Copenhagen in December, really?






Copenhagen Christmas Market - 2012 was a Russian Theme



Where do we come up with these ideas? Seriously who would want to go to a cold, snowy, dark land in December? We did. We are planning on visiting Sweden and Norway next summer when the sun peaks and the weather is supposed to be gorgeous, so we thought why not see what Scandinavia is like during the opposite time of the year? Copenhagen was also supposed to have a great Christmas market so we decided to take a quick weekend trip earlier this month.

We flew out on Friday afternoon and all went relatively smooth, well the flight was delayed by about 30 minutes, but that seems to be what you should expect when flying these European discount airlines, at least in our experiences. Once we arrived in Copenhagen it was one of our easiest trips into the city to find our hotel. So far in our travels when we arrive in a city it either seems to go really well or it is a difficult long process, so we were happy that it was relatively quick and easy, especially with Emma's bedtime on the horizon.

With the help of very friendly staff at our hotel we managed to find a great Thai place for dinner. Just as Indonesian food has a stronghold in Amsterdam we came to quickly find that Asian food is extremely prevalent throughout Copenhagen, which is about as different as you can get from more traditional Danish food that includes open faced sandwiches, cold fish, hot dogs, meats, potatoes, and of course Danishes at breakfast (but they are actually called Viennese bread in Denmark). However, no matter what type of food you find in Copenhagen you can be guaranteed it will be good. Copenhagen restaurants are known to be some of the best in the world, and you certainly pay the price too! However, in general Scandinavia has a very high cost of living just like Switzerland so pretty much everything is expensive.



Dad & Emma ready to take on Copenhagen!

As we headed out on Saturday morning with our first stop at the Nationalmuseet (National Museum) I quickly noticed how very comfortable and at home I felt here. From very friendly and helpful people most everywhere we went, to the bitter cold and snow, and the accent these people spoke with I realized I felt like I was back in Minnesota. It was a welcome feeling and one that made me very excited to be headed there soon!

We decided to make a quick stop at the Nationalmuseet mostly because we wanted to learn about the history of the Vikings. Unfortunately we were a bit disappointed because the museum held much less information on the Vikings than we were led to believe, but we did learn some interesting things about the Danish people. Additionally, the museum was free and warm inside so we couldn't complain!



Entrance to Tivoli Gardens

The next stop on our agenda was Tivoli Gardens and the Copenhagen Christmas Market. Tivoli is in the heart of Copenhagen and is a 20 acre amusement park and garden. It is the second oldest amusement park in the world, originally built in the mid-1800's. In addition to the rides and games you can find many nice restaurants and even a hotel inside the gates of Tivoli. And for the month of December it is transformed into a winter wonderland with their Christmas Market and decorations. It was an absolutely beautiful setting, so much that we had to come back at night to see it all lit up. But it was very different from all of the other European Christmas markets we had visited to date. Other markets consist of small wood booths filled with local crafts. In Copenhagen there were little huts or tiny stores set-up throughout the gardens. Many appeared to be actual Danish retailers simply selling their products in a different setting. There were many nice things to buy, but it was nothing like we had come to expect.




Enjoying the beautiful Christmas decorations inside Tivoli

Copenhagen's Christmas Market was much more upscale, especially their booths as each was more like an actual store.

Beautiful hotel inside Tivoli

Not sure the story behind this giant reindeer on wheels... made me think that must be what the Trojan Horse looked like



Tivoli looked magical all lit up at night

We made a stop midway through our shopping for lunch at a nice restaurant inside Tivoli. They were promoting a traditional Danish Christmas buffet, but after deciding it didn't look quite our style (especially for the price) Steve quickly opted for the other item heavily promoted on their menu - ribs. You can ask him, but I still don't think he'll say the beef was quite as good as American beef, however I think they made up for the difference in quality in size!



Now that's a rack of ribs!

After making our way through the rest of Tivoli and watching the people crazy enough to ride the roller coasters in 20 degree weather, we headed down the city's main thoroughfare. It was clear that the Danish were out in full force to do their Christmas shopping as she street was packed. We are quickly learning that just like in the U.S. it's best not to do your Christmas shopping on a Saturday.



Beautiful street decorations



View over Copenhagen from the top of the Rundetarn.

Anxious to get out of the commotion we headed to the Rundetarn, which was supposed to provide great views of the city. It was only about 120 ft tall, but all the viewing points were outside, so Steve decided to go up and snap a few photos as we figured it would not be the best spot for Emma in the cold. While we waited Emma and I were going to go to a coffee shop just across the street, but we noticed there was a sign on the door that said no strollers. Many places in Europe are not the most stroller friendly, but you just make it work, or there is a place to leave the stroller by the door, but rarely do you actually see a sign at a restaurant/cafe saying there are no strollers allowed inside. There are obviously many reasons why this could be but I couldn't help but to think it is because everyone in Copenhagen has huge strollers! When we were looking for strollers we tried to find one of the smallest types possible that would still fit our needs in attempt to make it easy to get around all of these places in Europe, clearly the Danish don't have that mentality. It must have had something to do with the need for all babies here to have five layers of snowsuits and blankets on top of them. In fact, I noticed that all kids here seem to wear snowsuits for everyday errands - I concluded that Copenhagen in winter is not about trying to look good, but simply stay warm.



Taking a break from her snowsuit and showing me she knows how to stick out her tongue.



Staying warm is what we were trying to do as well as it quickly started getting dark. We were all starting to get worn out from a busy day so we made one last turn back towards Tivoli to see it lit up before grabbing a quick dinner and heading back to the hotel to make plans for Sunday.





The bike "graveyard" as Steve called it, after a winter storm...
looks like the Danish like their bikes almost as much as the Dutch.

When we went to sleep on Saturday night we were both hoping we would wake up in the morning to find out the weather report was wrong, but unfortunately it was not. Bitter cold, snow, and wind had arrived just as forecasted. Although we had hoped to see several sights on Sunday we knew it would be next to impossible. So the top spot on our list was to at least see the quaint suburb of Nyhavn, which is famous for its canals and brightly colored townhouses. We opted to take a canal boat tour ride as it was covered and heated. It would have been a great tour had it just been cold, but the heavy snow and wind made it very difficult to see. So we enjoyed the ride and saw what we could, including a quick glimpse at the famous Little Mermaid statue. As soon as our boat docked we made a dash for the closest restaurant we could find. Lucky for us it offered several good local dishes including the Smorrebord (open faced) sandwiches that I had been wanting to try. One of the sandwiches in my selection even included a caviar substitute, which is popular and commonly used in Scandinavia, tasting similar, but significantly less expensive. It wasn't bad, but I can now feel pretty certain that I don't have any need to buy the real stuff.



It certainly felt like Christmas in Scandinavia... very cold, very windy, and snow blowing sideways.
Wish we could have seen the canals on a nicer day.

Family photo in the bus stop staying warm

If the weather had been nicer we would have made a few more stops but instead we opted for the warmest route of simply heading to the airport. And of course, as we should have guessed, our string of bad luck traveling on Sunday nights continued. After train delays coming home from both Venice and Salzburg on Sunday nights we had hoped we would have better luck flying. Of course not. We boarded the plane on time only to sit on the runway for another hour waiting to be de-iced. Oh well we should know better by now. At least it gave me the opportunity to change Emma's dirty diaper instead of getting stuck holding her during take-off until we reached "a safe cruising altitude."

All in all, our trip was short but fun. Cold but welcoming. I'm not sure Copenhagen was quite what I had hoped for (and my opinion would probably change with better weather, which is the same assessment people can make about many different European cities), but I am without a doubt excited to get back to Scandinavia and see what else it has to offer!



Famous Nyhavn Canal