Thoughts on Copenhagen

We had a fantastic time in Copenhagen and I am excited to share a lot of details about our time with all of you through a series of posts coming up. 

First up is an overview of the city, as we experienced it.  I won't be showing you many things you can see in a tourist book, but rather some smaller details that hopefully you will enjoy!  A few things we noticed:

• The people were consistently friendly, helpful and kind.  Also noteworthy is that they all spoke perfect English - surprisingly, with an American accent.  I found their English to be better than any other European country I have come across so far.  Well done Denmark! 
• Copenhagen is a very young, hip, urban city (at least the parts we visited and we covered a lot of ground) that has a really appealing edge to its design and vibe.  It reminded me a lot of Berlin.
• The city is designed for bikes and everyone uses them...fantastic. 
• The one drawback was the cost of everything - think in terms of $15 for a (local) beer, $10 for a bagel with a couple of toppings, etc...ouch! 

Now on to some visuals to give you a feel for the city...

The city has a romantic maritime feel that I really warmed to as the days went by.

Street-side cafes with great flair.  I have seen drums like they are using for a table at our flea market - I am buying one of those next time I see one!

This restaurant was set off the street in this quiet little courtyard. 

What a fantastic place for a romantic evening meal!

You don't see something like that every day.

A community table at the pier, with style. I love it.

Cool signage is everywhere - old and new.

I was loving the cloud formations while we took our canal tour.  I know most people like puffy clouds but I have been snapping a lot of photos like this lately - to me they look like brush strokes of a painter.  I am going to have to work on something creative with these but not sure exactly what yet.  A future post!

A pretty cool spot for a cafe - arrival by boat.

I loved the simpicity of this scene and the bikes make it truly Danish.

Noma Restaurant - voted the World's Best Restaurant the last two years.

A bustling restaurant in the super trendy Meat Packing District:  Mother.

I have *no idea* how to pronounce that!  But, while we are on the subject of food, let me tell you about the most authentic lunch experience we had during our time in Denmark.  These Danish specialties are essentially open faced sandwiches with all types of interesting toppings.  I wasn't really interested when I heard about them, because I didn't think a sandwich could be that exciting, until I tried one:  they were very good!

A great cafe by day and a very hip wine bar by night.  We enjoyed a few glasses of great wine here, but the people watching was the real highlight.

I bought some of these Danish chocolates - an amazing selection and even more amazing taste.  They stood up just fine against Swiss Chocolate!

 More cool signage.

A beautiful park and of course I loved the iron work.  :)

As I said, they love their bikes...and what a cool way to advertise.

I have a few more posts from our trip planned, covering the architecture, shopping and more, so please check back over the next few days for more! 

All photos by Barbara Jordan Dettweiler of HausDesign.