After getting dressed, we got our bikes and headed out. Copenhagen is an extremely bike friendly city. Not nearly as much as Amsterdam, but pretty darn close. We immediately rode passed Tivoli and saw some teens getting arrested, then rode to an empty City Hall (with a Hans Christian Anderson statue sighting) and then through Stroget without the massive crowds (but quite a few gypsies and homeless people). We got a great view of a park (I don’t know the name) and then got to Nyvahn. It’s so beautiful there and without any people around, it’s even prettier. The colorful buildings and their reflections in the water is so classic and beautiful.
After taking tons of pictures and taking in all the scenery, we wanted to head to the Little Mermaid Statue. We plugged the directions in on the phone and started pedaling again. Having the map give us verbal directions as we went was incredibly helpful. The statue is far and would have been such a schlep if we had been walking. The park that it was in was super cute and there were running paths and trails around it and along the water. Copenhagen is definitely an active city. The Little Mermaid Statue wasn’t anything special, but we had to see it. On the way biking back, my friend spotted a giant old school windmill. We knew we had to find out so we kept our head up and our eyes open and found our way. There were cannons near it too (that we later found out were purposely facing Sweden) and the grounds that the windmill was on was obviously something important. We looked at our map and realized it was the Kastellet fortress. So cool.
We started riding back and went a different route than the way we took there. Because of that, we spotted the Amalienborg Palace. It was gorgeous and big and empty. Just how we like it. The guards were at each of the five buildings just marching and doing their thang. There was also a beautiful church near there too that we peeped. From there, it was time to head back to the hotel for breakfast then back on the bikes for our canal tour. We rode back to Nyvahn to grab this boat tour (and bought a combined ticket to get us into Tivoli later in the day). It was so nice just being on the water and it was full of information was not only interesting then, but helped us the rest of the day. My first boat ride of the summer. It was no playpen, but I guess it’ll do. For now.
After the canal boat tour, we had some time to kill before seeing the changing of the guard at Amalienborg Palace so we went back to the department store to use the WiFi, bathrooms, and touch up with some wrinkle cream. Why not?!?! Then we walked to the palace and got information on tours. We were talking to the girl working there about getting a tour there or at Rosenborg. Since she worked at both she told us Rosenborg was better, plus the crown jewels were there. So we decided after we watched the changing of the guard, we would go back and get our bikes and then ride to Rosenborg Palace to buy our tickets for the one English speaking tour of the day, grab something to eat, and then go on the tour.
The changing of the guard was better than the Stockholm one, but still kind of boring. We stayed for about 15 minutes and saw most of it, but we were over it and ready to get on with the rest of our day.
We grabbed our bikes and used the hotel cellphone again to Google Map us to the Palace. It was actually pretty easy to get there. It’s also right next to King’s Garden Park, which is basically like Copenhagen’s version of Central Park, But on a much smaller scale. It’s a pretty big green space and people were walking around campus hanging out, and sunbathing; definitely my scene. We knew we’d come back to it. Anyway, we got our tickets (student discount again FTW), and then had about an hour and half to kill and there was supposedly a really cool food hall close called Torvehallerne Market. It was two large glass enclosed buildings with all kinds of food stalls in there. Some were of meat and cheeses and produce, while others were bakeries, and also some restaurants. I ended up getting a very tasty fish and chips and we ate outside. Soon enough, it was time to head back to the castle, but we wanted to make a stop at the park first. We couldn’t ride our bikes in there so walked them in and looked around. We came upon a beautiful garden and then went and met our castle tour leader. At first we were pumped it was just us and our tour guide, but soon enough four other people joined, but at least it was still a small group. Our guide was great and super informative once again. We learned a lot about some of the past kings and got a lot of Danish history.
At this point, we had seen and done a ton and were getting tired so we rode back to the hotel to relax. We laid around for about two much needed hours before going to dinner. A friend of mine had recommended a BBQ place here he said was great, so we looked it up and it was only like three blocks from our hotel. Perfect. The whole Meatpacking District over there was super cute and trendy with lots of warehouse looking restaurants with lots of outdoor seating. We split BBQ pulled pork and mac and cheese and it was really tasty. We think we will head back to that area tomorrow for dinner as well.
After we ate, we walked back to the hotel to grab our bikes one more time to ride to Tivoli. We found out it’s the second oldest amusement park in the world, which helps make it such an attraction. We already had our tickets from earlier so we walked right in with no wait. I’m not one for amusement parks, but this was supposedly a must see. We walked around the entire park and there were lots of families and teens, as expected. The park had games, roller coasters, many food options, and many other rides and attractions, but we just wanted to scope it out. There were also different areas representing different countries.
After walking the whole park, it was finally time to head back for the night. We had a long, busy, and very productive day. In fact, we did everything these last two days that we planned for over three, so tomorrow will be more low-key, yet we still plan to see some new stuff. I sure will sleep like a baby tonight.
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