We kicked off the official beginning of the Christmas season in Copenhagen. This turned out to be a perfect decision because it was Christmas everywhere! Although it wasn’t snowing, the weather was chilly, the lights were glowing, and we got into the spirit of the season. We also checked another city off the list!
We started out with a long walk around the city. We walked through botanical gardens, checked out the Marble Church, a few castles, and ate smørrebrød (AKA open faced sandwiches, which are a Danish specialty!).
On the first night, we visited Tivoli Gardens, which was decked out for the Christmas season. Imagine Christkindlmarkt in Chicago, but with carnival rides and rollercoasters and much bigger! We even saw Santa! It was great. I loved it. It’s Christmas!!!
On Day 2 we spent the day exploring once again. The first stop was the parliament building (Christiansborg Slot), which has a balcony on the 5th floor where you can get a great view over the city.
Then we took a boat tour around the canals. It was quite cold, but worth it to see the city from the water! We got a chance to learn about some of the neighborhoods and then went back and revisited them later on foot.
The afternoon was spent exploring the neighborhoods of Nyhavn, Christianshavn and Freetown Christiania. We of course stopped at every Christmas market we came across, and drank lots of Christmas beer! The first stop, Nyhavn, is centered around a canal surrounded by colorful buildings – the postcard picture of Copenhagen! It is full of restaurants and bars and is a fun place to spend some time. Christianshavn was next – it is similar to Nyhavn, but definitely less touristy. Freetown is another story. It is a hippy neighborhood that includes a very small area where people are able to freely buy and sell marijuana. Weed is not legal in Copenhagen, but for some reason the police have no jurisdiction in this small space! No pictures are allowed, though, for obvious reasons. It was a pretty unique place….
After a quick weekend, we could see why people love Copenhagen! It is said to be one of the happiest cities in the world, and the beauty and laid-back atmosphere in addition to the amazingly nice people there lead us to understand why. Our first trip trip to Scandinavia was definitely a success!
The Great Fekspedition 