This summer I took a city break to København and Wikipedia informs me that the English cognate name is the one I used in the title. So that, as they say, explains that.
Copenhagen would not necessarily have been high on my list, but I wanted someplace to escape the unbearable heat of what was the worst summer in Bucharest in my memory. I found a decent price on the flight by going to Malmö and then taking a bus across the big Öresund Bridge they have there.
Other than the flight, my first impression is the one I expected. Expensive. I paid 200 dollars a night on a hotel room that was the size of a small closet. The bathroom is what I would usually expect in an overnight train. But it got the job done, sleep wise (and for other basic bodily functions), and it was a fairly central location, walking distance (which for me is 5 kilometers or less) to most places I wanted to go to.
I have mixed feelings of the city. It was expensive for me as a Romanian so that influenced it. Also, the real estate prices seemed outrageous. But if one is the kind to have inherited a decent apartment in the center from one’s ancestors, it looks like a fairly livable city, especially if you like cycling and messing about in boats.
The general feeling was airy. Most streets were fairly wide, and many had the standard layout of sidewalk bike path parking lane and driving lane. There were plenty of canals in the city where people would swim or boat around. It was quite clean and I think I saw one beggar / homeless person there in 3 days, and she seemed furtive, so it is clearly not something tolerated, similar to my experience in Utrecht.
Architecture wise, it was a mixed bag. As you may already know, I dislike modern architecture. The one in Copenhagen is generally praised and liked by many a modern hipster. It is still not for me. I liked the old stuff way better.
The city did not have a lot of traffic and the public transport seemed good. It was somewhat crowded with people, especially in the touristy areas. But it was pleasant enough to walk around.
What disappointed me was the specialty coffee. The Nordics seem to have a good reputation for good coffee in Europe and I did not see that in Copenhagen. The coffee was perfectly cromulent, decent specialty, but absolutely nothing special. Prolog coffee was the best of the lot. There were, in the end, plenty of cafes, most with good breakfast from 15 to 20 dollars.
What I did like was the craft beer. A lot of choice, a lot of styles and many places had beer flights, something practically nonexistent in Bucharest, even for breweries with 20 taps. A 400 ml beer was between 11 and 15 USD.
The food was a mixed bag, kind of pricey and some of it very good and some not some much. You could get a good fancy-ish meal for 100 dollar a head though. Top stuff would be 250 or more. But there was ramen and shawarma cheap and filling and pretty good. I also liked Oyster and Grill a bit. The wine bars seemed quite decent. There was a great whisky bar called Noorbohandelen.
Overall it was pleasant enough. Ate some good stuff, drank some good stuff, visited a bunch. But in the end a bit too expensive for me, I spend, all considered, over 1000 USD for a 3 day city break, which just isn’t in the budget for a bum like me (well obviously it is since I spent it, but still). I was careful about some expenses and did not exactly live it up. That could have been 2000. In the end though, if one can swing the cash, I would say it is worth a visit.
“A 400 ml beer was between 11 and 15 USD.”
That sounds expensive to me.
And breakfast should be $10 or less.
Should, but itsn’t anymore.
We had a Copenhagian as an exchange student in high school, he was the most racist person I have ever met.
Not possible! I’ve been assured that we in the U.S. are the only racists
I dated a girl from Denmark. Her family came here when she was young. One night we were at a bar, she met an au pair from Copenhagen. But being out of practice, she had trouble speaking with her.
So I told her, “that’s because your Danish is stale.”
She didn’t get it.
Cheesy.
*looks at Christmas cheese danish on my plate*
*kicks rocks*
What do they call a danish in Denmark, anyway?
Since a hot dog is a Wiener in Frankfurt and a Frankfurter in Vienna…
wienerbrød apparently.
Vienna bread?
It is a form of viennoiserie.
Thanks Pie. Also possibly safer than NYC at the moment.
https://nypost.com/2023/12/26/metro/two-girls-14-and-16-stabbed-at-grand-central-on-christmas/
Eric Adams was right. You never know what you’re going to get in NYC.
Whatever you get, it ain’t gonna be good.
Thank you for the travelogue.
+1
Particularly appreciate a European perspective on Europe.
Yes!
Yes, very much appreciated.
Huh, modern architecture is hideous everywhere.
We have become creatively bankrupt in every facet of our culture.
My German buddy from near Flensburg and I were going to walk into Denmark one day until I remembered I left my passport in Bayern. 🙁
That breakfast looks delicious.
I did not know Pie was an aficionado of the chaw. (spits)
Husband’s shoulder surgery is tomorrow morning.
It’s oncology night at the Mojeaux House of Medical Transcriptioning, which is never fun. A 57yo is going on hospice.
Merry Christmas.
Part of the reason my wife stopped being a nurse on the floor.
Some 65 years ago I visited Copenhagen. It was clean and it seemed most young people were articulate in English. I spent a few days there, there was a park called Tivoli Garden where mostly young people hung out, food/beer and young ladies that wanted to practice their language skills. It was a fun time to be young, single with American dollars.
I stayed in sort of a B and B, the hosts were super nice, I don’t remember the second B so maybe had to go to an outside cafe. Thanks for the trip, Pie, down Memory Lane.
I want to hear more about the ladies and their language skills.
Tivoli is still there, now an amusement park and too touristy for me so did not visit
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
/#1 on my bucket list.
Not posted yet?
https://youtu.be/Azp-Z5fT7Yo
Obligatory schmaltz (TW: unabashedly schmaltzy music from an unabashedly schmaltzy movie musical. You can’t say I didn’t warn you. You’re welcome. Oh – and the YT clip is obviously erroneously titled,)
I never saw that on MTV.
On drafting women: We’re angry menopausal women. Give us guns and put us out to post.
She should be in charge of recruiting. I like her.
I’ve watched it 5 times, hee-hawing every time.
*breaks 4th wall*….
“Never seen a Tardis before?”
Ugh.
So, so bad. Why did I do it? They warned me, but I watched it anyway.
But at least they got in their quota of trans actors….
I saw some tweet from the gay they have pretending to be a Doctor yesterday where he was bitching about people mispronouncing his name. Said that if people can pronounce Schwarzenegger correctly, they can pronounce his name right and then he gave the phonetic spelling.
They aren’t just overtly political. They are downright dislikable in everyway. Zero humility while they destroy everything you loved in pop culture. It’s a cancer that just won’t die hopping from host to host.
Up next is a BIPOC Sauron.
Dude, he’s already Sauron the Black, what more do you want?
The Critical Drinker warned you but you didn’t listen.
He did. Oof.
New companion is best friends and band mates with a trans woman played by a trans woman. Well, at least a dude dressed up as a woman. Probably actual trans woman.
They also did another historical revision. Eric Weiss (Houdini) had a summer long affair with the doctor.
Oof.
Aggressively bad.
Zombie JNT: Miss me yet?
On the woke movie front…
It is so much more recent and more aggressive than I gave it credit for.
We watched “Bring it on”, a comedy staring Kirstin Dunst, 25% of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer supporting cast and Dwayne Wade’s wife.
From 2000, it included jokes making fun of gay people, using “Fag” as a generic soft-insult, not the horrific “f-word” it has become, lots of offensive on the “woke” front.
What it did include? Black team is better because black and hip-hop, whitey can’t beat them if they don’t steal from them. White savior tries to buy off her white guilt, but strong black woman won’t let her off that easy.
So it was sort of woke for its time. But could never exist today. Surprised it didn’t get one of those Disney “this contains historically anachronistic offensive things” trigger warnings.
Wtf? Dipshit pedosmile Mr Beast crap in every store, and can’t get Nekot wafers.
Back to work, to me, today.
Mornin’ 🌞☕
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kr4ufa83AWU
Quirky, yet classy. 🎶🎶
*for me
It’s 45 and rainy. Time to head in to the office.
Good morning, Sean & U!
Morning!
Hope your commute was easy. Traffic was very light for me yesterday. I could stand for it to stay that way all week.
It was rainy to the point where moderate traffic was frustrating to drive in.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-teen-allegedly-shoots-kills-215841360.html
“Florida teen allegedly shoots, kills sister after fight over Christmas gifts”
Wow.
So, if I’m following:
14 year old pulls a gun and points it at his 15 year old brother’s head. The family sends him outside, WITH THE GUN, where he shoots his sister.
His brother then comes out of the house, WITH HIS OWN GUN, and shoots the 14 year old.
My first reaction was “This story is full of trashy people all around.”
I also noticed that while there were references to a grandparent and uncles, there was no mention of the direct parents.
Yes..Yahoo light on details but this was sadly, black on black crime that we don’t wanna talk about. What a shit show.
I used to work with a fellow, not white trash or a lunatic, who had one uncle murder another uncle at some family holiday gathering or the other-they were adults I think though. Holiday stress and family rivalry just makes some people go nuts.
Eh…I am gonna guess teens were in gangs and/or other illicit activities. FTA, both have prior arrests.
Ah, didn’t make it to the end…car thieves looks like and probably god knows what else.
I am absolutely loving my new Steam Deck.
What are you playing on it?
Or are you talking about a half-sauna?
I spent a good part of yesterday playing Fallout 3.
I still have fond memories of that game.
First time out of the vault, I completely failed to spot megaton, headed to the school instead. Then I managed to wander into Rivet City without entering downtown, which let me avoid that obnoxious DJ…
Good times.
It’s my first time playing it and I’m having a blast.
Glad I didn’t go too deep into the details.
Keep having fun.
HAVE A THIRSTY FIRSTY FIRSTMAS
DO DOO DOO DO DOO DOO
HAVE A THIRSTY FIRSTY FIRSTMAS
DO DOO DOO DO DOO DOO
LITTLE FIRSTER BOY
PA-RAPA-PA-PA
PA RAPA-PA-PA
PA RAPA PA PA
Mornin’ ever’body, up an’ at ’em.
Another fantastic day, only a trace of snow last night which will be gone in a few hours. No snow on the ground and none in the 10 day forecast. Three days of rain but soft and gentle, best fall/winter in my memory. Whole Christmas program went as scheduled, with no disagreements, everyone just happy to be together again.
Seed catalogs started arriving, doesn’t take much to make a geezer’s day.
Good morning, 4(20)! Hope all continues to go this well or better!
The day of snow was enough to satisfy my itch; though if predictions come true, some are saying a polar vortex might swoop down in the beginning of ’24. Couple with El Nino and its just heavy snow if that happens.
Glad you’re satisfied, but January & February are the big snow months, sometimes with a last blast in March just to keep us humble (and wreck my magnolia’s blooms. 😒)
Read your comment about Copenhagen. Just so you know, it was just as clean 30 years later when I visited for a couple of weeks. Tivoli Gardens is pretty but the Queens Garden was where it was at for a young American. Apparently any amount of sunshine was enough for ladies to *ahem* sunbath in all their glory.
Worst part of it all is I traveled across the world only to meet a girl that grew up in the next town over from me in California who then accused me of faking an American accent. Danish women were not my style but there were some pretty Swedish ladies on vacation there.
Ah..memories.
Stupidly hot here today. Which also makes it foggy.
What is that dish which looks like peppers and bonito shavings? And what is under the sausage links?
Does look like that. I would assume polenta under the sausage links? Couldn’t find any of those offerings on their menu except the rye break and fried egg.
Looks too gray.
I’m going to assume it’s clay.
What is that dish which looks like peppers and bonito shavings – pimento padron and bonito shavings
what is under the sausage – just some mustard
Ah then I did see that on the menu. Cheese sausages, pork and beef on bed of mustard.
Apparently Gray Poupon.
Eventually we’ll get you eating actual chiles for breakfast.
Bonito flakes are used for making broth. Getting them on your plate is like getting the stock bones with your bowl of soup.
You really need to get out of your comfort zone. It is nowhere near that. Have you tried eating a stock bone? Geesh.
My teeth aren’t strong enough to crack soup bones.
I have made bonito broth before.
Speaking of, I usually use my Oscar’s ham bone to make the very best pot of beans. I think this time I’ll turn it into potato soup instead.
Mornin’, reprobates!
Nice travelogue Pie, thanks. Youngest Patzer spent a week in Denmark in the winter of 2017-2018 on a choir trip, he was not terribly impressed. One day in Copenhagen, the rest in Aarhus – maybe would have liked it more had he spent more time in Copenhagen, who knows? We hosted two Danish kids a few weeks later (their choir came over here), and they spent all their time at the mall shopping for cheap VAT-free American goods. The day they were scheduled to leave the airport was closed by a snowstorm, so we got to keep them around for another day while their chaperones scrambled to make new travel arrangements. Fun times.