Copenhagen
If Stockholm is your rich, cool, fun to hang out with, worldly aunt, Copenhagen is her slightly rowdier slightly hipper husband. The one who sometimes needs to be told that, no honey, another shot of tequila is NOT a good idea in fact.
Where the rest of Scandinavia sleeps, Copenhagen stays out drinking. The rest is pristine. Denmark has some graffiti, some roughness to its edges. Stockholm warms you with its beauty and its easy sense of living. Copenhagen makes you pay attention to the live music bursting out of its walls until late into the night. Not everyone here goes to bed at midnight, it shouts at you.
Oh and in the meantime we’ll just feed you meals like you’ve never had, give you drinks prepared by European mixology champions, and satiate whatever type of appetite you had when you got here.
It’s currently home to the worlds best restaurant, Noma. I didn’t expect reservations as they are booked for a year out at this point. But…I have at least seen the best restaurant in the world. And here’s what the front looks like.
No foodie’s quest is ever really done, and so I shall have to return when I have the clout of say, Paul Allen. You see his yacht, the Octopus, was parked in the harbor and I can only imagine the man with the largest private yacht in the world had reservations at this most exclusive of restaurants. Once again, this is his personal yacht, not a cruise ship. So, two “bests” sightings in the flesh in one weekend. Not bad.
I drive a freakin’ scooter. Whatever.
Where does one go in Copenhagen to really imbibe? I’m not talking McFadden’s style drinking. Real drinking. You should join Grommit at his Bar 1105, and if you’re lucky he will tell you the story behind those skull-shaped glasses called the “Unlucky Tourist.” Around 10:30 it turns into a scene, so we got there at 9:00 and secured a front row seat to the action. He regaled us with stories of the tiki culture, praised certain American drinks and bars, walked through his entire menu and his philosophy behind it, and described his recent competition win that now shows up on his menu as a “Copenhagen”.
The bar itself is simple, austere. A few low black chairs in front greet you as walk into the slate grey room, and a simple bar adorns one wall. The whole room can’t hold more than 100 people and even that is pushing it. The DJ spins upbeat electronic and lounge, but that’s not why you’re there either.
You’re there to drink, plain and simple. And if you can make it be sure to try the drink with this description. “A confused Mexican walks into a bar looking for passion. She leaves in the arms of a German. It was a match made in heaven”. Drink you will, with expertly crafted drinks by true champions of their art.
Now let’s suppose you stayed up a little too late at Bar 1105, and in the morning you feel somewhat like an unlucky tourist yourself. Head over to the Coffee Collective and grab a cappuccino. After telling him I was from Chicago and knew Intelligentsia coffee the barista pulls my coffees back from me and says “Let me make you another one. A better one.” I told him he needed to look up Crop to Cup, ’cause they’re better.
This about says it all...
So you’ve got your caffeine fix, and have done some sightseeing in Copenhagen. Maybe you saw Nyhavn?
Anyway you’re HUNGRY at this point and you don’t have reservations at Noma because you’re not a big shot, nor particularly wealthy. Head to Aamann’s for some open-faced sandwiches. These still embody the “New Scandinavian” cuisine making waves in the foodie world, and making Noma the best restaurant of the year.
Braised pork belly in there somewhere
Fresh salmon salad
After lunch you want to ride your bike around aimlessly until you find this amazing statue :
Gotta love those Danes. Now if you need a little r & r after all this work, head on over to Christiania, on the eastern edge of the city. ”Founded” in the 1970′s, it’s basically like the people at Woodstock never left, with slightly less mud. A smallish area of the city, pot is legal here and I think some other stuff as well, but I didn’t ask. The rules include : no needles, no guns, no fighting, no pills. Also no showers and no soap, but that’s not written anywhere. They don’t think they are part of the EU, and are generally pretty chill. That’s probably because everyone is stoned, but still. You enter down aptly named Pusher Street, and the first bar you see has a sign offering free pot to any women who show them their… Yeah. There’s really not a whole lot else going on. A few bars, a bike shop, a couple other businesses. Mostly people just kind of…hanging out. So we had a beer in the main bar, in so far as anything there is “main” anything. While it’s cool to live and let live, and I’m all for these people being allowed to stay there and do their thing…I could never choose to live there. They need some serious Febreeze and a shower, asap. But hey, it works for them. Back to Europe now, shall we?
A few more shots around Copenhagen :
Hans!
Stockholm was amazing. I was just happy my entire time there. Copenhagen – Copenhagen is where I’d want to party. This party would start on a boat around 11:00 a.m., relax around dinnertime for an amazing meal, and pick back up again with some incredible cocktails. We’d finish as the sun’s coming up, singing Mr. Jones in a karaoke bar just off the main square near City Hall. That’s how we’d do it.
Also, we saw this guy fit his entire body through a tennis racket. I love Copenhagen.
Candyland
You can’t help but hear things about Stockholm before you go. Urban legends, myths of titanic proportion, fellow travelers who almost foam at the mouth talking about how much they love it.
All of them are true. Every last one.
Sitting right outside Stockholm is an archipelago of about 3,000 islands that comprise a breathtaking national treasure and one’s view as the ferry from Helsinki pulls into port. The weather as I woke was 70 and sunny, and stayed that way for the rest of my time in town.
My hostel was actually on a boat, and so for a few days after I left Sweden even the entire world was rocking ever so slightly. After walking almost two miles to get there I was a sweaty mess, and decided it was the perfect time for a run. Everywhere i went there were jogging paths (silent J) and they all converged on the water at some point. My hostel host, not acquainted with the idea of running long distances, was adamant that the 7 mile loop around Södermalm was too much, and directed me to a smaller island nearby. Hundreds of people out running and biking, and an almost hidden beach where locals were sprawled out enjoying the almost never-ending sun this time of year. Trails, hills, water, forest, and sunbathing Swedes. Probably the best running locale I’ve ever found. Two hours later the rest of my adventures in Sweden could begin.
The next two days are somewhat of a blur, but I remember a lot of museums. Good to see but you’re not really interested in that, except for one maybe, the Vasa museum. Vasa in Swedish means “old old wooden ship”. Well not exactly but that’s what the museum is. Several hundred years ago the Swedes, at war with Poland, built the Vasa as one of its grandest ships. So grand, in fact that it sank less than a mile out to sea, where it sat until the 1950′s. Then they literally lifted the entire ship out of the channel and put it in a museum, where you can find it today in its entirety. It looks like this:
My favorite part was of course the description of punishments merited out on board. Some of the worst crimes were punishable by tying the offender up with rope, and throwing him over the bow and dragging him underneath the entire ship. So…maybe a “time out” isn’t quite bad after all.
Other highlights of the museum marathon included :
The Royal Armory
The Royal Carriage House
The Museum of Economics and Currency (leave it alone, I went to Univ of Chicago. I’m a dork)
The largest currency in the world.
And Drottningholm Palace, where the royal family currently lives.
After two days of back breaking..hard work? I needed a rest. So I hopped on board a sailboat and decided to see some of these islands everyone was talking about. Six hours on a sailboat, can’t be too tough can it? You’re assuming there’s wind. Any wind. At all. Like someone on shore sneezing. Not for the first hour and a half there wasn’t! So we sat in the harbor for an hour and a half, even though the ship had a motor. I don’t know. Slowly the wind picked up and we did get a nice tour of the islands that look like this:
At some point during the cruise I started talking with the only two girls close to my age, two native Swedes it turns out. As the usual conversational topics progress, they tell me that they both work for the tourism agency in the city and are out here exploring the cruise around the islands. Oh okay, nice. As this thought floats around, I suddenly realize what’s going on here.
“You work for the tourism agency?”
“Yeah, that’s what we said.”
“So you’re getting paid right now?”
“Yeah”
“You just took a six hour sailboat cruise in perfect weather and got paid for it?”
“Pretty much.”
I need to look for a different kind of job.
The rest of my time in Sweden was pretty chill, which was great for me but makes less than perfect reading. So instead, a few pictures :
And yes, the women are as beautiful as everyone says they are.
