I love Da
nish TV Series and addicted to it (always can’t wait for their next season). I don’t speak any Danish except “manga tak (thank you)” and “Hvordan har du det (how are you)” but luckily their TV series also broadcast by BBC UK and Dutch television channel with subtitles. My favorite ones are Borgen (Government – politic and drama series), Forbrydelsen (the Killing – crime/detective series), Rejseholdet (Unit One – crime/police series) and Dicte (journalist/crime series). These series has female main character that showing her power struggles in male dominated world. I guess that makes Danish TV series are so interesting to me :)
I visited Copenhagen not because of my addiction to their TV series or their effort to promote gender equality. Copenhagen was suggested as a hen party destination since our lady friend who would get married was crazy about Viking and anything related to pilot (that meant we had to flew for the party and ensure she met pilots). Of course we made sure to take her pictures with the pilots in the airport and the “Viking” guys during our walk in Strøget.
Strøget is shopping center that considered as one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe. It has nice atmosphere, crowded with lots of street activities happening. We also tried Danish pastry or locally known as wienerbrød in one of the cafés in the area. I was not sure which café we went to but my Danish colleague had recommended me to tried Lagkagehuset bakery for delicious pastries.
We stayed at a hotel nearby to Nyhavn (New Harbor). The harbor was lined with colorful townhouses from 17th century accompanied by cafes, bars and restaurants with canals as their waterfront. The bars and restaurants around Nyhavn were bit overpriced but since Copenhagen was an expensive city already, Nyhavn’s bit overpriced did not bother me anymore :D
Since it was a hen’s weekend, we visited Fisketorvet, a medium size shopping mall if being compared to malls in Asian or North American countries. It has numerous branded shops, cinema and restaurants with so-so quality. Nice building, I recommend to visit this mall if you want to shop for branded Danish stuff. The mall is located next to Copenhagen harbor bath which is an open air pool with free entrance for anyone to swim. The harbor bath has several pools including for children. It opens only during summer time (obviously) starting in June to August. There are fresh water showers but it has no dress-changing room. A swimmer should not forget to bring towel..
We spent quite sometime in the mall for a girlie activity thing. If Tivoli Gardens was open during our visit, I would rather to go there than spending time inside a shopping mall for half day. Tivoli is an amusement park and it is considered as the second oldest amusement park in the world (it was opened on 1843!). It opens on three seasons in a year: Summer, Halloween and Christmas. If you are interested to visit this park, please watch out the opening dates on Tivoli’s website.
Halloween in Tivoli by Flemming Christiansen (Flickr)
Another activity we did in Copenhagen was one hour tour canal from Nyhavn. The route was covering some famous places that I wished to visit but rather impossible due to group’s hen activities. The route includes sightseeing the Copenhagen icon, the Little Mermaid, which was in reality a medium-size bronze statue and it was packed with plenty of tourists. I only saw her back from the boat. Next visit, I would ensure I capture the pictures of the statue on correct angle.
We saw the top of Church of our Saviour’s beautiful tower and spire architecture. Someday I hope to climb its tower. The boat tour also passed by the Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of Danish Royal Family, it was facing the Copenhagen’s Opera House, a distinctive architecture building. Another distinctive architecture was the Black Diamond (Den Sorte Diamant), a national library on the waterfront location. Impressive building with (must be) amazing view from inside of the library.
If you wish to visit more than three attractions in Copenhagen, I suggest to buy Copenhagen Card. The card has several option from 24 hours t0 120 hours. It covers public transports (include the canal tour) and free admission to most museums and attractions in Copenhagen. Aside to that it also give some discounts on certain restaurants.
I found Copenhagen as a remarkable city that someday I would love to return :)