I ❤ Copenhagen!

I'm not sure why Copenhagen became the first stop on my sabbatical adventure.  It might have been the cheap plane ticket from Boston.  But after Norway last year, I've developed a love for Scandinavia and was excited to see more of it.

An easy seven hour flight from Boston and I was on the ground ready to go.  To get a sense of the city I started with the Rick Steve's walking tour.  Actually,  no,  I'm lying.  I started with a Danish.  How could I not? And it was delightful.  Raspberry and almond slivers on buttery pastry... the perfect welcome to the city treat.

Then I set off on the walking tour,  getting a good orientation to the city and falling mite in love with every step. The weather was gorgeous, and the city easy to walk around.  It's very flat.  That is good.

Copenhagen is an perfect mix of old and new.  I frequently forget that Denmark was one of Europe's great empires, but Copenhagen reminds you.  Brick is the most common building material but you see wood half timbered buildings and cement mixed in too.  There are a wide pedestrian zones, open plazas where people gather, lots of trees and even more benches which is greatly appreciated when you're jetlagged. My first day took me from Tivoli Gardens to Nyvhan, where the canal comes up into the city against multi colored houses.  It reminded me of Bergen,  one of Copenhagen's historic trading partner cities.

The 2nd day was dedicated to some of the biggest landmarks period I started by taking the bus boat up to the little mermaid statue sitting in Copenhagen's Harbor period it was lovely, but very crowded as its new the crew ship dock period from there I wandered back through a beautiful park to the Amelia board palace, where the current King and Queen live along with their family. Part of the palace has been set aside as a museum, which was nice to walk through. They've managed to show the evolution of the monarchy over the past 200 years.  The second palace of the day was Rosenburg, which is set up to show how royalty lived in the 16-1700s. It had all the beautiful old details and hidden delights one would expect in a renaissance castle. 

Copenhagen is made for wandering, so the long walk back to the hotel each night meant forrays down pretty pedestrian streets and picnic dinners with grocery store salads or Tic crackers, fruit, and cheese.  The city was full of people- it's both Pride and the IronMan this weekend. 

There are more than just pretty streets and palaces here.  I spent last night at Tivoli Gardens,  an amusement park right in the city.  It was gorgeous with all of the lights and rides whirling.   Even on a rainy night,  it was a so much fun to walk around. The rides were intense! 

There is also the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a cool art/history museum right next to Tivoli.  I loved the ancient statutes and that they showed one repainted as it originally was. 

Copenhagen was the perfect start to this long trip.  I can only hope everything else goes this smoothly.