A Splendid City
Before leaving Kalmar, we took one last walk around the old town and bought a boat-load of Swedish candy for the grands. I’m so sure their parents will be excited about that. NOT! On our ride toward Copenhagen, we saw beautiful green spaces with still only a little amount of traffic and great roads. We passed lots of lakes, ponds, and rivers, too. The bridge/tunnel connecting Sweden with Denmark seemed a remarkable engineering feat. It was completed @ 2005 and that was the first time the countries were connected by roads. Again, the border crossing consisted of a sign and painted names of the respective countries on the road. So easy.
Our hotel was a bit of a surprise. The Cabinn City. Apparently Cabinn hotels are a new concept that is taking hold in Denmark. Rooms are super small, described as cruise size but in reality, they are even smaller. Hotel is centrally located but, the bathroom is the size of the one in my small camper and it takes two steps to get from the door to the bed. There is a bed, a lamp, a coffee maker, and towels. If that is all you need, it is a great deal. It is safe, clean, and centrally located. It made me miss my upgraded suite on the cruise. Lol. We stayed and it was fine.
We could actually view an amusement ride from Tivoli Gardens from our window in Cabinn City. We weren’t sure what to do with the first evening since time was limited. We had difficulty finding the entrance but once that was accomplished, we paid the rather inexpensive admission and were blown away. It’s a place I’ve always been curious about and we were not disappointed. The park is celebrating its 180th year so there were lots of special performances. We saw ballet, opera, several music venues and lots of rides that the children and adults were enjoying. The gardens were the impressive part to me. Green spaces everywhere with lots of color! Lanterns came on at night, too. I read that this place inspired Walt Disney to do his thing. I can see why! The gardens host lots of restaurants, too and we found a traditional upscale Denmark restaurant. It wasn’t planned but we had a grand meal at Paafuglen. Mine included halibut ceviche, with little purple flowers, veal with a very unique sauce and strawberry/cream dessert. YUM. George tried the traditional smorgasbord open -face sandwiches- dried fish, another fish we’d never heard of and roast beef. It’s important to order three, it seems, and important to eat them in that order. Back home in our little room, we had the perfect view of the 180th birthday celebration. The fireworks were as good as any I’ve ever seen.
The next day was a truly warm, sunny day. It was a perfect day to get the feel of the city. We were close enough to the train station to walk there. The crazy thing about walking and driving in the city is the bike traffic. Truly, we were told there are more bikes than people. They have their own lanes, but it seems more dangerous to me than the car lanes. Bikes are whizzing by with riders of all ages. Some wear helmets and some do not. They follow the traffic lights just like the cars. We, the tourists, are the problem. Drivers must remember to look for bikes before making a right turn in front of their path because they are NOT stopping. Walkers just need to stay out of the way, and it wasn’t always easy to do.
OK. Back to topic. Inside the enormous train station, we found a kiosk where we bought hop-on, hop-off city and boat tour tickets. Little did we know that there are multiple companies offering the same service, but we finally found our pick up point and began our journey! What a beautiful and modern city. Green spaces, parks, trails, museums, walking paths, historical monuments were everywhere. We completed the entire route first just to get a feel and then returned to the places we wanted to see more of. It’s a city where we wish we had more time. On this day, we returned to the free-city of Christiania. It was founded by the hippies in the 70s and today, it feels as though you are stepping back in time. They push the use of weed but no other drugs. About 1,000 residents live there now (although estimates vary greatly) and they are selling their tie-dyed clothing, jewelry, belts, t shirts, knives, flags, and a lot more. It looks pretty rough in places and I, truthfully, felt less safe here than anywhere else in the city but we are glad we experienced it for a brief time. We also marveled at the influence of Hans Christian Anderson here. There are statues, parks, and so much there to honor him. He was a great storyteller and we, of course, had to visit the Hans Christian Anderson Gift shop. There was also the famous Little Mermaid Statue sitting in the harbor. She appears so peaceful sitting there but has apparently had a tough life of abuse and neglect. She is the iconic symbol of the city now, it seems.
After lots of walking, we relaxed in our hotel lobby for the evening. The room, remember, is too small.
Instead of leaving town, as we originally planned, to see the countryside, we decided to spend our third day in the city because there was so much more to see. We spent the greater part of the day in Nyhavn. It’s the old town right on the canal. We had drinks, people watched, walked some more, took the canal cruise and then had an early dinner. The buildings are old and colorful. They are similar to what we saw in Bergen. They were painted lots of colors here and we were told it is how people identified their houses instead of having street numbers. The canal cruise was a bit chilly but a great way to see the town. We saw the queen’s yacht, the local beach, lots of opera building, concert halls, and museums along the way. We also viewed the Little Mermaid from the water.
We learned that the Danish people are the happiest people on earth. I’m not quite sure how that was determined but we’ve been told that by several people. They have a practice called hygge (pronounced ‘hooga’) that is untranslatable, we are told, that brings the happiness. It is a state of mind where folks are taught and practice being thankful for the simple things in life. It dates back to the 1800s and is especially celebrated around Christmas. It is a way to enjoy life’s quieter pleasures. There is a lot about it on the internet.
We really love the happy place and the happy people! Happy hygge, all!
