It’s taking a tremendous amount of effort to write this last travelogue just cos I’m getting really lazy. I realised it is so much easier to write an entry on food. Ha but okay back to topic, Copenhagen marks our last destination on our 16-days holiday which was also the destination I fell sick! I felt like I was on a world tour or something. Touching down at Copenhagen airport, we quickly got ourselves a train ticket to get to our hotel which is very near Copenhagen central station. You can buy the ticket at 36kr near the baggage claim area and also get yourself a hotdog if you are hungry. Yes, there is a hotdog stand there and it smelled so good
These red machines accept notes so you don’t need to worry about not having small change
You just need to follow the sign to get to the train station which was located right below the airport
We were rather skeptical if we were on the right train just cos there was nobody onboard but thank goodness it was
Our hotel for the night – Absalon Hotel
We stayed at Absalon hotel that was just minutes walk away from the Central station which makes the location a convenient one
Interior of the hotel
They even had a dedicated playing area just if you happened to be bored
I thought our room was pretty nice and given we were just there for a night, there’s really nothing much to complain about. Oh wait, the breakfast! Yes, the breakfast was really horrible
So we quickly offloaded our stuffs and left in search of dinner. We asked the receptionist to recommend some really good Danish cuisine and he directed us to this place which was just 1 minute walk across the hotel. I like it when the hotel is really this convenient
Actually we didn’t really catch the name of the restaurant just cos we couldn’t really understand but since it was just across the road, it wasn’t difficult to find either
Oscar Davidsen Blackcurrant Rum 40kr (left)
Cabernet Sauvignon, Anakena 54kr (right)
The friend had a blackcurrent rum which I was contemplating to have after my carbernet sauvignon but after trying it, I changed my mind instantly. Lol. The taste of rum was so strong, combined with the sweetness of blackcurrent, it was proving difficult to finish even half a cup
Miss Barner’s herring specialty 74kr
Dill, Apple, Aquavit. Served with fats, capers and rye bread
The waiter recommended to try their Danish specialty which was a herring dish. And since I had herring sushi before, I thought they would taste similar. Sad to say, this is another cuisine that required an acquired taste. The herring had quite a (fishy and cold) taste though masked by the herbs but eating it with the fats and bread was a little strange. I could accept this fish, but I don’t necessarily like it
Today’s Soup – Mushroom Soup 69kr
Miss Barner’s Stew 179kr
Tenderloin of pork, cocktail sausages, bacon, mushrooms, paprika sauce served with mashed potatoes
This is one pot that looked like it could serve three prople. The stew wasn’t quite what I expected and it got too jelat after awhile
Wiener Schnitzel 189kr
Veal with green peas, fried potatoes, sliced capers, boneless herring
Another HUGE portion. My veal fared a little better but I got sick of it after while too. Lol
Served with brown sauce
Old Fashion Apple Cake 64kr
With crushed macarons, whipped cream and home-preserved jam
Well, this is definitely not your usual apple cake. I mean, which part of it looked like a cake? Honestly, I only had one word for it – sweeet. It was really too sweet for me and after awhile, I gave up
Honestly speaking, I don’t really know how authentic Danish fare taste like so to make a judgement based on this meal seemed a little unfair. Still, this meal to me was at most average even though there were quite a number of locals there. On a side note, this was ranked a lower number than restaurant Cofoco (another restaurant specialized in Danish cuisine which is also near the hotel). So perhaps on hindsight, we should have dined there instead
Frk. Barners Kaelder
Helgolandsgade 8A, 1653 København V, Denmark
Breakfast was settled at the hotel since it was included in the package we paid. The food was really bad but we just made do with it before we head out for the day
Breakfast! The only thing that tasted like what it was, was the bread
Good morning Copenhagen!
We took the train to Osterport station to visit Little Mermaid, which kickstarted our walking tour all the way down to the city. The weather was enjoyable that day, which seemed a little too warm for us in fact. We were rather amused that the locals were really dressed for the cold when we had gotten so used to the cold we don’t find it cold anymore
We didn’t know if we were taking the right train but we just asked one of the (good-looking) local ^.^
Copenhagen is also well known for cycling as a form of transport so you see many cyclists almost everywhere
Walking to the spot where the mermaid was took about 10 minutes and it was a picture of greenery along the way, with many many statues
The famous icon, gifted by Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen to the city of Copenhagen which has been vandalized countless time
Making our way towards the city, we strolled along Churchillparken where we saw a church, fortress and more greenery before we reached the residences of the Royal famiily
St Alban’s church, an Anglican church with the Gefion fountain
A very good place for jogs
Walking along Kastellet, one of the best preserved fortress in Northern Europe
The windmill which was also used as a storage
Frederik’s Chuch, also known as The Marble church. The structure is so majestic that you won’t miss it
Amalienborg Palace, home to the Danish royal
Where we happened to witness a guard changing ceremony!
And we continued to walk downwards to the famous Nyhvan which was just a short distance away before making in time for our lunch reservation at Restaurant Schonneman, famous for their traditional open sandwiches
Nyhavn
Which you probably see this often on postcards
Dark clouds looming. I was praying we would get to the restaurant before the downpour starts (just cos I didn’t had any brolly)
Love locks along the bridge
Getting myself a pistachio icecream (30kr)! Cos I had a bad experience at Iceland, not that this was any fantastic but at least it tasted like icecream
The lego version
It was rather common to see these white bicycles, available for rental
And we wandered around the area since we were still early for lunch
Restaurant Schonneman is a place famous for traditional open sandwiches or otherwise known as smorrebord. Read more about my review here, for those who are interested to taste of slice of Danish cuisine
And since the restaurant was near the shopping area, we spent the next couple of hours wandering aimlessly trying to digest our food and we happened to chance across Torvehallerne market! It was awesome cos we wanted to make our way to The Coffee Collective to grab a cup of coffee anyway
Shopping streets of Copenhagen
A fresh flower stall
Famous hotdog stands
You can find these hotdog stands everywhere. But since we were too full, we gave them a miss
The Torvehallerne market is a food market packed with delicious food, groceries and bakeries
You can find many things in here, like the famous porridge (Grod), Summerbird Chocolates and coffee from The Coffee Collective! Well, to name a few
Yay, getting our coffee
Latte 37kr
The Coffee Collective is one of the highly recommended coffee place if you are a coffee lover so the friend and I popped by to see what’s the hype about, and we were lucky there wasn’t any queue. The coffee has a nice roast with a slight acidity and smooth aftertaste. I realised coffee in Scandinavian countries are slightly different, usually lighter in taste. It took some time to adjust and appreciate their coffee just cos the coffee in Singapore goes opposite in taste
Moving on, we were so excited about getting Summerbird that we stood there for a good 15 minutes to decide how many packets to get. We bought so much we swept clean half their shelves. lol
This is like the best chocolate ever. It’s so good when we walked into shops with our bags, we have people coming up to us and say ‘Summerbird is really good’ YA WE KNOW. I regretted not buying more 😦
Anyone going Copenhagen soon? 😀
Happy us continued to sightsee after buying our souvenirs which led us to one of the popular castles in Copenhagen
Rosenborg Castle
*I have been dreaming of a true love kiss~*
Well the castle was closed on the day we visited, so just a picture of the exterior!
Ended up at City Hall as our final destination just cos we mistook it for something else but since we were already there, here’s a picture for memory sake
We made our way back to hotel and took the train back to the airport for our flight back home
The train delayed for a good half an hour while we were on the way to the airport. And when the doors finally opened, you see everyone dashing to catch their connecting trains. ha, point to make – allocate more time before a flight. Copenhagen airport was pretty nice to walk around. It actually feels more like an indoor market at some point. So we ended up craving for hotdog and scouring the airport for one #whenwewantitwemusthaveit
We finally found it near our gates! yay
Hotdog 33kr
You can find Steff’s Place hotdog in the city everywhere but we ended up having it at the airport. Hotdogs are a Danish thing too. So to eat one before we go home is like a check off the list
And it marked our journey back to Helsinki before another plane ride to Singapore. We were very unfortunate that the gate when we landed was at the furthest end of Helsinki airport and our flight to Singapore was at the other end. So when we were making our way and we saw ‘Final Call’ being displayed against our flight number, it was an epic run to the other side of the airport, still having to clear immigration in the middle. Seriously. It was freaking tiring
Dinner on the plane at like 1am; Stew chicken with mash potato. The one good thing about it was it was served piping hot, like seriously hot
Breakfast – there wasn’t much choice cos there was only one option. Breakfast was lukewarm. It’s like they don’t even bother heating it up =/
12 hours later..
Hello Singapore 🙂
I enjoyed Copenhagen in every way. It was a nice little city filled with nice people, charming sceneries and awesome weather. I think it would be nice if we could have a few more extra days to explore. Nevertheless, I don’t mind returning and perhaps, next time to try Noma. Ha, I might have to starve myself for days for that
This concludes my whole Scandinavia and Iceland adventure. I realise it was rather difficult to find information about these Scandinavian countries on blogs so I hope my little write-up can help you in one way or another so with that..whoohoo, I’m finally done! *Throws confetti*
Thank you for being so patient and staying with me 🙂
Click here for other travelogues:
Finland – Helsinki & Rovaniemi, Home to Santa Claus
Sweden – Stockholm & Kiruna, Swedish Lapland
Sweden – Gothenburg & Southern Archipelago
Easily satisfied, Hard to please 