My Russian Life: Favorite Trips: Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen is one of our favorite places. I'm pretty certain that Pat would rank it in his Top 3 cities to visit. A few weeks ago, we did a long weekend trip in Copenhagen for Pat's birthday.

Copenhagen probably sounds like an odd choice of favorite cities to a lot of people. But it has a great (I mean, AMAZING!) food scene. Ranks right up there with the great food cities of the world, and currently has the top rated restaurant in the world, Noma. It also has a great design culture & amazing architecture. It's a young city, very friendly, very clean & focused on the environment, and easy to get around. 36% of the population commute to work & school everyday on their bikes. How great is that? Copenhagen is big enough that it has everything you could possibly want, but small enough to be able to see all of it (if you want). Great shopping too. And did I mention that it has amazing food????

Yes, it's expensive. But so is most of Europe these days! And it's cold. If you're not exactly sure where Copenhagen is, here's a map of the Scandinavian countries. It's on the lower eastern side of Denmark

Not far from our hotel was Amalienborg, which is the main residence of the royal Danish family. 4 identical palaces, surrounding an open courtyard. The statue is of King Frederick V on horseback, the founder of Amalienborg

The palaces are still used as residence for Queen Margrethe & Prince Henrik

We were able to catch the Changing of the Guards on this day

This is called Frederiks Kirke, or the Marble Church. Building started in 1749, in honor of Frederick V, but wasn't completed until 1894. I couldn't take pictures inside, but the dome was beautiful. At the base of the dome (it's difficult to see), there are 18 statues of various prophets & apostles.

City Hall

Nyhavn is a popular street, full of bars & restaurants. I love the colors of the row houses along the canal. There were some (crazy) people sitting outside in 35F weather drinking beer.
I think I know that guy on the right

I drank my beer inside

Lunch. Not for everyone, 4 types of herring (pickled, marinated, fried, and curry). Yum!

Next we hit the new Copenhagen food market. My favorite thing to do in any town or city is visit the local market. I love to cook, and markets always give me a great feel for the people of a country. This is a great market, made even better by being mostly inside!

This market had a little bit of everything, and it all looked so good.

Breads!

Fresh fish & shellfish of all types imaginable!

Smoked fish!

Beautiful produce, that I wish I could buy in Russia

I don't know what type of stewed meat this was, but it smelled so good!

Too bad it was Friday during Lent

Pat is eyeing up some fresh oysters

Strøget, the main shopping street. Time for some retail therapy

Pat having his favorite cocktail, a Negroni. But he says I make them better :)

I love the colors

Happy Birthday!

Pat's birthday dinner was at Kokkeriet. Amazing!!!! We had been there before, and it was Pat's 1st choice for his birthday. In addition to the tasting menu, they brought us mini chocolate mousse cakes (his with a candle). I loved that they served 3 wines with the main course, in order for us to understand the process of how they decide which wines to pair with each course.