Copenhagen is terrific. It’s easy to walk around but watch the bike lanes! Public transportation is excellent or rent a bike. The city is so quiet with very few cars but so many bicycles and the people speak quietly amongst themselves. Most of the buildings are old, brick or stone surfaced and 4 or 5 stories tall which feels nice compared to skyscrapers. Sometimes the adventure was finding the place. Maybe it once had a street number or name, but behind this door was a famous craft cocktail bar worth the effort to locate it. Sometimes only google can help you.

The weather was cloudy, windy, rainy and sunny—just like Seattle. Copenhagen exceeded my expectations. It's lovely with water everywhere and lush with trees and landscaping. The food, the people, the atmosphere. It's so clean—the sidewalks, the streets. No homeless. No fentanyl. Socialism creates a wholesome sidewalk scene.

Noticeable on the street to me was how many girls and women are taller than I am. I’d say six feet is common. A few people spoke Danish to me. I smiled and said thank you in English. Click on any photo to zoom in and then you can use the arrow to go backwards or forward to see them all enlarged.

Copenhagen has many so attractions. If you plan to visit make your list and check it three times and be willing to be flexible because there is always something fascinating around the corner you didn’t know about that you must investigate.

Old Canals and Hidden Gems Social Boat Tour

This was a very fun three hour activity and good to do at the beginning of the trip to get an overview of Copenhagen. The boat was speedy and comfortable for about eight people, with water, beer and wine on board. Our Captain Nikolai was an around the world competitive sailor, charming and showed us not only the canals through various residential neighborhoods but also the port. He took us ashore on an island where the Germans had a camp and offices during WWII. He pointed out the commercial buildings and architecture of note. He was knowledgeable about the history of the city and government projects we would never have learned about any other way such as the plant where they burn garbage to create electricity to be sold. He successfully encouraged everyone to participate in the conversation.

Modern Architecture and Design

Design of every aspect of life is a passion and an industry here. If you’re interested, don’t miss The Danish Architecture Center, The Danish Design Center, The Black Diamond (library and museum), The Royal Danish Playhouse and The National Aquarium.

Danish Castles Abound

I enjoy looking around a castle. The Danish seemed to have had quite a building program all over the country. Many of them burned, several times, and were rebuilt. The invention of bricks for building was a huge advancement. One castle we enjoyed in Copenhagen is the Rosenborg Castle which is close to a number of top attractions in the city center. It’s got jewels, fancy furniture, art, racy royal history and a large public park surrounding it.

Random Cuisine Experiences

Restaurants

My observation is the food is quite good in Denmark. High quality ingredients and expert execution were typical. Many cuisines are represented in the city. The service was consistently pleasant. No tipping is necessary anywhere! Here are a few venues that were enjoyable that I also have decent photos to share.

My first outing after a long walk was a rustic craft cocktail bar, Lidkoeb in the Vesterbro neighborhood. Dinner in an old school restaurant, Frk. Barners Kaelder, with local specialties was a treat beginning with watching everyone come in the door and be welcomed by name. The server insisted I ordered a fish, plaice, because I’ve never had it. I liked it so much I ordered it again and again. A sweet, white flat fish, it is the most commonly eaten fish all over Denmark but also popular in Scandinavia and Europe.

At Maple Casual we shared an order of sticky ribs that many cuisines would be proud of, including the southern United States. They were served with brown paper rolls which I thought would be hand towels. Turned out to be black plastic gloves so you wouldn’t need any cleaning wipes. That’s Danish ingenuity. The ribs were fabulous. The owners are Canadian and found frequent uses for maple syrup. Mussels were on the menu everywhere and typically big and juicy with creative sauces. One night they were served in a coconut chili garlic sauce which will be easy to make at home (coconut milk and sriracha were the key ingredients). Sorbets appeared on many menus and were unusual flavors of fruits and herbs. An Asian inspired salmon with ginger, yozu and sesame at Bloom was particularly great. No false moves here. The quality of everything was amazing all day long.

Hot Dogs

Danes love hot dogs! There are several varieties of meats, beef, pork, goat, vegetarian and styles, meaning different garnishes. There are a few famous places to purchase this local icon. I asked our captain for his favorite spot which was by the Round Tower an easy location for us in the central area. I ordered the #1 all beef all the way. It was good but not over the top. The servers were adorable. I wish we’d had time to try several more locations but eating four or five times a day is something I just can’t do anymore. I’m sure you understand.

Open Face Sandwiches (Smørrebrød)

This is a specialty of the country served all day and night everywhere with some well-known simple combinations as well as creative variations. My absolute favorite was called the Shooting Star: 5 fishes, roe, mayo, lettuces. Egg salad with roe and tomato was tasty to me as well tuna with watercress.

The Baking Class in Copenhagen

I took a baking class because that was what was available during my visit and I learned the how to on sourdough rolls, cardamom buns and cinnamon twists. Although each one of these was tasty, I am not baker and they are quite a bit of effort. We’re talking about working with yeast, kneading, rolling, shaping and glazing. So none of these recipes are likely to be recreated at my house. They won't be in my new book either, Cooking Class #5, but Denmark will be!

I enjoyed the two women I was grouped with to share the steps in the three recipes. Lucky for me they were both experienced bakers, passionate and I became the videographer. The end results were eaten together at a big table. I give high marks to the CPH Cooking School who offers this and other classes. Their facility is modern and well organized. The teacher was patient and clearly a professional baker.

The Danish bake a lot of breads I couldn’t name, even after eating them. It’s so fresh it’s never offered toasted. It seems there are bakeries on every block selling pastries, chocolate croissants, cookies and cakes. When I entertain with a Danish menu I will purchase what I need from one of the several Danish bakeries near me in Seattle.

Museums

Museum of Danish Resistance

Touring this museum was a harrowing descent into loosing freedoms similar to what’s happening today in the USA. The story was told by five characters over the five years of the occupation who played different roles in the resistance including one who joined the Nazi party the day the Germans invaded. The capture of Denmark took about six hours. The scenes and the multimedia presentation tools telling the personal stories over the years of occupation were well done. For example, a small sailboat was part of a coastal scene at night where 20 people would squeeze in for the journey. The captain of our tour boat said his grandfather had been part of the resistance and sailed Jews to safety.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Although not really in Copenhagen, it is an easy train ride about an hour north of the city and close enough to the Karen Blixen Museum to visit both in one day. (The train network is clean, efficient and appears to be always on time.) This collection is considered to be the premiere art destination in Denmark. There are many museums in Denmark. This was my favorite museum for its sculptures that were mainly outdoors. The founder, Knudsen Jensen, in 1958, invited the artists to the property to select a spot they would like for a piece of theirs. Several artists such as Alberto Giacometti, Max Ernst and Henry Moore did several pieces. Joyful would be one of my initial reactions. The founder said he was lucky he didn’t have to buy a Water Lillies from Monet because one came with his property. I think Giacometti chose to have this statue placed in front of the natural water lilies. Although about 4000 pieces of the collection are displayed inside in some rotation, at the time of my visit, there were three artists with special exhibitions so I saw none of the regular collection. Here are a few of my favorite sculptures at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Karen Blixen Museum

As a fan of the stories of Isak Dinesen, her memoir Out of Africa and the film based on it, I loved the experience of being in her Danish world. A terrace overlooking the garden is served by a sweet cafe with traditional pastries and sandwiches. The house is maintained as it was when she died 30 years after she returned from her African coffee plantation. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen before she went to Africa and the drawing of the male torso was her graduation exercise. The African portraits are hers also. If you zoom in you should be able to read the translations about those people.

In the sitting room there were two things of Denys Finch Hatton, a caned chair and his gramophone. The view from her bedroom window is the sea and I’m sorry there is no space to show the room,. The Menus on the kitchen wall are from Dinesen’s story Babette’s Feast based on the cooking of her personal chef and the film by Gabriel Axel 1987. Her love of entertaining is documented in the museum. She did so frequently and considered it an art form. Like my hero, Mrs. Dalloway, she always did the flowers—but she didn’t have to buy them—she got hers from her large garden. She’s buried on the property and many visitors leave mementos.

For the food enthusiasts and lovers of the movie Babette’s Feast, I worked on translating the menu one word at time not too hard for turtle soup and blinis with caviar. I hit the jackpot on the entrée with a complete translation from the New York Times Recipe Box done by Molly O’Neill November 17, 1997. The firewall makes a link useless but if you want it, let me know and I’ll send you copy of her article “Food: Eye Candy and the recipe. I loved refreshing my memory on what Babette spent her windfall money on: Quails stuffed with foie gras and truffles (roasted and served in a puff pastry nest with a pan sauce of wine, chicken stock, demi glace and figs).

I loved Copenhagen and plan to return. The next time I write you I’ll tell you about the wonderful Danish cities outside of Copenhagen, Odense, Kolding and Aarhus.

Copenhagen is Terrific