København, Kongeriget Danmark

 In 2011, I was able to go to an impromptu trip to Scandinavia. I was living at Washington DC at that time and was just about ready to move back to California but while I was in the East Coast, I had this feeling that I just need to go somewhere. So I spoke to some friends, did a little research, found this amazing airfare deal to go to Scandinavia in the fall and in less than 2 weeks, I was planning my trip abroad. This was my first trip to Europe in a very long time and couldn’t help but get really excited.

We arrived at Copenhagen after a 5 1/2 hour train ride from Stockholm. Since we were in Scandinavia and it was past mid Autumn already, 4pm was already dark. Our hotel was close to the main train station and Tivoli was just a few blocks away. We set out to have dinner and walk around the city, ending up in Strøget, which was known as the world’s oldest pedestrian shopping strip, where we found a bar and enjoyed a Nordic Glögg – red wine with sugar, cinnamon, raisins and other spices, served around Christmas Time.

The next day, we decided to make the most of the daylight and see the city on our own, by foot and by using public transportation. We spoke no Danish at all, yet it wasn’t too hard to get around. Everyone was friendly and spoke English. We went to see Amalienborg Palace – the main residence of Danish Royal Family, the Christiansborg Palace which houses the parliament, saw the corkscrew spire of Church of Our Saviour and climbed up the 400 steps of the external winding staircase, and had Irish Coffee at Nyhavn.

I just love spontaneous trips and this trip to Copenhagen made me love it even more.