It got me thinking. I wondered if any breweries brewed a Stout beer with it. Sure enough, a brewery named Mikkeller in Denmark did. I'd had their beers before, but they are not easy to come by in the US. Each one I'd tried had been amazing. We talked about going on a trip there, so I started looking in to it. It turns out that Copenhagen has two Mikkeller bars where they only serve their beer. They also have a famous Christmas Market. The market is in Tivoli Gardens, a famous garden/amusement park. I sent the info about the market to Shanna, and she was all in. I had a four day stretch in Mid-December where I wasn't working, so we booked our trip.
Our friends ended up not being able to go, which was disappointing. But if there is one person in the world I can always have a good time with, it's Shanna. Last Thursday we got on a plane, and in a few hours, landed in Copenhagen. The airport is so close to the border with Sweden that when we got outside, we had our choice of Swedish or Danish taxis.
We'd heard before how expensive things in Scandinavia were, but we still were not fully prepared. Through out the weekend, EVERYTHING was expensive. Even the 10km cab ride from the airport to the hotel cost $60. We eventually got to the hotel and were checked in. I'd read mixed reviews on the hotel, but we really liked it. It was an old building, but had obviously been renovated inside.
After we got settled in, we figured we'd head to the Mikkeller bar for dinner and drinks. Non-alcoholic for Shanna, of course. :) It wasn't too far a walk, and we were there. I have to admit, I was excited. I love microbrew beers, and this brewery had some amazing beers with a great reputation. With that came a large crowd, though. We got lucky and were able to get a table for two. Shanna had an alcohol free IPA that blew me away. It tasted like a real IPA...had I tasted it without knowing there was no alcohol, I would have guessed 6 to 7 percent. It was amazing.
When I had researched the Kopi Luwak beer, I'd seen the name of the beer they brewed it in. What I hadn't realized at that point, though, was there was actually two beers they used it in. That night, they happened to have one on tap, so I ordered it. No beer there was cheap, but they were all amazing. We spent several hours there enjoying the local brews before calling it a night.
The next morning we found a city tour bus that had a pick up point right in front of our hotel. It was an interesting tour. We learned about Hans Christian Anderson, and the places he frequented when he lived in the city. We also got see the Little Mermaid statue which was built because of his story. The highlight, though, was definitely the Changing of the Guard at the Copenhagen palace. We've been to London, but didn't see the changing of the guard there. So my expectation was to see a new set of guards come out and relieve the previous shift. Boy was I wrong. They put on a huge display. They had a large marching band come out, parade around us playing music, then ceremoniously relieve the guards at each post. It was really neat to watch. What I expected to take 5 minutes ended up lasting for almost 30 minutes.
Once the bus tour was over, we got off and hopped on a boat tour through the canals. I didn't post too many pictures from that since it was such an ugly day, but it was neat flying through the canals. I had to laugh at one point. When my friend at work and I were discussing going, he mentioned a restaurant he and his wife wanted to visit. I had no idea how exclusive this place was...not only was there a six month wait list, but the average cost of a meal was $275. I'm not kidding...$275. Needless to say, he and his wife would have been dining by themselves that night. :)
When the boat tour was over, it dropped us off near a Christmas Market, so we walked around. The irony is, with all the local food offered, we decided on German brats to eat. After walking around the market, we headed into a local shop. It advertised itself as a Sephora, which Shanna wanted to visit for their makeup. I had to find a toilet while in there, and stumbled upon a beer shop in the basement. Imagine that. :) So Shanna walked out with makeup and I walked out with some new beers to try.
While walking around, we also came across a LEGO store. We'd seen a LEGO store in the airport, and several around town. It was later that we found out that LEGO is based in Denmark. I had no idea. We had to get a picture of the front of the LEGO store...they had a giant replica of the Copenhagen Palace guards we saw earlier.
From there it was on to one the famous Tivoli Gardens Christmas Market. I have to admit...not only was I impressed, it was by far the best market we'd been to in Europe. Year round the gardens have rides, arcades, and other things to entertain visitors. During December, they also have a Christmas Market. In walking through, we saw replicas of famous landmarks like St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, the Taj Mahal, old buildings in China, etc... They even had a small area with live Reindeer that you could pet.
One of the more incredible things we saw were Willow Trees. If you've ever seen one, you know how many branches they have. Whoever set up the park painstakingly tied a strand of lights to each branch on the trees there. The end result made each tree look like fireworks going off and raining down light. It was amazing. Shanna and I dipped fruit in chocolate, played classic carnival games, saw a light/fountain show set to Christmas Music, and had an amazing time. We didn't ride it, but we marveled at the 100 year old Merry-Go-Round. Shanna read later that this park was the inspiration for Disney World.
We eventually found a restaurant to eat at in the park. It wasn't just any restaurant though...it was a brewery. We started with creamy Lobster bisque, then Shanna had fish and I had a steak. The food was outstanding. Remember how expensive I said things were? I normally don't talk about money, but to illustrate that fact, in addition to the food I mentioned, I had 2 beers and Shanna had a sprite. So, two bowls of soup, a steak dinner, a fish dinner, 2 beers and a sprite. Total cost with tip? $200. CRAZY. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
The next day I was on a mission. The Mikkeller bar we'd been to the first night didn't sell bottles to go, but their bar 4km north of us had a bottle shop. Shanna wanted to relax at the hotel, so I hopped a cab and headed up there. This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip. When I walked in, it was just myself and the bartender. I ordered a beer off the tap that looked interesting, then asked where the bottle shop was. He pointed to the door, and I asked if I could take my beer. When he responded "The only way to shop for beer is with one in your hand", I knew we could be friends. When I walked in to the shop, I sent a text message to Shanna saying we were lucky our suitcase had a weight limit on the plane. She accurately replied, stating we were lucky this place wasn't near our house. I wanted one of everything. The bartender walked in and began recommending beers. I ended up talking with this guy for 30 minutes...he knew his stuff. Every question I had, he had an answer. He was incredibly knowledgable about beer, and the Mikkeller brewery. If we had an extra day, I could have spent the whole day talking with this guy. I ended up trying the other Kopi Luwak beer they had, and loved it also. I bought a bottle of each Kopi Luwak beer for myself and a few friends back in Germany, then cabbed back home.
Shanna & I had talked about visiting Malmö, which was across the border in Sweden. We decided to do it...why not? That way we could say we visited two countries on this trip. Plus we'd heard their Christmas market was nice. After a short 30 minute train ride, we were there. The market was actually really disappointing, especially compared to Tivoli. The "draw" was all the lights on the historic old street. We did find a neat old building. It was an old Warehouse built in 1595 in a Dutch style.
Other than that, and the Texas store we stumbled across, Malmö was disappointing. Maybe we had too high expectations based on Tivoli in Copenhagen. That night, after a train ride back to Copenhagen, we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, and called it a night. I know, everyone who travels should avoid American establishments and try local cuisine, but I'm not going to lie...their burger was amazing. It's hard to find a good burger made from good beef in Germany, so I was ecstatic to have this burger in Copenhagen.
The next day was pretty low key. We slept in, got breakfast from the local 7-11, and headed to the airport via the train. That's right, they have a 7-11. Not just one, but a TON of them. In a 1km radius of the hotel, we probably saw 10 of them...if not more. I haven't seen a 7-11 since we moved here to Germany, so it was strange.
Copenhagen was amazing. We had a great time, and now I want to visit more Scandinavian countries. Maybe we'll hit the Fjords of Norway in the summer!
To see pictures, click here or any pictures above.
This might be the last post for awhile. We're talking about Iceland in January for the Northern Lights, though...if we do, that'll be the last trip until the baby comes in April. We'll see!
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