Denmark

All photos by @bethbcullen

I don’t know what I expected, but wow … Denmark! When we began planning our July 4th vacation, we started by revisiting our lengthy list of places we want to see. Next, we crossed off all of the places that were hot, and that eliminated a lot of options. Then we thought about locations that were on the smaller side that we could easily tackle in 4-5 days, unique, walkable cities, and that’s how we settled on Denmark!

Everything about Denmark is up my alley. The weather is on the cooler side. It is a colorful, historic, thoughtful, easy, and beautiful country. There’s a word you hear associated with the Danish, and that word is hygge. In a nutshell, it means enjoying ordinary, every day moments. Cozy is another word for it. Think candles, blankets, unplugging from social media, comfort foods, quality time with those you love. And you might be tempted to think these are isolated moments, but not in Danish culture. People in Denmark are genuinely kind, helpful, pleasant, soft spoken and trusting. They are known to be some of the happiest people on the planet. And we felt it. 

Generally speaking, there seems to be so much excess, people trying to out do one another, braggadocious, attention seeking, self-centered, greedy, competitive, cutting people off in traffic, flipping people off, an attitude of GET YOUR OWN!, loud talking, bickering, etc. And in Atlanta I see a lot of homelessness and mental illness. We noticed the contrast in Denmark instantly. We saw one homeless man in 5 days of traipsing all over Copenhagen and beyond. And now that we are home, it’s even more obvious. I’m going to do everything I can to hang onto this feeling of hygge, but I know the aggressive, competitive, buckwild city of Atlanta will wear me back down before long.

We stayed at the 25 hours Hotel in the city center, convenient to just about everything. These are photos of the lobby bar and reception area. So very hygge, even the background music was hygge.

We walked everywhere, no taxis, no Uber, no mass transit with only one exception - a train ride to Humlebaek to visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. There were lots of little bursts of rain showers throughout the day, but they came and went so quickly, it wasn’t an inconvenience at all. The sun rises around 4 a.m. and sets around 10 p.m., so we never saw Denmark at night. 

Once we arrived we checked into our hotel, dropped off our bags and went in search of lunch. We’d heard that smørre­brød is a traditional Danish dish, and it was time for lunch, so we dipped in to Restaurant Pilekaelderen to try them. They’re very, very tasty! 

Then we went for a little walkabout to check out the city. There is an area called Nyhavn, which is more or less the touristy area. If you watch The Bear, you’ll see a lot of scenes filmed in Nyhavn. A lot of cruise ships roll in and out of Copenhagen, so it’s not uncommon to see massive ships docked in the area.

At this point we’d been up for wayyyy too long, didn’t sleep at all on the flight over, so we went back to the hotel to rest before dinner. That flight over to EU is always a killer. For dinner we went over to Yaffa for some Mediterranean comfort food. Soooooo good! If you haven’t had a Moroccan cigar, you definitely need to try them. 

The next day we took the train to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, which took just under an hour. The museum grounds are gorgeous and you can see Sweden from several vistas. The art is great, as is the museum restaurant. 

              

We saw a little Francis Bacon, some Louise Bourgeois, Asger Jorn, and a very interesting exhibition of works by Ragnar Kjartansson called an “Epic Waste of Love and Understanding.” 

If you’re wondering why it is called Louisiana, that’s because the original owner of the property, Alexander Brun, was married to three different women named Louise.

A quick train ride back to Copenhagen led us to the Rosenborg Castle. I’ve never really been all that interested in castles and monarchies, but we figured it was worth a look. The grounds and exterior are really beautiful, but what caught my attention was a trouser wetting chair. Who knew the royal family had such a sense of humor!?

Dinner that night was at the oldest restaurant in Copenhagen, Det Lil Apotek, or the little pharmacy. Hans Christian Anderson was a regular back in the day and you can tell from the interior that it’s old school, dating back to 1720. It’s probably considered touristy, but who cares. The food was really good, as was the service.

We still hadn’t had a Danish danish (interesting story, by the way!), so the next morning we walked over to a nearby spot for a cinnamon roll and cappuccino before our visit to the Copenhagen Botanical Garden.

The Botanical Gardens grounds are free, but there is a small charge to go inside and see the Palm House and Butterfly House, and you most definitely want to see the Butterfly House! It was very warm and humid inside but so worth it! Wow! Gazillions of butterflies flittering all over the place. Hygge!

 

That’s a glasswing butterfly in the photo on the right (top left)

We also visited the National Museum of Denmark where we learned a little bit about the Vikings. There has been a popular misconception that Vikings were barbaric and savage, but that’s not entirely accurate. They certainly weren’t Boy Scouts, but they were expert sailors and navigators. They did not wear horned helmets but they did have some pretty awesome drinking vessels and amazing jewelry.

On our walk back to the hotel we somehow found ourselves in the middle of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival! We’d seen signs around but hadn’t actually seen any bands. This was easily one of the highlights of our trip, and I’m kicking myself for not getting more photos. I recorded some little snippets of songs, though, because it was fascinating to hear the music you know with the words being sung in Danish!

And finally, we ended our day with an incredible dinner at Restaurant Komplet. Not only was the food the best we had in Copenhagen, it was also beautifully plated. Those are little dried edible flowers on top of asparagus with cold shrimp. Sooooooo yummy!

We celebrated July 4th with a visit to the Glyptotek. What is a glyptotek? The word comes from the combination of the Greek words glyptos (carving or sculpture) and theke (a place where something is displayed or collected). Carl Jacobsen, founder of Carlsberg Brewing, began collecting sculpture in the late 1800s and over the years he and his family amassed more than 10,000 works of art. That’s a lot of beer! 

Skål!

 It’s a beautiful building and a museum sketcher’s paradise. 

On our walk home we passed back through the Jazz Festival, sipped on Aperol Spritzes and sketched people in the crowd. The little cafes have blankets at each table in case you get cold. Hygge!

Overall, I loved it! We bought a little Danish flag Christmas ornament that I put on the bathroom shelf as a daily reminder to incorporate more hygge in my day. 

Our flights home were an adventure and we ended up chatting with fellow travelers. They saw me sketching people in the airport and suggested that I start an Instagram account of my travel sketches, so I did! My friend Evelyn told me that she’s heard of a lot of artists that have side Instagram accounts where they can post art that’s not intended for a larger audience. I get that. If you are curious, you can find me @airportsketcher on the ‘gram.

Thanks for stopping by … I’ll have a full July recap coming soon!