Copenhagen adventure

On Thursday June 30, we headed off to Copenhagen for a 5 day visit.  While Alain had been there in the late 1970s on a work-related trip, I had never visited.  Recently voted the most liveable city in the world, and branding itself "wonderful" Copenhagen or C OPEN hagen, one can see why.  Clean lines, elegant buildings, longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe, little traffic and lots of bikes, excellent Metro (a 15 minute ride from the airport to downtown) and a walkable, safe city core.  It is very different from Paris-- the first thing we noticed was that there were very few balconies on the buildings and fewer people live in the heart of the city. The Danes are all taller and larger than the Parisiens, and both Alain and I felt shorter than ever.

We stayed at the Admiral Hotel, a wonderful old hotel on the waterfront, with 366 rooms and a nautical theme.  By booking on Expedia and paying in advance, we managed to get an acceptable rate.  Copenhagen is very expensive and even though a member of the European Union, it still clings, at least for the present time, to the Danish Kroner as its currency. The huge numbers (eg 180 kroner for a main course) are very off-putting.  Salads are scarce in restaurants, but the coffee is excellent.

Our first afternoon was spent exploring our neighbourhood and city core and checking out the scene.  We had our first lunch of smoked herring smorrebrod (open-faced sandwiches on delicious rye bread) at Cap Horn, in Nyhavn, about 5 minutes from our Hotel.  For those of you readers from Toronto, the food brought back memories of the many lunches I had at the Danish Food Centre on Bloor Street, back in the early 1970s (shrimp and egg was my favourite).

Hallway opposite elevator with nautical theme

Danish Theatre near hotel- very striking design

Boats in front of Hotel

View of Opera House from our Hotel

Nyhavn-beautiful street on canal, 5 minutes from our hotel: view of restaurants

Nyhavn- view of other side of the street

Cap Horn restaurant- our first lunch on Nyhavn

The whole city was full of painted elephants- a project called "elephant walk", which raised money for endangered elephants.  We took a walk down Stoget, the pedestrian street, which is a mix of expensive stores and big-box retailers.  The more interesting streets were the smaller ones than ran off of the main pedestrian street.

One of many elephants

Royal Copenhagen store with beautiful blue and white porcelain

We ended up having an early dinner at RAW 42, a delicious raw food restaurant where we shared a pizza and lasagna, made with cashews and other delicacies and a delicious piece of chocolate tart.

Dinner at Raw 42

On Friday July 1, we headed off to Emmerys for breakfast.  Emmerys is a wonderful bakery and coffee bar, which also sells provisions for picnics.  Alain had a good coffee and roll and I had a delicious roll with chocolate (no dairy).  It became our breakfast spot for the rest of the trip.   As we were leaving our hotel, we noticed a postman on wheels.

Postman on wheels

We then walked to the Museum of the Resistance, a free museum detailing the background and history of the German occupation of Denmark, the resistance during the war, and the dramatic events surrounding the saving of the vast majority of Danish Jews (warned about an impending roundup, the Danes helped the Jewish community escape to Sweden in boats).

Outside of the Museum of the Resistance

Display with info about the Danish decision to agree to the Nazi occupation

There were a lot of interesting stories about the head of the Danish Nazi party who did not become part of the government as was the case in Norway; the King who still rode his horses in the city; the agreement that Jews did not have to wear the yellow star; stories of resistance and executions; and the background to the rescue of the Jewish community in 1943.  Lots of mementos and photos from this period.

We then stopped for lunch at the Cafe Petersborg, one of the oldest restaurants in Copenhagen, in a basement with a small outside eating area.  Delicious pickled herring.  A number of the older restaurants and even some stores are located in basements.

Pickled herring lunch at Cafe Petersborg 

Next stop was the Design Museum.  Copenhagen is known for its stellar designs.  Arne Jacobsen is the master, but there are many others who brought Danish design to the world, initially back in the 1950s.  

We only toured the modern wing of the museum, which had some wonderful pieces by the great Danish designers.

Outside of the Danish Design Museum

The egg chair

More beautiful chairs

Posters and a beautiful paino

After our visit to the museum, we headed off to the opening concert of the 33rd edition of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, which runs from July 1- July 10.  There are hundreds of events during this 10 day festival, many free outdoor concerts as well as big-name events.  A few of the big concerts had already sold out by the time we arrived (notably Sonny Rollins, whom we probably might have tried to see).  However, the prices were prohibitive and we decided to check out the local talent and the free concerts instead.

The official opening was held at Kongens Have (the Kings Gardens), a lovely park in the downtown area. The group was GinmanBlachmanDahl featuring Carsten Dahl (piano), Lennart Ginman, bass, Thomas Blachman, drums and special guest Stephen Riley, sax, from the US.  

Sonny Rollins and list of big name performers

Lots of posters advertising jazz fest around town

Opening event

More of the band

Crowd at the opening event

We then went for a late dinner at Kodbyens Fiskebar in the trendy Vesterbro area, about a 45 minute walk from our hotel.  The old slaughterhouse area now houses a number of very good restaurants.  Good food and a buzzy bar (Fiskebar in Antwerp, however, wins hands down in a Fiskebar smackdown).

Toby and dinner - mussels, a white fish with a beautiful beet ribbon 

On Saturday July 2, we visited the Danish Jewish Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind and built in 2004.  The exhibit focuses on the story of the saving of the Danish Jews in October 1943, but as well has displays of Jewish traditions.  It is a small museum with a modern interior build in a part of the Royal Library, which at one time was the King's boat house from the 17th century.  The design is "mitzvah", a good deed, and in usual Libeskind design, is a bit of a labyrinth.  A nice discreet museum, worth seeing.

Entrance to the Danish Jewish Museum

Close up of the entrance

Inside of the museum

We then stopped for lunch at Diamanten, a restaurant on one of the canals, and had some more smorrebrod (I had shrimp and eggs and Alain had roast beef).  We then walked out to the Vesterbro area to check out the scene.  It had become very warm and muggy by this time and it turned out that many of the stores closed at 3:00 p.m.  We stopped for a coffee at Kaffeslabberas'en (means talking together), a neighbourhood coffee bar.  Tired, we started our walk back, passed the Tivoli Gardens and decided to get a quick bite at Wagamama, the noodle chain from London, England.  We shared a dish of tri-coloured seaweed salads and two noodle dishes.

Tivoli Garden ride

Another shot

Dinner at Wagamama

Alain with the tri-coloured seaweed salad appetizer

A major thunder storm started just as we were finishing our dinner.  It was so fierce that we waited inside for about an hour and then finally decided we better head back to the Hotel.  We had umbrellas, which really didn't help.  It was about a 1/2 hour walk through flooding like we had never seen before.  At two intersections we were wading through at least 6 inches of water.  The lightening and thunder continued and it only started to let up when we were about 5 minutes from the Hotel.  I have never experienced a rainfall like that and it was quite frightening.  We were both totally drenched.

Just a few blocks from our Hotel. Cars abandoned in the flooded streets

On Sunday July 3, I awoke knowing that I had a bad cold.  All the changes in temperature and getting soaked in the rain no doubt contributed.  Our shoes and leather jackets took two days to dry out.
We went out for a run as the sun was out again.  I didn't last too long, as I was getting the cold.  When we returned to the hotel, we found out that there was no hot water.  The storm, which was the worst in Danish history, dropped 151 mm of rain and there were over 5000 lightening strikes in about a 2 1/2 hour period.  The impact on businesses was devastating.  Many of the basement restaurants and stores were flooded and everyone had furniture out on the sidewalk.  We were going to go out of town to visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, and walked to the nearest train station where we discovered that the trains weren't running due to the impact of the storm.  I wasn't feeling well, so we went back to the hotel, stopping to take some photos of the Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of the Danish royal family.

Identical facades of 4 buildings surround the square

One of the other palaces

On Monday July 4, there was still no hot water.  Most museums are closed Monday, with a few exceptions.  We wandered down to the Black Diamond which is the Royal Library's extension on the waterfront.  The building was completed in September 1999 and is covered in black granite mined in Zimbabwe and cut and polished in northern Italy.

Alain looking at the Black Diamond

View of the Black Diamond- very imposing on the waterfront

Buildings across from the Black Diamond

We had lunch at the Black Diamond cafe, and then went to visit the Christiansborg Palace, built in 1928.  Two other palaces had stood on the site but had burnt in 1794 and 1884.  The Parliament, the Royal Reception Rooms used by the Queen, the Prime Minister's Office as well as the Supreme Court are housed in the current palace.  The public has access to the receptions rooms, including the Great Hall, which houses a set of woven tapestries from 2000 depicting 100 years of Danish History.  The tapestries were commissioned for the Queen's 50th birthday in 1990 and woven in France by 60 weavers, completed in 2000. The Throne room, where the Queen receives foreign ambassadors was also open to the public (remember when Alfonso Gagliano was ambassador to Denmark - he would have had his credentials presented here).

The Throne Room where foreign ambassadors are received

Christian X

One of the incredible tapestries showing events and personalities of the 20th century

We then went and checked out some jazz at one of the outdoor venues.  We saw a group called Shanghai Touch, a Danish-Chinese collaboration with Coco Zhao (vocals), Peng Fei (violin), Lawrence Ku, guitar, Fabian Kallerdahl, piano, Kaspar Vadsholt, bass, Janus Templeton, drums with special guest Sinne Eeg (vocal).  Coco Zhao had a lovely voice and some of his tunes were Shanghai folk songs sung to jazz arrangements.  Very innovative and fun  Lots of folks attending.

Shanghai Touch

Coco Zhao and Sinne Eeg

We ended the day with a wonderful dinner at Geist- a new restaurant that had just opened in April.  We originally had reservations for Sunday, but the restaurant was closed due to flood damage in their basement.  Geist features the new Nordic cousine.  I had a beautiful grilled monkfish in a very original sauce and Alain had roebuck (Bambi) with some greens.  Small portions, but very innovative food.  They made us a special desert of light raspberry sorbet with currants.  The server came over with some raspberry sauce that he poured over some white emulsion that disappeared after the pour.  Unfortunately, it was too late to get the camera before he poured the sauce.  After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to pack.

Alain's roebuck

Toby's grilled monkfish

Raspberry sorbet and currents after the sauce was poured

On Tuesday July 5, we headed home.  Our adventures are at an end for now.  We will always have Paris 2011, a truly memorable moveable feast.  Home to a hot bath and yes, I really did lose 10 pounds.  Hope to see all you blog followers soon.  Thanks for letting us share these memories with you.