Notes to myself about Copenhagen
I'm not sure what I expected visiting all these Northern European countries but it's interesting how they are all similar and yet all distinct. I guess that's the same as any cities but they're more distinct than say 2 US cities which generally have more similar cultures.
For Copenhagen some things that stuck out where about 4x more bicycles than any of the other places I visited. Copenhagen loves bikes. Like many of the other cities there are dedicated bike lanes but these ones are actually very busy and the cyclists will get very angry if you step in their way just like if you stepped in front of a car. Fortunately I didn't experience that first hand but I did read about it and see it while out and about.
Another interesting bike thing is there are bikes with, um, buckets? on the front. I don't know what to call them but I often saw kids in them. I saw similar bikes in other countries but I didn't see nearly as many as I saw in Copenhagen nor did I see them full of kids.
Copenhagen apparently had one of it's restaurants declared "Best Restaurant in the World" by some group for 3 years in a row. I didn't try to go to that restaurant but I can say I had amazing food every day I was there. And, most of that was luck. While I did go to a couple of places I found in guides I also just picked a few at random and scored.
The hotel I was in was right next to the main station which was pretty convenient. It was also interesting because apparently that part of the city was (and still is) the red light district. There was a strip club on the first floor of the building I was in and another directly across the street. Around the corner were several more as well as sex shops. But, that are is also being quickly gentrified? Just one block behind the hotel was a road with maybe 12 restaurants, as far as I know all of them new. Part of that area is the meat packing district and I guess the meat packers mostly moved out and restaurants have been taking over. I went to Bio Mio, F??, Paté Paté, and others in that area. All of them were great! They were also relatively casual or at least not formal.
Speaking of the hotel, that was kind of lame at first at least. I picked the Omena Hotel in Copenhagen mostly because it was cheap and known since I stayed at one in Stockholm. Their website says all the rooms are the same, all have 2 beds and 2 fold outs, all will sleep 4 people comfortably, all have a small table which chairs. So, I show up and my room is about 10x10ft square. Barely enough to fit the bed. Certainly not big enough for 4 people, no room for small table with chairs or fold out beds. I called to ask to be switched to what I was sold and the guy on the phone lied and said there were no rooms. I pointed there's a sign flashing "Vacancy" over the front door. He stood his ground. So I said the room had issues which it did. The wifi didn't work, the shower barely trickled water and even with that trickle the shower basin would fill up (clogged drain). He said he'd send someone up to take a look. A few minutes later someone shows up and tells me to go to a different room. That room is exactly as advertised. No rooms available indeed 😞
Honestly if they just fixed their website so it didn't say all rooms are the same and made it clear some rooms are tiny there'd be no problem. Conversely if they only have a few of those tiny rooms maybe they should just not rent them.
I checked out the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art which is a short train ride outside of Copenhagen. It's very highly rated on various vacation sites. As a museum I honestly didn't find it that interesting. The new exhibit, Arctic, seemed like it belonged in a science museum more than an art museum and it was fairly hodgepodge. There was also a Yoko Ono exhibit. I guess I don't really get her stuff.
But, the museum grounds are gorgeous so I'd recommend going for lunch and just to wander the grounds and see some of the country side on the trip there.
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Copenhagen and/or Denmark is supposed to have the world's happiest people by some measure. I don't know what it is, maybe the food, maybe the bikes, maybe a smiles here and there but for some reason I had no trouble believing that. It made me wonder what it would be like to live there. I know the winters are cold but isn't that just more reason to snuggle?