Part 33: The Danish Masterpiece
Copenhagen? More Like Copen-hangin' out and having a good time 🤙
Coming Up:
Cold Intro: I’m in love with Copenhagen
Time versus Money
Chris Brown and the Filipinos
Hans Christian Anderson Fanclub
Beach Time (Dock Time)
Very Bad Capitalists
Temporary Camera Upgrades (don’t get too excited)
Happy Birthday Maddy
Danish Glizzy
The Perfect Day on America’s Birthday
Cold Intro: I’m in love with Copenhagen
I’m in love with Copenhagen.
Coming into the city, I had no expectations. I didn’t even necessarily seek out the city. I’d heard good things, but I was mostly there crashing my college friend Maddy’s family vacation (die-hard subscribers are familiar with my favorite Australian family, but for everyone else, the Ledger family has made previous guest appearances in our previous episode as well as the finale of last season).
It’s hard to compare a small city like Copenhagen, with only around 600k residents, to the major cities across the globe that I’ve seen, like Paris, Tokyo, and London. Big cities, just by nature of their bigness, have so much to offer, but pound for pound, Copenhagen may be my favorite city I’ve been to.
It’s a gorgeous city with a blend of old and modern architecture that’s been crafted over centuries by the Royal Danish Academy (design + architecture school), which lives in the city. There’s a “river” flowing through the city, which we were calling a river, but is really a saltwater canal connecting on both sides to the ocean. On the sunny days I was there, everyone would congregate on the docks and public spaces around the river and go for a swim and take in the sun (I’m not sure how much people work here?). Going along with the immaculate architecture theme, the urban design is also some of the best I’ve seen in any city, with plenty of open public spaces, bike infrastructure (there are more bikes than people in Copenhagen), and walkability.
Similar to Australia, everyone is in great shape and tan and are always doing outdoor activities - biking, swimming, or running. Inexplicably, it feels like everyone running is also sporting a 5-minute mile pace. Almost everyone is fluent in English, which made my life easier. The city also felt very young. The closest comparison I could make to Copenhagen would be Geneva, probably given both cities’ beauty and size, but Geneva was a bit sleepy and old. In Copenhagen (at least when the sun was out), the city was bustling and felt very youthful.
The one knock I’d give to Copenhagen is that the Danish cuisine is somewhat limited. They are known for their open-face sandwiches (Smorrebord), canned/pickled fish, and national hot dogs, which are solid in their own right, but that’s pretty much the extent of the cuisine. If you are a foodie, however, you may know that there is no shortage of fine dining in Copenhagen as it’s home to Noma (which recently closed), which many argue has been the best restaurant in the world for the last decade or so. Also worth mentioning (I know you were worried), but there are plenty of great bakeries and coffee shops for C&C time.
Again, this glowing review may have been a case of all the right factors lining up while I was there - the weather was nearly perfect, it was peak summer, the sun stayed up past 10 pm, and I had a group of friends to see the city with. If I came in a rainstorm and was alone, or if I came in the middle of winter, I’m sure the experience may have differed. But I wasn’t, and it was an awesome experience. If this was the best the city had to offer, then I say this city can run with the best of them.
Sunday - June 29th, 2025
Before we get to Copenhagen, we must first briefly cover the journey there. As a budget vagabond, I have been relying heavily on my rail pass for my travel. If you recall from our last episode, I was in Dublin, and while I could’ve booked a direct flight from Dublin to Copenhagen, I decided to save a couple of hundred bucks and bought the cheapest flight from Dublin to mainland Europe. So my travel day began with a 5 am wakeup to take the bus to the airport for a 7 am flight not to Copenhagen, but to Dusseldorf, Germany.
For those who aren’t geography buffs, Copenhagen is not in Germany. Dusseldorf is fairly west in Germany, and if you’re looking at a map, Copenhagen is up and to the right. It would have been only an extra hour to fly straight to Copenhagen. Time, luckily, is something I have no shortage of, so in lieu of saving many hours, I opted to save money with 9 hours of trains for a mere $9 reservation. My journey took me through western Germany into Hamburg, then from Hamburg up into Denmark, and then across the bridge that connects Denmark’s mainland to its largest island, Zealand, on Copenhagen sits.
It was a long journey. Worth the money saved? Maybe. More time for me to blog to my die-hard followers. Anyways. Enough logistics. Onto the new city.
Monday - June 30th, 2025
Another bright side of traveling with the Ledgers is that they were generous enough to let me stay in the hotel with them, so I got to share a room with Maddy and her sister Emily, which we deemed the “kids’ room”. I was ready for a break from hostels after my final night in Dublin, where my 5 very friendly (but very loud) Filipino roommates came back from the Chris Brown concert and decided to have a hangout session at 2 am in our room. I was tired from a long day of travel, and the Ledgers just had a long previous night at their Dublin wedding, so everyone needed some rest.
When we did get up, we hit the town running. We started the day off, getting pastries on the other side of the river from our hostel, acclimating ourselves to the wind and on/off nature of Copenhagen sunlight. We walked up the boardwalk of the “river” up to the picturesque Nyhavn canal and then made our way to one of the inexplicably numerous palaces in Copenhagen, the Amalienborg Palace, where the royal family still resides for part of the year. We then went right across the plaza of the palace to a church with the biggest dome in Europe (which is quite believable when you see it close up).
Our next stop was at one of the tourist destinations that I just don’t fully understand, the Little Mermaid Statue. Maybe this is a product of me not growing up with sisters, but I did not know who Hans Christian Anderson was before this, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen The Little Mermaid before (Mom, you can fact-check me here). Maybe it’s the best movie of all time. Given the crowd around a not very large statue, you may believe that’s the case.
In the afternoon, we did some meandering through the shopping area of the city. The primary focus of our shopping exploration - Scandinavian interior design. I don’t know the origins of it, but for some reason, the Scandinavian countries have a very cool modern and minimalist design culture, and there is no shortage of shops with cool lamps, coffee mugs, desks, etc. I’m beginning to understand IKEA’s world domination.
Later in the afternoon, Maddy and I met up with another old USC friend, Line (pronounced Lena), who lives in Stockholm but was in Copenhagen for a family reunion, and stuck around a couple of extra days. We met up with Line and some of her Swedish friends who live and work in Copenhagen for a swim. The sun was out in the afternoon, and as we discovered, it seems people take work off early when this happens to enjoy the sun. By the river, there are a lot of built-out docks that essentially function as the city’s beach. Walking up, the docks were packed with people enjoying the UV and hanging out with friends, having a beer or a light bite. One of those experiences that you see where it’s hard not to fall in love with a city.
We had a good time catching up with Line and meeting her friends and talking to them about living in Copenhagen. The river also felt fantastic. Connecting to the ocean, it was a saltwater river and fairly cold. It was the only instance I’ve seen of a river going through a city that was swimmable in. I was used to the radioactive brown color of city rivers like the Thames or the Seine.
After a couple of hours, Line, Maddy, and I split off and explored the Christiania neighborhood, which is a famous free city within Copenhagen that was known for the hippie movement and drug use since the 70s. Honestly, it kind of reminded me of Venice Beach. Later, we got dinner at a French restaurant, and I have pictures with not horrible quality to share for once, since Maddy’s phone camera is functional compared to mine.
Tuesday - July 1st, 2025
Another reason for joining up with the Ledgers was that their trip was somewhat planned around Maddy’s birthday on July 1st. To celebrate, we all met up with Line again and had a brunch in the morning at a very Danish breakfast place where I had a plate that consisted of a hard-boiled egg, some fresh bread, blueberry jam, and some cheese. An odd combo, but delicious.
Later in the morning, some of the group went to the National Museum of Denmark, which was surprisingly pretty great. One of the key factors here is that they had a lot of incredibly preserved artifacts. Why is that the case, you ask? Throughout Danish history, they often made ritual sacrifices by throwing items (swords, goods, full boats, sometimes humans) into their many bogs. These bogs covered the artifacts in peat and essentially mummified them. Hundreds to thousands of years later, excavations pull out these once-sacrificed sacrifices, and some of them are still in mint condition (hopefully the gods won’t be too upset on take-backsies)
After the museum, lunch was the inevitable Danish hot dog. I’m not sure why they are so popular here, but the Danish hot dog consists of deli mustard, mayo, pickled cucumbers (slightly different than pickles?), chopped onions, and fried onions. Many variations exist, but I think that’s the gist of it. Pretty solid.
For dinner, we all went to a nice restaurant to celebrate Maddy’s birthday, partaking in the renowned Danish dining culture that NOMA has spurred over the years. It was a delicious meal highlighted by a small steak with some Parmesan truffle and mushroom sauce that I will be thinking about for a long, long time. Here are some pictures captured on Maddy’s superior camera.
Wednesday - July 2nd, 2025
I’m realizing I’ve gone pretty spewed a lot of content about Copenhagen in the first few days, so I’ll abbreviate today. The Ledgers and I went on a boat tour of Copenhagen today. If you ever go, I would recommend it. It takes you on the river and through the several canals that slice up the city. It’s always nice getting a bit more context on the places and things that you’re seeing, and being on the water never hurts.
After the boat tour, we went to the Danish Architecture Center to try to get some insight into how exactly the Danes have made such a beautiful place. The answer - strategically and slowly over the last hundred years, pretty much. It also helps having the Royal Danish Academy in the city for the last 250+ years.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed some more sun on the beaches (docks) of Copenhagen. Even though it was an afternoon on a Wednesday, based on the level of activity, you would’ve guessed it was midday on a Saturday. Everyone was outside. A beautiful final day for the Ledgers in Copenhagen.
Thursday - July 3rd, 2025
In the morning, I bid farewell to my travel companions and reaccepted the reality of life alone on the road. Checking back into a hostel with a bunk room full of older men and strange smells.
Thursday was more of a recharge day, getting some rest, moving hostels, and doing laundry. But (!!) I did have a nice little self-guided food tour at one of the food markets. I had some oysters, some canned fish, fishcakes, and smørrebrød. I’ll give a thumbs up to all of them.
Friday - July 4th, 2025
Last day in Copenhagen. I believe at that point I’d seen all I needed to see exploring the city, but I didn’t mind the extra day there. I would be lying if the thought about learning Danish and moving here didn’t cross my mind a time or two while here. Unfortunately, they don’t get 18 hours of daylight all year long. My Thursday and Friday here both gave a taste of what non-perfect Copenhagen weather is like — sudden spurts of rain, strong winds, random flashes of sunlight. It was needed. Gotta bring this city back down to earth somehow.
To start my last day, I found myself in my C&C mode. Time to seek out some croissants and coffee. I got some absolutely elite pastries. One of which was this pistachio square, which had some pistachio cream and flaky salt on the top of it that was an incredible combination. Chefs kiss.
Since I didn’t have anything to do, I figured I’d explore some areas a little further out of the city that I hadn’t seen yet. I took a long walk to an area called Refshaleøen, which is right at the edge of the city by the ocean. It was once a former industrial site but has since been repurposed for a number of recreational uses. There are creative studios, museums, small housing, and my intended target, the world’s largest outdoor street food market, Reffen.
Leaning into its industrial roots, the entrance to Reffen is a couple of shipping containers stacked in a pyramid. Each food stall in the market is unique to an individual country and is also located in a done-up shipping container.
I had a great day hanging out there. I ate some good Danish food, getting a crispy pork sandwich and a sausage. I drank an iced coffee and read my book lying on the docks. I sipped a beer sitting in a lawn chair at the edge of the concrete pier with a great view of the city. Very peaceful. The weather behaved just enough. And you know what? Sweet treat to cap off the nice day! I got some ice cream for my hour walk back to the city. It was a great solo day.
Finally, I know you’re all wondering what I did to celebrate the 249th anniversary of our country’s declaration of independence. While there weren’t fireworks being shot off in the streets here, it only felt right for me to have a good ol’ cheeseburger with fries in honor of our nation’s birthday back home.
Until Next Time,
Jack
Add Copenhagen to my bucket list! Sounds similar to Amsterdam - I will be interested in hearing your comparison. I can't remember if we ever saw The Little Mermaid - I think we did - at least the Disney version. I feel bad I didn't expose you to Hans Christen Anderson!
Love the Ledgers!
And, I love how much you enjoyed Copenhagen - a great example of a country taking the long view to planning and design!