Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen is a magical place with a magical theme park right in the heart of the city. It’s walkable, delicious, and an all around very cool place. It was our fourth city on our multi-destination summer trip this year. If you are considering taking off for a European tour with kiddos in tow, I highly recommend leaving on the last day of school. We had an evening flight to Iceland and there was more than enough time to attend the family picnic, pack, and get schedules rearranged for the next school year. It was also early enough to avoid peak crowds, while still getting sale prices on airfare. We flew from Brussels into Copenhagen, and took public transit to our hotel.

I sort of splurged on our hotel in Bruges, it was worth it, but that meant finding a more budget friendly option for Copenhagen. We stayed at Steel House Copenhagen, which in my sons words, “Was pretty good for a hostel.” We always book a private room with an attached private bathroom when we stay at hostels. They’re fun, but on this leg of the trip I got stuck with a top bunk (which I took to calling my “office”). Our daughter is very susceptible to motion sickness and we didn’t realize at the time that her knee pain was actually a stress fracture. Long story short, she didn’t want to navigate the ladder, especially after our son fell off his. He was fine, but our bunk bed days might be over.

Copenhagen is only a twenty to thirty minute train ride over to Malmö, Sweden, which is where my cousin and his family live. We met up with them for pizza the Sunday we were there, and we had so much fun catching up. We learned that in Sweden (and in Scandinavia at large) there is a tradition of indulging in candy, specifically scoop candy–you know the goodies that are kept in bins and then sold by weight, on Saturday called lördagsgodis. So naturally we practiced lördagsgodis daily, because we were making up for lost time.

My cousin recommended we take a harbor tour of Nyhavn, and we’re so glad we did. It was a lot of fun to be out on the water. It was also nice to be on a covered boat when it started raining. He said that the harbor tour was the best way to see the little mermaid statue. And it was so exciting to see her, but I still wanted to see her good side, so we committed to walking over that way. Happily, the rain didn’t last long.

By the time we got to Miss Mermaid, everyone on team Trent was falling apart. I was close to tears because this sculpture is something special and for a fairy tale enthusiast represents lots of important things–the magic and power of storytelling… the beauty and transformative power of love, even if it is unrequited. If I could have hugged Miss Mermaid, I would have. Instead I tried to get a selfie with her, and then I really was in tears because I couldn’t get a good one, and I felt sloppy and dumpy and foolish and cranky. Meanwhile my daughter was in pain (see undiagnosed stress fracture). Mr. Trent was exhausted trying to navigate everyone’s many fraught emotions, and our son was bored, hungry, and over it.

Travel doesn’t always go right. It’s still worthwhile. It’s still valuable, and after you get home or even go have a well deserved meal, you can learn from it. You can see its value, even if in the moment you want to throw your hands up, walk away, burst into tears, snap at all your travel buddies, and swear off ever leaving home ever again. My sister believes that there are stages of travel like there are stages of grief and that you work through them the same way. Euphoria is a stage of travel. So is wanting to runaway from whoever you are traveling with and never speaking to them again. It’s human. It’s okay.

I didn’t get a beautiful selfie with Miss Mermaid like I wanted. It’s okay. I saw her. I have stories to share. I can say with absolute certainty that this sculpture is special and worth seeing, even if you are falling apart.

So the food scene in Copenhagen is out of this world. One of my life’s ambitions is to dine at Alchemist, but this wasn’t the trip for a four to six hour fine dining experience with a price point that is equivalent to our airfare. But after our afternoon in Nyhavn, we were in desperate need of a good meal. Pincho Nation was perfect–lots of small tasty plates and choices that every Trent could get behind. Especially after observing lördagsgodis–milkshakes and ice cream anyone?

We spent the next day, which was beautiful and sunny and rain free, at Tivoli. Tivoli is magical. It’s the theme park that inspired Walt Disney. Immaculate grounds, charming rides that parents and kids can both enjoy, tasty food–it’s one of the oldest and most beloved theme parks in the world. And we had a magical perfect day there.

As we were waiting in line for the gates to open, we were chatting with one of the park employees who was so delighted to learn that this was our first time visiting the park. He said, “Oh, I have chills!” He told us that there is nothing like Tivoli, and knew we’d have a delightful day. And we did!

By this point in our trip it was early June, and everything was green and blooming and gorgeous. Tivoli is an eight minute walk from the Steel House hostel, but I think that morning we opted to cut the walk in half by taking the metro down one stop. Everyone was feeling good and excited and delighted. Sunshine in June is pretty magnificent. I don’t share pictures of my family on this blog, so you’ll just have to take my word that I got the best selfie with my little princess below.

Tivoli has a roller coater that is over one-hundred years old, and we loved it! The coaster is handbraked, meaning an employee rides each time and acts as a brakeman. It’s wild and fun, and we rode it twice. It was my son’s favorite ride in the park.

My daughter’s favorite ride was this one pictured above. So fun story. Road construction was happening right outside the Dæmonen coaster, and in Denmark there are strict safety laws which prohibit the operation of rides in workplaces. So the Dæmonen was closed until the construction was done for the day at 3 p.m. Around 3:30 p.m. the queue for the Dæmonen formed, and we got in line. But their were delays in opening the ride, so after twenty minutes of being stuck waiting in a line going no where, I sent my kiddos off to go enjoy Tivoli. Shortly after they disappeared the test runs for the coaster started. So I left Mr. Trent in line and ran off to find our kiddos. I found them both in one of these cars. My son was behind the wheel and my daughter was sitting next to him with the _biggest_ smile on her face, blissed out. She clearly was having the best time, and waved to me like Princess Mia Thermopolis. “It was just so pretty,” she said. Later that evening we went back and both rode it, and I can confirm that this ride is so much of everything my daughter loves. Pretty, gentle, charming, with a few notes of whimsy.

There were pretty flowers everywhere.

At a few points during the day I ducked into the few shops in the park, looking for Tivoli postcards and swag, but there were none. Tivoli doesn’t believe in them. They want people out making memories and experience what Tivoli has to offer, not buying merchandise. How refreshing.

Tivoli has a haunted house, pictured above, that is for the twelve and up crowd. It was terrifying. Our daughter wisely decided to bow out as we were waiting in line, and as soon as we walked into this “ride,” I wish I had as well. Our instructions were to walk in a single file line, conga-style with our hands on the shoulders of the person in front of us. There was no turning around, no running, and doors would open on a schedule. What they didn’t disclose was that there were live actors inside and that the waiver we’d sign said we were cool with them touching us. I screamed a lot, which delighted the actors. Mr. Trent, who found the whole experience hysterical, was in front. Our son was sandwiched between us. I was behind. If I could have turned around and run back out the “ride” entrance I would have. The automatic doors wouldn’t open fast enough. At one point a flash bulb burst, and after that I just closed my eyes and whimpered.

When you exit the haunted house there is a scare-cam where you can see everyone’s response to the first encounter with an actor. We had a really fun time watching the recording of our scare cam. We also died laughing at the reaction of the teens who went in before us. It was a group of three young women and a young man, who was wearing a pink Messi Jersey. The young man in the pink jersey screamed so dramatically before jumping and using the young woman in front of him as a human shield and his reaction was so much more than his companions, oh my goodness. I’m still laughing about it now. But think twice before heading into the haunted house. It’s a far cry from the Haunted Mansion scares at Disneyland.

Strutting all around Tivoli are peacocks, and when they crossed our path it felt like they were blessing us with their majesty. I was lucky enough to hear my friend, Marty, crow at dusk. Magical.

Donuts shakes, equally magical. Also, I do not have a tattoo, but if I did it would be of a little duck on my wrist. We had lunch at the Tivoli food hall, which is technically outside the park, so we had to get stamped.

A live concert started up at sunset. Mina Okabe was singing “Likable” as I snapped this picture above, I wish I had snapped a picture of the stage, but I was distracted by the swings and fountains and the beautiful light.

And to round out our day, and continue our exploration of the lördagsgodis tradition, we stopped at Cakenhagen, where we ordered some exceptionally pretty desserts.

This was an apple tartlet.

This was a lime cake and my favorite.

This was a passion fruit.

This was a strawberry. All were exceptional. As we were leaving the park my son said, “This was really fun. Hey, thanks for taking us to Tivoli.” And I just about fell over. In the moment reflection and gratitude is a rare skill. We headed back to the hostel happy, and then Mr. Trent, and I returned to Tivoli to ride one last roller coaster, but not the terrifying swings (we got in line, then quickly got out of line). I snapped the picture at the top of this post as we were headed out at closing. It was a magical, perfect, amazing day, and it was our last day in Copenhagen.

The next morning we packed up, I said goodbye to my office for the last time (berth 4 pictured above), and we caught a couple of trains followed by a bus for Billund, where at long last we visited “the home of the brick.”

Travel days within a trip can be a lot of fun, and trains can be an excellent time to play cards, listen to audiobooks, or indulge in a favorite fidget (for me it’s cross stitch). On this leg of the trip I was doing all three, listening to Howl’s Moving Castle the audiobook, as I reached for my travel size cross stitch bag and Mr. Trent borrowed my Shakespeare playing cards for a couple rounds of solitaire. Also, my hat was on my lap, which was a big deal because I’d left it at Pincho’s the night before Tivoli and we had to run back after we returned to the hostel to try to find it. I have a habit of losing hats when I travel, remind me to tell the story of mon chapeau rose in the Paris catacombs sometime.

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