Category: Denmark

Hypothetical question: if you knew that roller coaster had been closed all day for repairs (for unknown reasons to you), would you ride the coaster for the first ride upon reopening?

Ok, assuming the answer is yes (because why would it not), would you feel at all concerned that this was occurring in a foreign country and your fellow passengers were a bunch of rowdy, albeit delightful, Swedish teens who, in explaining why we were chosen as the “test passagiers,” said, “Danish do not like the Swedes.”  When I (oh shoot, losing the hypothetical here) said we were Finnish, he replied, “They don’t like the Finns either.”  Of course they don’t!  I have it on high authority from the book The Almost Nearly Perfect People that no one likes the Finns.

So, yes, at Bakken, SMS and I proved that smart people can do dumb things by waiting in line for the Rutschebanen, a wooden roller coaster open since 1932 after the ticket counter woman told us it had been under repair since 0900 that day and she did not think it would reopen. However, we saw some cars being tested, first empty, then with five employees. The line grew behind us- in front of us were the aforementioned Swedish teens. How did we know they were Swedish?  Apart from one telling us so, it was reinforced twenty minutes later, when the Danish ride operator was giving instructions, they made Swedish chef noises waving their arms over their heads saying “Borgi borgi,” which cause the ride operator to say, in Danish-accented English, “If you don’t understand, why don’t you just say so.”

Well, we didn’t understand the instructions either but we just decided to keep quiet, since SMS had already made vague threats that if I did any more Swedish chef impressions, there was going to be martial discord [note: this didn’t look quite right and I realize I should have written “marital” rather than “martial” but since martial means warlike and SMS was getting really tired of my Swedish chef impression, I’m going to leave it].  So, not knowing what was going on, away we went.  We ascended to the first drop-off.  Once we made it through that, I was pretty sure the chances of flying off the track were fairly minimal.  There were two semi-steep declines with one set of double bumps in the middle that were distinctly spine-unfriendly.  Near the end of the ride, the cars go into a tunnel that is guarded by a plywood naked woman’s torso and the cars go between her legs.  Very classy and appreciated by teens, at least Swedish boys.

So.  It was awesome!  After the first ride, the operator said something to which there were enthusiastic “Ja” replies. SMS and I may not be geniuses with strong self-preservation skills, but even we could figure out we were going again. Yay!  Then a third time, where we switched near the front. Then a fourth time where we switched trains. And then finally, for good measure, a fifth time. Bonus: it was all free!!!

Now, although everything seemed to be ok, the ride did not reopen to paying passengers after our test passenger run.  So, I still have no idea what was wrong but at least I am alive, typing this post.

Now, you may ask, “This seems very stupid.  As one of your two blog readers (hi Mom and Mother-in-law Linda!), why would you do such things?” To have a good story for my blog, duh!

Jk. I felt ok because 1. Employees went first and don’t you think they wouldn’t ride if they had no faith in their repair and 2. The other test passagiers were teenagers, aka minors.  Who would want to hurt a child?

It was so funny because basically, the whole process seems like it just wouldn’t fly in the US. And that’s why I love Denmark 🇩🇰 !

After another, less severe jet-laggy night, we woke up early and headed down to the hotel breakfast buffet. I love breakfast buffets in Europe!  The cheeses, seedy breads, skyr yogurt, and porridge- so good! There were also fresh juices in non-SMS approved tiny glasses and very importantly, good coffee!

We rented bikes for the day from the hotel. Not the best deal in town but pretty close to asking price and it was easy. We bikes along the Lake and then over to the Little Mermaid and Kastellet. Next, we headed over to Nyhaven and the arts center. We biked over the bridge and headed for the Vors Frelsers church.

We arrived shortly after 10 and bought our tickets to ascend the spire. I’ve never seen anything like it (apart from the other time when I climbed it ~2010). You transition to the exterior of the spire for the last 1/3 of the climb. The staircase peters out just below the golden dome that tops the spire. There is no protective glass or jumper nets. Even better, the handrail goes from shoulder-height at the start down to waist-height at the very top. It is very disconcerting. We found out we were fortunate to show up when we did because there was a big line when we descended and left. I wouldn’t want to jostle too much at the top, that’s for sure!

We headed to Reffen, the food container area on Paper Island, passing Christiana and Noma’s new location along the way.  We ordered fries which I sort of wish we didn’t because we had a great lunch reservation but hunger levels were rapidly rising to crisis levels.

After our snack, we cycled over to Restaurant Sondehaan, a historic smørrebrød restaurant. We had aqua vit and smørrebrød.  I ordered the scrambled eggs and eel, mostly because I read about it as a “you’d never think about it but you’ve got to try it.”  Truth!  It was delicious. My second one was Rene’s (of NOMA fame) favorite. Halibut on caraway rye with dill. Both were really good- very high topping:bread ratio. SMS ordered the small plate of the day. It started with a make-your-own with two types of halibut. The next course was a minced steak with egg or as SMS said, “Look, it’s Loco Moco.”  Finally, his set ended with an almond cake that was quite good. Overall, I enjoyed mine more as I wanted the smørrebrød made for me by the experts rather than a make-my-own as a novice.

After lunch, we were hurting from fatigue. So we went to the hotel and napped. Then, we bought train tickets to Klampenborg for us and our bikes. We cycled the very short distance to Bellevue beach. Bikes are totally unnecessary for the beach- I had just wanted them for the path into Bakken.

After some sun time and a swim, it was time for the amusement park. We went on three rides- two coasters and a very tame swan ride, which is basically a swan paddle boat on an elevated track rather than water. The riders peddling causes the swan to coast along the track. The roller coasters well…it’s worthy of a separate blog post so I’ll hold off for now!

After our fun, we headed back into the city. We split a pizza and a salmon tartare dish at the hotel restaurant, which was a perfect amount of food. Then, off to bed!

After a night of jet-lag caused insomnia, I was woken up by my phone. It was the AirBnB host asking me to let in the next guest and give her the keys. What?!  Well, it turned out that his wife, who was the one home during my stay, was asleep on the floor with her phone (uselessly) by her face. She had been up till 5, which I heard because of my insomnia, but apparently, she allowed herself to sleep. Honestly, I wanted to spill water on her head. I let in the next guest, warned her about the good/bad of the place, and managed to find another pair of keys. She left and for me, sleeping time was over.

I got up, dressed for the day, and headed out for Jaegerstradde, a very cool street in Norrebro. I walked through the Kierkegaard cemetery which is a very beautiful green space. Signs abound that having too much fun is not appropriate but that CPHers are allowed to use the park recreationally.

On Jaegerstradde, I first grabbed a coffee from Coffee Collective. It was a very bright but low acidity blend. Then it was off to Grod, for a breakfast porridge. I bought one of the preset menu options rather than make my own. I had the diced apples, almond pieces and caramel sauce porridge. It was tasty although I left about half the caramel sauce behind. After breakfast, I walked through a neighborhood park where a flea market was going on.  It seems that paying through cell phone via individual merchant code is very popular.  I can’t remember what it’s called in Denmark but in Sweden, signs abounded for “Swish.”  The playground area was interesting because there was a climbing structure for kids in the shape of a crashed airplane.  This seems potentially phobia-inducing.

I walked back through the cemetery, this time stopping by the graves of Hans Christian Anderson and Soren Kierkegaard. Then, I let myself into the house where sleeping beauty continued to snooze, grabbed my bags, and left. I left a two-star review on AirBnB. The bed was fine and the room clean but I would never recommend the place.

Then I walked to Hotel Ibsens and left my bags. I want to Torvellhalen to wander among the food stalls. I was pretty hungry so I bought a Le Confit du Canard sandwich at Ma Poule and another coffee from a place not quite as good as the Collective.

Finally, it was time to pick up SMS!  I bought a Danish flag to wave at the airport. I almost bought an inflatable sumo suit at Flying Tiger but I didn’t. SMS says he’s happy I didn’t get it but I bet he would have secretly loved it!  We met up with each other pretty quickly and headed into the city. We checked into the hotel. We decided to walk over to the Islands Brygge public swimmjng area. We walked near the round tower and stroget. We tried to climb the Fers Kli church tower but we arrived 15 minutes after closing. So, off to the swimmjng area, preceded by a quick snack at Egils Deli.  We got three delicious smorbrod- a tuna, pate and hummus.

We decided that we had known a total of zero (0) people who have drowned by swimming after eating so off we went. We entered the water by jumping off the 4.9 m high platform. On the way down, I was a little sad I didn’t know the water temp. Too late!!  The water was brisk and quite refreshing. We were surprised it was as warm as it was, but I had heard it was a very warm May so maybe that’s why.

After our swim, we rented city bikes and headed back to our hotel. We went across the street to Kasalet Cafe and ordered the Stockholm platter, which was a smoresbord feast!  Falafel, hummus, meatball, sausage, bread, salad. It was so good!