COPENHAGEN & ICELAND MAY 27-JUNE 7, 2022- PART 1

Copenhagen

It’s been three years since I took “pen to paper” and wrote a travel blog entry. The Covid pandemic wrecked havoc with our travel plans. The pandemic is still with us, but vaccines have made it more livable, and enough is enough. So we are venturing out again, and our first venture is to Iceland, long on our to-do list, and since Icelandair lets you add a layover in Europe, Copenhagen is on the itinerary. Why you may ask, choose Copenhagen? Because we are not traveling alone, and our friends, Iva and Danny Silver, have never been there. Betsey and I haven’t been to Copenhagen for 55 years when we were on our honeymoon, our first trip to Europe. Iva and I worked together at Benton & Bowles. She was a creative director and I was an account guy. So her job was to persuade, and mine to manage. Hence, Copenhagen.

For some unexplained reason we are on a red-eye heading over, and I have to say Icelandair has about the least comfortable business class seats we’ve ever been on. So after a couple of hours of uncomfortable tossing and turning, I am getting this blog started at what the clock says is 4:41 am. More to come. We had an hour layover in Reykjavik, Iceland with a small but modern airport and very interesting business class lounge with large boulders poking up through the floors. Oatmeal later, we headed to Copenhagen.

First impressions of Copenhagen. Huge shopping mall airport terminal where you wind through every European and American shop in the world. The city has changed in 55 years. Very dramatic modern buildings on one side of a canal and the more traditional Dutch colonial architecture on the other. Our hotel, the Sanders, is boutiquey with small rooms, Danish modern decor but no bar soap. The hotel is very conveniently located but so obsessed with candlelight that the overall impression is of a somber and dour ambience.

We were joined by English friends of Iva and Danny’s. Nigel and Isobel seem like quintessential English. They are going to spend the stay in Copenhagen with us, and look to be a lot of fun. Nigel is an Ogilvy ad guy, and the Silvers met them on a trip to Sri Lanka, and they became fast friends. I suspect by the end of this trip we will be too.

On Sunday, after a hearty breakfast we met Stefan, our guide, for a two-hour walking tour. Copenhagen is a very livable city. On Sunday at least it is uncrowded, bereft of cars and loaded with bikers. It’s a very walkable city and very flat (as is all of Denmark apparently) which facilitates both biking and walking. Most buildings are about five stories with retail on the ground floor and apartments or offices above. Colors abound as in Amsterdam. Indeed, this city is very akin to Amsterdam with canals, multi-colored buildings, and human scale. We walked to Christiansborg Palace which is the seat of government, a large brick edifice where the legislature, Supreme Court, and royal offices are. The Royal Chapel is a limestone building with a very simple but beautiful interior, used only by the Royal family.

Most buildings in old Copenhagen are brick since the soil has a lot of clay in it. Isobel is a horse lover, so we walked into the Royal stables and petted the very handsome white stallions. It was there we realized what “hung like a horse” really means. After a simple lunch we went on an hour boat ride in the canals, many of which are lined with pleasure boats tied along the wharfs. Fully sated, we went back to our hotel for rest period.

A good nap later we headed out for dinner which turned out to be quite the adventure. Those who know my foibles know that I can be a somewhat finicky eater. Betsey and Iva had picked the restaurant, Barr, and the decor was really great in a former warehouse on a canal. The menu, however, was a real challenge. Only three entree options—pork chops (no) cod tail (eh) and schnitzel (great). We had been told their schnitzel was the best in town. What they didn’t tell us was that it was a vegetarian schnitzel made out of oyster mushrooms. It was my only viable option, and I and some others faced it with great trepidation and assumed disappointment. It turned out to be really excellent. So good, with very fresh and delicious asparagus. We were all delighted with our meals. I do say that the beer ice cream which I ordered was not a wow. But a good time was had by all with lots of wine.

We walked home via the NYHavn neighborhood which was on a canal lined with expensive yachts with lit up outdoor cafes all along. Very nice and scenic. A nightcap in our hotel bar and to sleep.

After a good night’s sleep for Betsey and a pretty sleepless one for me, we set out after breakfast for a day of sightseeing. Isobel and Nigel were determined to see living royalty so they went to the palace of the current royals to tour and watch the changing of the guard. Iva, Danny, Betsey and I being more into history took about a twenty minute walk to the Rosenborg castle which was essentially the depository of all the Danish royalty’s treasures from around the world, gifts given them, and assorted other trinkets and trash collected over several dynasties. The best way to describe this castle is dark. Walls covered with beautiful tapestries but old paintings stuck over and around them; intricate clocks and other what nots strewn all over the place; huge silver andirons and lions guarding fireplaces and thrones; cases filled with ivory, china, and amber. Taken individually there were many unique and beautiful items, but their impact was lost on us in the melange. Hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. I enjoyed the treasury best where the crown jewels and crowns were allowed to shine on their own.

After a very good lunch at Pastis (I had croque monsieur sans jambon), Danny headed back for a nap, and Iva, Betsey and I wandered a street of furniture shops admiring the Danish modern and then hit the large department store, not admiring the fussy women’s fashions. Then back for a nap. Renewed and refreshed we headed out to dinner at what was supposed to be a bistro—Montergade—but was actually rather a full-on dining experience. A characteristic of the restaurant menus here seems to be a limited number of main courses. I turned an appetizer—seared tuna—into a main course, and everyone enjoyed their choices. The bread in this town is pretty awesome as was the cheese. Despite entreaties from the Brits, the Americans demurred on after dinner drinks and took to their beds.

We slept in a bit, had a leisurely breakfast, and then jumped in a cab out to Dragor, a fishing village about seven miles outside of Copenhagen. Today, Dragor is a major harbor for recreational sailors and boatsmen. Our friend, David Tunick, sometimes docked his sailboat there, and in a few days will be crossing the Atlantic solo for the next seven or so weeks. But I digress. Dragor (which refers to dragging the boats up the beach) is a World Heritage site for its very well preserved yellow stucco houses with red tile roofs. But perhaps its biggest claim to fame is that it was the major site over several weeks for the evacuation of Danish Jews to Sweden to escape the Nazis. About 7200 of the 7500 Jews in Denmark were saved by slipping away in small boats to Sweden with many brave Danes serving as their transporters. In Dragor we saw a small fishing boat that was used to transport many to Sweden. We had a good lunch with our friends enjoying herring, the local catch, and then headed back to our hotel for R&R before our final dinner in Copenhagen.

Dinner at Host was a real treat. For example, do you know a restaurant that serves a perfect waffle with whipped butter or cream cheese as part of the bread course? Delicious. A limited but very interesting menu with several little surprises as we went along in a mid-century modern atmosphere with a lot of large foliage and warm, friendly service. A very nice last dinner, and I wonder how it will fare when we do “Bests & Worsts” at breakfast tomorrow. We capped off the evening in the hotel bar where we were told the crown prince of Denmark, Frederick, who was dining in the hotel restaurant, would come in after dinner. We didn’t wait but I suspect Isobel and Nigel waited him out. As it turned out they gave up and walked into the restaurant where Isobel spotted the back of the prince’s head. A partial victory.

Reflecting on Copenhagen, it is a nice city but not what I would call an exciting city. Interesting architecture studded with mid Victorian brick towers mixed in with colorful five or so story plain buildings. Biking is the thing here and everyone bikes, few with helmets, and you need to take care of crossing the bike lanes more than the car streets. People are friendly but not overly gregarious. Neither Betsey nor I remember seeing any of it from our last visit 55 years ago, so memorable isn’t what I would call it. We did have a fun time regardless although it’s a very expensive city. Our last morning we did “Bests & Worsts” at breakfast. Betsey and I took a last walk along the canals and back streets. We bid our goodbyes to the Brits and headed to the airport. Iceland here we come!