Fun in Copenhagen

We spent 4 nights in Copenhagen for a long weekend and really enjoyed it! We chose Copenhagen because we are spending a lot of time in southern Europe this summer and thought somewhere in northern Europe would be a nice change of pace. Copenhagen had many fun things for all of us to do so it seemed like a perfect fit.

Before leaving, we pre-bought the Copenhagen card, which was good for public transportation and entrance into many of the places we wanted to see.

Day 1 Highlights:
Our trip to Copenhagen was pretty uneventful - it was our first experience with Easy Jet and was completely fine. We picked up our Copenhagen cards and were on the train to the city center quickly. Our hotel was quite close to the main train station and a nice boutique hotel. We requested the 'princess' themed suite so S loved the pink and purple highlights of the room.

We took a canal cruise and it was really fun, but cold! The architecture in Copenhagen is quite nice and there were many interesting things to see from the water.

Day 2 Highlights: The Zoo and our first trip to Tivoli

We started the second day with a nice breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the Copenhagen Zoo. The Zoo was very easy to get to on the bus and was really nice. We rented a wagon for S and she loved it. The animals were very active - some of the highlights were a polar bear, a baby elephant, and a full lion family with 3 cubs. There was also a small petting zoo and fun play area. The highlight of the play area was the running game to see what animals you are faster than - S loved doing this with J.

After nap, we went to Tivoli Gardens - Tivoli is amazing! It is a beautiful amusement park/entertainment area in the middle of Copenhagen. We decided to buy the 'all you can ride' wristbands for our first visit and I am so happy we did. We rode the ferris wheel many times and rode many other rides. S also loved riding the kid 'drop' ride by herself and kept running off and straight back into the (short) line to get back on. 

Another highlight for me was dinner at wagamama - my last time eating there was in Sydney when I was pregnant with S and it was literally one of the only meals that I could eat so I have fond memories of it. We enjoyed our noodles and rice and S loves edamame just as much as me.

Day 3 Highlights: Train Tour, shopping, and back to Tivoli
On Saturday, we decided to take the mini-train tour of the city - it wasn't that exciting but S loved it! We also did some shopping and enjoyed the many toy stores. One had a free carousel inside, one had the Barbie photo booth, and another did glitter tattoos - S loved it.
We also went back to Tivoli and played at the play area this night- it was super crowded but S enjoyed running around for a little while.

 Day 4 Highlights: Castle, Cupcakes, and Carlsberg
On Sunday, we decided to explore another area of town so went to the castle and Botanic Gardens. The castle was nice and quite interesting - it was also relatively small so we were able to do the self-guided tour and keep S interested.

I also found an American style cupcake bakery just a few blocks away in this really neat food market - we each had a mini cupcake and they were delicious - S chose the 'kid cupcake', which was red velvet with bubble gum frosting and sprinkles, I chose the Sicilian lemon, which was white cake with lemon frosting and a strawberry on top, and J chose the special, which was white cake with mango frosting and a blueberry on top. The cupcakes were great and the mini one was the perfect size!

That afternoon we went to Carlsberg brewery for a tour. The tour was interesting and included horses in the stable and a large collection of unopened beer bottles. After the tour, we went to the new harbor area for dinner and then took a bike taxi back to the hotel - it was about 1.5 miles and was definitely a neat way to get back to the hotel.

Last morning: For our last morning, we found a park just a few blocks from the hotel to go play at. The park was quite nice with some slides and climbing areas. There was also a school on the grounds that puts bikes and toys out for all of the kids to play with. S insisted on J and other kids driving her around. It was cute.

Our trip home was uneventful - S fell asleep while we were waiting to board and woke up as we landed.

We really enjoyed Copenhagen and hope to go back to Tivoli sometime in the future!

Next up, Chicago business trip for me and then Croatia/Amalfi Coast at end of the month.