Copenhagen Day 3, Canal Cruise and A Rainy Day in the City

Tuesday, May 27th

A new day in Copenhagen, and I had some agenda items even though the forecast didn’t look favorable. I booked a canal cruise for 10 am, was hoping to walk up a church spiral to get a good view of the city, and meet up with Megan for dinner.

I had another early morning start, enjoying my slow morning walking around the city, and grabbing a filling and nutritious breakfast. Before the canal cruise, I went to a cafe for a tofu burrito and a latte with pea milk from Vital Foods. My meal was delicious and I feel like I found a great place because the prices were fair, the service was great, and the location was near Nyhavn. I’d be here again, that was for certain.

I was excited for my boat cruise because I loved the canal cruise I did in Amsterdam and thought it might be similar to that. I got there early and thankfully I did because there was a line forming which was the pecking order to pick the best spot on the boat.

There were only so many window seats, and I was early enough to snag one. Typically, if the weather is nice, they have an open-air boat, but since it was drizzling today they put on the glass cover. I opened my window so that I could get a good view, and selfishly so I could take photos. I was warm enough with my coat that I didn’t mind the extra breeze. The bummer part about the glass roof was it fogged up badly, so I could only see out of my side of the boat. And of course, the main highlights all felt like they were opposite me. But, I did see most walking around the city yesterday so I didn’t feel like I was entirely missing out or losing value, just wished the weather was more agreeable. I also was hoping to have an awesome and energetic tour guide, and he was very informative, but spoke with a monotone, unenthusiastic voice. Overall, I learned more about the city and got to see more than I would have walking.  

After the canal cruise, I went to a rooftop cafe I had my sights on. It was super close to the canal cruise drop-off point and it was early in the morning still that it made sense to do that next. Although, I should’ve waited because it was the only time the rest of the afternoon that it wasn’t windy and raining. To make the most of the lack of rain, I drank my coffee outside so I could enjoy the view from the rooftop. 

Right when I left the cafe, the rain picked up and same with the wind. It was actually a storm that I braved in order to get to my next stop, which was the spiral church. I was tempted to walk up it or at least go inside but after my 15-minute walk getting blasted with rain pellets and using my umbrella as a wind shield, I was doubting the conditions in doing so. The staircase to get to the top of the church is on the outside, so the stairs would potentially be slippery. And I didn’t prebook anything, and the view from the church is said to be one of the best in the city so it was really a shot in the dark if I’d actually be able to climb this thing. 

When I got to the church, I couldn’t go inside because it was closed for a funeral, and I couldn’t walk up the spiral staircase because it was sold out. Double strikeout. Sick of being in the rain, I thought I might as well stop somewhere to wait it out, and I heard Joe and the Juice started in Copenhagen, so, for the cultural immersion, I stopped in. I didn’t want a third coffee so I ordered overnight oats and made it my lunch. When I say I got a morsel of oats and the bowl was $7, it was a bit ridiculous. Yummy, but I think I got 5 small bites from it. Either my perspective was off due to the vastly different portion size to America or just the prices in this city were this high. But, I did get a nice seat next to the big window and sat there for almost 3 hours. I didn’t know what else I wanted to do in the rain and I was tired. I ended up texting a friend for most of my time there, offering the company I needed while solo traveling. 

Part of me felt like I wasted the afternoon because I spent so long in a chain coffee shop, but I didn’t know what else would be pleasant to do in the rain so I never ended up leaving. When I did leave, the rain had really subsided, so it worked? I headed to Nyhavn to check out the view because why not. I got a pre-dinner snack, a grocery store banana. I was meeting up with Megan soon for dinner with Smørrebrød, a Danish dish I was dying to try. I ended up heading there early, walking instead of using public transport, and met Megan there. I was so hungry from the little bits I had for food today, I was ready to tear into this sandwich.

I ordered the Smørrebrød, an open-face sandwich, but my order got lost in translation and I ended up getting a normal sandwich with two pieces of bread. Engaging my problem-solving skills, I just took off the top bun and made it into two open-face sandwiches, dedicated to experiencing the food culture here.

It was another early dinner, Megan and I talked there for a bit but then I asked if she wanted to walk around and so we went out and about. She showed me where she lived which was so close to the beautiful church, Frederik’s Church. I went to grab my camera for photos but it was dead because I accidentally left it on from the canal cruise and that's on me. Thankfully, my digital was alive and well, doing us a service to provide us with quality shots.

We walked everywhere, posing around the city and getting some incredible shots. It was actually really fun taking photos with Megan, her saying that she needed to get some pictures around Copenhagen anyways so this was perfect. She also opened up to me about her interest in photography (that’s why my Copenhagen photos are so good!) and I told her she should totally get a camera! I love mine and it’s been so fun to have, especially while traveling to capture the true beauty of the places I’ve visited.

By the end of the night, the weather took a turn for the better and we had a splendid time walking about. Again, so happy about spending time with Megan and we made plans to grab coffee tomorrow morning before my flight to London.

Wednesday, May 28th

I couldn’t believe I was leaving and flying again. It felt like I just got there, but the Copenhagen prices were giving me the boot. I’ll say that Copenhagen was a nice place to visit, but for how poor the weather was, they had no right to be as pricey without offering good nature or weather in return. I think that's why I love Spain so much because the weather is fantastic and it is super affordable. 

The timing of when I needed to check out of Next House and go to the airport worked out well, along with when my friend I was visiting would be done with work. Plus, I had enough time to fit in a few more things in the morning before leaving Copenhagen. I loved Nyhavn so much that I took my breakfast to go and ate half with it as my view, but saved the other half for right before heading to the airport. After eating my meal, I walked over to Mormor’s, a cool cafe where I met Megan for coffee. Not the best service and over $6 for a drip coffee, not somewhere I’d head back, but the inside was so cool, and we were seated in what felt like a living room of a Danish grandma who spent her whole life collecting.

I was so happy to be able to meet up with Megan once more before leaving. I saw her every day when I was in Copenhagen. I was so appreciative she made such an effort to see me as much as she could. I am grateful that Megan was happy about me coming and spent as much time with me as she possibly could. Although I like solo traveling, I love spending my time with people and having good conversations. Whether that be a good friend, my family, or with someone I just met, so I can say that I was happy to have spent as much time as I could with Megan while here.

After coffee, I walked back to my place, headed to the hostel, packed up, and then left for the airport. I went through passport control and got another stamp yay! I love seeing my passport fill up with more and more stamps, this will soon be my favorite book of all. My goal was to fill it up, but to be more realistic, it is to have at least one stamp on each page. I am close... I hope that I will put in my best effort to achieve it.

Off to London now! Read about my time there in my next blog post :)