Stop #3 on our mini Euro Trip!
Night 1: After a quick flight from Prague to Denmark, we were ready for some new experiences. The more “cold” personalities of the Czech Republic were of a stark contrast to the warm personalities we met in Denmark. First stop on our list was our hostel, Urban House. This was my first hostel experience and, I have to admit, I was quite excited. There’s some thrill for me when being able to travel on a budget (but not feel the budget). Our check-in was flawless and were were pleasantly surprised with the space we were provided. Just like the name suggests, it had a very urban feel and was full of interesting people. Fast forward to getting settled, we changed our clothes and went looking for a spot for dinner. At this point my “hanger” had begun to set in so we walked past a row of restaurants and finally settled on an all organic restaurant called Bio Mio. Admittedly, this was more my type of food (minus the organic coke) and we enjoyed sitting outside at a little table with blankets provided for us to keep warm. Because it was getting later at this point, we decided to walk home, grab a drink while chatting with other travelers from around the world, and get a decent night’s sleep.
Day 2: Because our hostel was absolutely fabulous and had a warehouse-worthy amount of bikes to rent, we decided to take part in the biking transportation culture. Now, if you know anything about Lauren and I, one of us rides bikes frequently and the other hasn’t ridden in at least 10 years (*cough, Lauren, cough*). After we did some practicing and gave each other a pep talk about tackling the roads, we set out on our day’s adventure. Up first, the royal palace and grounds. We quickly learned through watching other tourists that buying the ticket to enter the palace was a hot commodity–so naturally, we joined in. After touring all of the ornate rooms, art, and artifacts, we head into the castle cellar where a vault of the families jewels are store. Standing inches away from the actual king and queen’s crowns felt surreal. I wasn’t watching Princess Diaries at home, I was living the experience.
The end of the tour led us back out into the castle gardens were we meandered and marveled at some of the immense tree landscaping which gave us our next idea, to check out the botanical gardens across the street. By this time, we were in need of some snacks so we rode our bikes to an eclectic coffee shop for my fav: roll, cheese, jam and frothy coffee. Sitting in the little outdoor patio, we continued to take in the hustle and bustle of a new city. Feeling rejuvenated, we hopped back on our bikes and made our way to Nyhavn where we parked and walked around to take in the iconic spot and many colors. Looking just like the pictures we’d seen, Nyhavn did not disappoint and I was impressed to see my first ever library houseboat!
No judgement here, we soon found ourselves hungry for a real meal and worked our way toward the genius Paper Island, a warehouse turned indoor food truck festival with huge patios and water views. I don’t think there are quite words to accurately describe the smells, hustle & bustle, and design of the place…but we found ourselves in both Asian and Mediterranean lines (why not try multiple places?!). Bringing out our food, we ate and waited out our food comas via the lounging chairs provided to patrons. Lauren was in heaven and her brain was running crazy with ideas of how to bring such a place back to Chicago!
After some rest and watching numerous boats enter/leave the harbor, we again hopped on our bikes and road our way to Christiania, or the Green Light District. To us, this community was quite an eye-opener. What used to be a military base is now a community inhabited by hippies who consider themselves separate state from the government of Denmark, creating and living by their won rules and governing system. Known for its immense cannabis trade, pictures are forbidden in this community–and they do take this rule seriously as I learned when I was confronted by a member (to which I played dumb and naive). Inside this colorful community are unique paintings, vendors selling jewlery, restaurants, art to buy, etc. While we didn’t feel unsafe by any means, there was also not a great sense of security either.
Ready to head back to the rest of the city, we retrieved our bike and head to our next destination, the famous church tower overlooking the city. After a wait in line, we climbed the several hundred stairs (the last 150 of which were outside and quickly decreased in size until they were no longer navigable) to the very top where we could see all of Denmark from a bird’s eye view. After quite a bit of fresh air, we returned the bikes to our hostel and and trekked our way to Tivoli Gardens where we got our hands on an infamous Danish hotdog, a circle bun with a hotdog sticking out one end. Needless to say, Tivoli is a theme park for adults that takes you to different themed parts of the world. Here we witnessed the excitement of European futbol being watched by hundreds of excited fans. We snacked, shopped, walked, and took in the sights watching the sun set. After the long day, we settled on dinner at Dyrehavn (restaurant).
With a walk home through the red light district, we were ready to call it a night and turn in!