweet. I enjoyed walking through the University of Copenhagen’s campus – although it felt a bit like St Andrews in the way that the campus integrates into the surrounding city without distinct borders. I realize that’s a bit of a generic description but… trying to relate to my new surroundings…

Left: cinnamon bun from Sankt Peders Bageri. It was on that day I learned a cinnamon roll and a cinnamon bun are two distinct things in Copenhagen. The cinnamon bun is made of a sweet dough flavored with cardamom topped (sometimes) with sweet icing/cinnamon; whereas the cinnamon roll is your typical spiral-shaped pastry filled with cinnamon sugar and topped with a glaze or frosting. My cinnamon bun is topped with pearl sugar.

Running off of espresso and baked goods, we traversed back across the city to the mermaid statue. A modest park plaque informed me that the statue was inspired by a fairytale character of Hans Christian Andersen (a Dane himself!). Apparently, the mermaid epitomizes and celebrates the city’s rich literary and art history. I appreciate the local lore, but this won’t be on my next Copenhagen itinerary. The massive naval ship across the water captured my attention more than this meager mermaid. That said, it must be a pretty big deal to others because there were at least 4 tour vans parked there, and you were lucky to get a clear shot of the statue without other people obstructing the view.

Quick interlude to breakup the chronological retelling. I know they say that Copenhagen is the bike capital of the world. Boy, do they live up to their reputation. Never have I ever seen such robust infrastructure and this many bikes. Similarly, I had excellent experiences on the public transit (metro & bus). Super efficient and clean. Interestingly, unlike the train stations in urban Boston/NYC, there are no turnstiles/gates/ticket checks before riding. It is expected that you’ve bought a train ticket to ride, and periodically an authorized individual will come through the car to conduct random ticket checks. Failing to show a ticket can result in an $100ish fine. Speaking of breaching civil contracts – we also learned jaywalking results in a similar fine… (which makes sense given that you want to incentivize the cars and bikes to sync up with the stoplights and pedestrians on the crosswalk signals – maximizes the orderliness and safety of people traveling via different transit methods). Another urban novelty were the canals! So picturesque.   

During the afternoon we bought ride and grounds passes to Tivoli Gardens! For a good 4-5 hours we rode rollercoasters and explored the food halls and festive stalls. Interestingly, I learned that much of Walt Disney’s inspiration for Disney came from visiting Tivoli.³  Each stall, booth, arcade game, and restaurant were decorated to the nines. It’s no wonder Disney found inspiration here. I was impressed how many rides fit in a relatively small area. Top rides included The Demon⁴ (by far my favorite – combines speed, change of direction, and going upside down in a loop-de-loop), Aquila⁵ (picture being spun around on an x-axis, slowing at the top staring at the ground suspended in the air), the Star Flyer, and Tik Tak⁶ (by far the coolest, trippiest visuals). I’m glad we went in the early afternoon because the crowds swelled substantially –for food and rides – by 6pm.

The nighttime highlights included: white wine, more spectacular Italian food, and gourmet cocktails from Ruby (what I’ve been told is a highly-rated specialty cocktail bar). I enjoyed an earl-grey-rum punch-slushie-thingie (that’s a technical term). So delicious.

On my last morning, we ate Danish breakfast at Apotek 57. This cheese, whipped butter, salt, jam, bread, medium-boiled egg combination was the absolute highlight of my Copenhagen breakfast experiences. Not to be dramatic but if I could eat any breakfast every day for the rest of my life, I would choose this. It’s not overly filling or decadent (like waffles, pancakes, or French toast can be). It’s just the right amount of substance, flavor, and volume to kick start your day. The flavor combination of the sweet jam contrasted with a soft egg, whipped goodness, and sharp cheese all layered onto fresh bread.. oh my goodness..

Satiated and fueled, we walked via Nyhavn to the GoBoat dock. We rented a boat for 2 hours to explore Copenhagen via the waterways! I enjoyed piecing together the parts of the city I’d previously explored on foot. I wish I could report an idyllic cruise, but our GoBoat engine repeatedly cut out and broke down. We had to call the help line and get a piece of the motor/steering apparatus replaced mid-canal. And we just so happened to break down in the middle of the narrowest canal that the big tourist boats (they can accommodate over 100 people per boat) frequent every ~5-10 minutes. It was quite a sight to be seen. Caroline (aka Pratty) and I holding onto nearby boats/lines to stay out of the channel. We did flex our knot-tying capabilities when help arrived by effortlessly tying off with a cleat.

My last stop before heading back to Scotland was the Reffen food market (shoutout Julia!). It’s an outdoor food market with an industrial feel. There are food stalls hosting cuisines/dishes from around the globe: tacos, pad thai, burgers, bento boxes, empanadas, fried chicken, you name it!⁷ I enjoyed raspberry juice and chicken shish from the Kurdish food stand.

This concludes my writing – but enjoy a few more photos!

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania#:~:text=Freetown%20Christiania%20(Danish:%20Fristaden%20Christiania,street%20being%20physically%20dug%20up.
   [I don’t usually like to cite wikipedia, but this is a decent english starter source] ↩︎
2. https://www.copenhagendistillery.com/cocktails/long-pepper-flyversjus?srsltid=AfmBOopZS1093VDbffHhwlmUDzfB8KMFV1b5-C94hnRtl6iwAlB_unkT ↩︎
3. https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/1928689/best-theme-park-europe-tivoli-gardens-disneyland ↩︎
4. https://www.tivoli.dk/en/rides/the-demon ↩︎
5. https://www.tivoli.dk/en/rides/aquila ↩︎
6. https://www.tivoli.dk/en/rides/tik-tak ↩︎
7. https://reffen.dk/en/ ↩︎