Denmark 2023 trip report

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I’m finally starting this trip report. Not much to report thus far. I’ve been working A LOT.

We traveled with the state of northern Tenerife, where we just visited in April, firmly at the front of our minds. Intentionally-set, which is madness.

Thursday 17 August - Friday 18 August
We took an overnight to Copenhagen via Reykjavik. Long day of travel. But the guys were thrilled to find that the famous hot dog stand, Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, has opened an outpost in Keflavik airport just this past June. So, what else can you do, but have hot dogs at 4:30 am (well, everyone but me)?!

We finally reached CPH and B starts to feel really bad. Based on the timing, it’s not the hot dog, but he suspects it’s the burger (likely the lettuce) he had at Logan before boarding. The 3 of us pass out until 6 or 7 pm and he’s feeling worse. Spring Onion and I have only the energy to go to the hotel restaurant and he has a pasta bolognese and I have a cheese/zucchini/sage/brown butter ravioli dish. Both were pretty good. Back to the room and pass out again. It’s Pride weekend in CPH, which is fun, but unfortunately, our hotel room is facing the city hall side, which means blaring dance music until late.

Saturday 19 August
Big hotel breakfast buffets that B can’t yet partake of (and he LOVES breakfast buffets, which is so sad for him). He’s still feeling terrible, so SO and I head out to the planetarium while he sleeps. We’re all tired from the late dance party. B’s feeling a little better when we come back many hours later, so we cautiously head out, in search of a late lunch for me and SO…and find ourselves smack in the middle of the big Pride parade. It is a glorious sight! We finally peel off the main drag and nab an outside table at Otto pizza (we have an Otto pizza back home in Greater Boston/New England…not the same, of course). The pizza is just as good - nice tangy sourdough-based dough. Tomato pie with oregano, a mushroom and kale one. B manages a few bites of crust.

We ate so late, I think we just snacked back at the hotel. And watched the Tivoli Garden fireworks, which start promptly at 11:30 pm on Saturdays. Coinciding with the even bigger, closing Pride dance party.

Sunday 20 August
B is finally feeling better. We spend many hours at the Experimentarium. We had lunch there, which as usual, has much better food than we’re used to back home at kid-centric museums/attractions. I had a poke bowl (the dressing came in a cute little paper cone at the center of the photo), burger for SO, some sort of chicken sandwich for B.

We headed to the harbor afterwards and had snacks (sourdough bread, hummus plate, nuts) and beverages at a place on the water, The Boathouse. Nice place to enjoy the sun and the water.

Monday 21 August
We rented a Go Boat, which was a lot of fun. Glorious weather again. Denmark is just coming off historic rainfall, which is saying something…it rains a lot here. We have so far lucked out. We brought our wine, snacks, even let SO drive the boat for a while, which he loved. Lunch was just ok, at the nearby Bryggens Spieshus. Veggie Asian-y salad for me, salmon for B (way over-sauced), burger for SO.

Spent the rest of the day at Tivoli. Late-night burger for SO. B and I must have eaten something.

Tuesday 22 August
Checked out of our hotel, got our rental car at the airport and then made our way to NW Denmark (Lonstrop), where we stayed and loved last summer. We took the car ferry to Aarhus (really nice ferry…SO had a hot dog on-board, while B and I held off). Bday dinner for B at Cafe Slugten. Tasty fish soup, although a smidge too salty; just ok shrimp tempura; fish of the day for B which was beautifully cooked hake, with baby potatoes and a sprinkling of shrimp. As always, food takes a long time (in US terms) to come out, which we’re used to, but bypassing lunch made us VERY hungry. We joked amongst ourselves that they must have gone fishing for the hake on the spot. SO wasn’t hungry so I made him fettuccini with meatballs at our lodging. I know that Mutti brand passata has been recently discussed on the pasta sauce thread. My first time getting this and it won’t be the last - SO LOVED it and it made a delicious sauce with a liberal pat of butter and some salt and that’s it. Forgot to take a photo of his dinner.

Wednesday 23 August
Today. I had a full day of work. The guys went to Faarup Sommerland, a nearby amusement park, which they loved last year. Fine by me. Stay tuned for more (boring) reports.

[GretchenS]

Never boring! Sad you have to work so much though.

[TheLibrarian28]

More, more - love your reports! Never boring…

[MaxEntropy]

Lovely report! It seems every time I visited Aarhus in the 90s, 00s, Tina Turner was performing. Did you get to HC Andersen’s home?

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@MaxEntropy

Did you get to HC Andersen’s home?

We only passed through Odense last year and I’m not sure if we’ll have time this trip, either (we took the ferry from Sjælland to Aarhus so bypassed Odense altogether and then we have a very full few days in Billund on the way back towards CPH next week). Not intentional, but just lack of time. Perhaps next year (or whenever we come back). Also, priorities of my fellow travelers.

[BKeats]

Wow. Y’all get around.

[Madrid]

I always love your reports! Vicariously is the only way I’ve been able to travel beyond a few nights in New England since we adopted a 7 year old in 2007!

[Saregama]

Thanks for bringing us along! Just curious - how did you pick Denmark as your destination?

[GretchenS]

My guess is Spring Onion Lego (Billund) + nice place to visit.

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@Saregama

how did you pick Denmark as your destination?

@GretchenS

My guess is Spring Onion Lego (Billund) + nice place to visit.

I’ve been a Danish Modern junkie for eons. Most of my furniture when B met me was from that school of design. Then, yep, once SO came along and B and I again fell in with Legos, Denmark was inevitable. Plus, don’t y’all know that Denmark is always amongst the happiest countries in the world and has better weather than Iceland. Life is good here (although I’m sure not without its troubles). We visited last year and loved it (I dutifully reported on it although we didn’t eat anything extraordinary…just as always!).

I forgot to mention that while we were doing our Go Boat trip back in the canals of CPH harbor, Zelensky was simultaneously speaking to the government and we heard the motorcade leaving/saw the helicopter escort up above. Denmark was amongst the first countries (Netherlands was the other) to lend F-14s to Ukraine. The Ukrainian flags were all out, along with the Pride flags. We felt proud to be here.

[TheLibrarian28]

A few months ago I read and really enjoyed The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell. Between that and your trip report, I’d love to go there!

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@TheLibrarian28

The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell.

I started it last year but I had to return it before I could finish. I need to borrow that from the library again.

[MaxEntropy]

Got my Georg Jensen stainless watch back in the early 80s. Pining for a PH lamp to go with it!

[ZivBnd (Ziv)]

I want to go back to Denmark soon and your report reminds of that fact!
Copenhagen is such a cool city. I did not get out on the water and a Go Boat sounds outstanding!

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Way behind on my reports. Time to get back into my time machine.

Thursday 24 August
The guys went back to the amusement park while I worked. By the time they came home, I was ravenous for company, food, drink, and general merriment. We check out Lonstrop Cafe Bio and wondered why we didn’t come here last year. It’s a cinema/performance space/cafe all rolled up into one venue. We had a delightful time on the outdoor patio, munching on good sourdough bread, Danish cheeses, spreads (including fruit chutney, vegan 'njuda, tasty cultured, butter, and parsley aioli), and a mushroom pita (awesome pickled onions). Nice wine and their own beer. Bon Jovi, Marvin Gaye, and other fun songs on the soundtrack. Full-on sun rounded out a nice evening, followed by a beach walk.

Friday 25 August
Finally went to the bakery in town, Kegels where we got a great sourdough loaf and some unpronounceable/not-cloyingly-sweet coffee cake.

We went to the excellent North Sea Aquarium but first lunch at Hirstals Fish House where B had fish and chips, salmon for SO, mussels soup for me. B declared that SO had the winning dish, which was accompanied by a creamy sauce and an awesome chimichurri-like sauce (my soup was delicious, but not enough stuff in it). Typically good bread. Disappointing manufactured-ish chips. Huge (although we ordered the small size) ice cream cone for SO afterwards.

Saturday 26 August
Moving day, towards our house in Harboøre. After checkout , we stop by the bakery for more bread and (we didn’t have cash) were told that the credit card machine is at farmers’ market. We were given directions to Løkken (which is on our way) and we stumble across a Pier Festival. We seem to have a Forest Gump syndrome, where we have happy accidents like this at least once on every trip (last year, we found ourselves in the midst of a regatta in Aero). So, simply because we didn’t have cash to buy a loaf of bread, we ended up at a fun festival where we felt like we were the only non-Danes. SO had a fransk hot dog (which is wrapped in bread and that he loves). B and I had some adult beverages at a laid-back beach cafe. And we got our bread and saw the name of the un-pronounceable cake. B and I held off on eating lunch.

We hit up he local grocery store and had salmon for the guys (looked/tasted farm-y), corn/potato chowder, bread, cheese.

Sunday 27 August
Today. Chilling at our house by the sea. Munching on bread, chowder, etc.

More dispatches to come.

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2 September - where did the time go?! Work continues to be brutal. Luckily, our house in Harboøre was just what we needed - a quiet seaside town, with a small town just to the north, Thyborøn, that has quite the museum district for such a small place. We visited the Sea War Museum that documents the WWI sea battles in the North Sea - SO was entranced by that place. Another day we visited the charming aquarium. The only meal out we had was at Fiskehallen where the portions were gargantuan (dare I say American-sized). Fish and chips for B, I had fried plaice, enormous burger for SO, of which he managed half - if that. Everything was quite good, fish fried quite well, but it was just too much food (we took home a bunch). One of those meals where you feel uncomfortably full afterwards. All other meals were at our cozy cottage. No photos as they were unmemorable.

From Harboøre, we moved back east to Billund, where SO spent 3 blissful days at Lego House, Lego Land, and Lalandia (a crazy water park/kid-centric resort). After Lego House, we went to nearby Gastropub where we had a better than expected meal. For some reason I wanted to have the chicken pot pie and it was quite good but again, huge. B had half. He had some sort of club sandwich and SO had a kids pizza.

The next day was day 1 of Legoland (the guys got 2-day passes). It was quite empty, which was great (the Danish kids went back to school 2 weeks ago). Most of the tourists seemed to be German or British. We had only one meal inside the park and we went back to the Saloon where we had a decent meal last year. SO got his requisite fransk hot dog (wrapped in the roll, like a big pig in a blanket). B got the salmon and I got an enormous salad of barley, falafel, mozzarella, and tomato. A rather large candy floss for afters.

We headed back to Copenhagen. We are staying in a suburb, south of the city proper. Lots of interesting architecture on one side and a beautiful nature preserve. Our apartment is full of artsy touches (the owners are graphic designers…it all feels very Copenhagen).

Today, Saturday. A beautiful sunny day, with temperatures predicted to be 21C/70F. We have 2 more full days and hope to make the most of them.

PS Love the new “Rest of Europe” sub-category. Thank you @hungryonion!

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We are enjoying a glorious sunny dry day at Reffen outdoor food hall, which I much prefer over similar enclosed food halls, which I find too hectic to enjoy eating and drinking. SO just had a well-made mac and cheese from the raclette stand. B and I are enjoying our Reffen beers (West Coast IPA, hazy IPA) but we are feeling overwhelmed by the food choices. Any chance any Onions have been here and could offer any recommendations?

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I went with a delicious dal curry/basmati rice/papadum/delightful pickled red cabbage (a nice counterpoint) from the Nepali stand and B got a fried chicken sandwich. Many beers. SO ate his pain au chocolat that we got earlier in the day from the Hart Bakery outpost (we also got a beautiful sesame bread earlier…will take a photo later when we rip into it at home).

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Home in Boston after a long travel day (about 15 hours from start-to-finish). And we managed to avoid any medical emergencies on both our flights (some of you may recall we had 2 during our April trip to Tenerife). So, other than B’s bout of food poisoning at the start of our trip, we had a drama-free trip.

The delicious sesame city loaf from Hart Bakery fed us for a few days. For snack time with cheese and wine at home, and again when we picknicked with our leftover food and wine on the beautiful grounds of the Louisiana Museum.

Other than Reffen, we ate at home for our last 2 days, basking in the views from our cosmopolitan apartment. We sadly had no smorrebrod on this trip; food was even less of a priority on this trip than usual so we will have to come back.

One story I forgot to tell was that during our first few days in CPH, we were randomly wandering when we spot some trampolines built into the sidewalk so naturally, SO runs over to them. He says nonchalantly to me and B, “oh, I know that kid” and we ignore him until we realize that he really does know one of the kids who was jumping. Turns out, they went to the same summer camp just a couple of weeks prior and SO talked about him so I knew his name. So, in this big city thousands of miles from home, we end up running into a kid who lives 1 town over and went to the same summer camp in our town. We spoke with the parents and there was another family (from Wellesley MA) and they also had run into each other at the airport (although they did know that they were both traveling to Denmark this summer).
The kids were not even fazed by this remarkable coincidence but we adults were shaking our heads. To top that off, we ran into the Wellesley family the next 2 days (once at the Go Boats and then at Tivoli). By the 2nd time we ran into them, we were all like, “oh hey guys” as if we were bumping into them at the grocery store at home.

What a small weird world we live in.

[ZivBnd (Ziv)]

I love the part about running into people you know!
It has happened a time or two to me, and it is like the travel gods all agreed on something. But when it happened to me I was traveling on the Gringo Trail (Worldwide Version II) and staying in places like Thamel, Jalan Jaksa, Earls Court, Gili Trawangan and Khao San Road so it was not as much of a surprise. We were all heading to and from the same neighborhoods even if they were thousands of miles apart.