Scandinavia Part I - Denmark

The last week of May had us begin the next part of our yearlong adventure - Scandinavia.

We left our house sit in northern Germany and headed to our Airbnb near Christiansfeld, Denmark. The Airbnb was the perfect introduction to Denmark. We stayed on the second floor of a modern hobby farm, which had the most adorable animals - bunnies (including baby bunnies), chicken, ducks, and a cat. We spent the evening enjoy the outdoors and watching to cute animals. We were only there for one night, but we both wished we could have stayed longer. It even had Sharleen thinking it would be so fun to have a small hobby farm.

From our Airbnb we started the 3-hour drive to Copenhagen. We decided to stop part way through our drive to explore Egeskov Slot; it was a last minute decision, and something we didn’t really know too much about - we just love castles! After making our way onto the grounds, we knew this detour wasn’t going to be like our typical castle pit stops. The grounds had numerous exhibits, museums, gardens, mazes, cafes, as well as the castle. We mentioned some details about this detour in our Week In Review: 3, as it was Sharleen’s highlight of the week, but we cannot emphasize enough how impressed we were with this place. They do a fantastic job with displaying collections, providing interesting details, letting you wander the grounds and take in the beautiful sights, and get lost in over 18 garden spaces. The gardens have even won numerous awards for being some of the best gardens in Europe. It was a little early in the season during our visit, but Sharleen sure would have loved to see the Dalia gardens in full bloom! This place had something for both of us, as Darrell quite enjoyed looking at the classic car exhibit, the motorcycle exhibit, and the antique bicycle collection. The other great thing about this stop was that the grounds were big enough so you didn’t feel as if you were walking in a guided line with thousands of other tourists. A lot of the other major attractions we have visited feel very touristy and full of other people looking to take in the sights, but at Egeskov we really enjoyed being able to walk around and have places to ourselves. We took many pictures without other tourists in the way, spent time taking pictures of the peacocks, and were able to just enjoy our time in peace. We ended up spending over 4 hours here, and had a really awesome time! So far Denmark was really surprising us.

Both of us were really looking forward to Copenhagen. It was actually really difficult for us to find Airbnbs here, so we ended up only being in Copenhagen for 2 nights. We are trying to keep our Airbnb budget averaging around $50 a night, which had proven to be quite challenging for this first leg of our trip. Copenhagen has by far been the most expensive for housing, and part of the issue is demand for Airbnbs. We had tried to book two other Airbnbs but they ended up being booked within minutes of us sending our booking request. This meant we had to up our costs, and we booked a place for $110/night. So, with only 36 hours in Copenhagen, we knew we had to make the most of it.

We decided to be quite touristy in Copenhagen, and purchased a Copenhagen Card. This city card gives you free access to 86 attractions, free public transportation, and discounts at restaurants and other attractions. A 24 hour card cost around $80 CDN, but they are also available in 48 hours, 72 hours, and 120 hours depending on how long you are in the city. We started our Copenhagen exploration early, and were in the city centre by 8 am. We walked the beautiful streets looking at the mix of modern and old architecture, walked the canal streets and captured the iconic Copenhagen picture with the colourful buildings next the canal, and walked by the King’s New Square (which was under major construction at the time). We then used our Copenhagen Card and jumped on a canal tour to explore the city sights by boat, and see where we wanted to spend more time after the tour ended. We both really enjoyed the canal tour, it was a great way to see a different side of Copenhagen, and it allowed us to see many sights and get some details from the guide. Some of the buildings are even more beautiful when you see them on the water, so we highly recommend a canal tour if you are visiting Copenhagen.

On our canal tour we realized that some of the museums and attractions we were interested in visiting were not located in Copenhagen, but were actually over an hour north - closer to the ferry were we taking the next day. This had us both a little frustrated and wishing we had spent a little more time looking into the Copenhagen Card and planning our day to make the most of the card. We figured to get our $80 worth, we would need to visit at least three places, preferably four. In hindsight, we would probably have been better off purchasing a 48 hour card, so we could also see some places north of Copenhagen while we made our way to Sweden the next day. It was a good learning for the next time we look to buy a city tour card. So, in order to move past our learning and enjoy our limited time in the city, we re-evaluated where were wanted to spend our time in Copenhagen, and headed to our next stop - the Danish Architecture Center (DAC).

We really didn’t know anything about DAC, honestly, all we knew was that Denmark is known for cool architecture, so DAC must be a good place to go to learn about it :).  The building is very unique, and captured our attention when we were on the canal tour. It’s a black and glass building, shaped like a horseshoe, with a road going through the middle of the building. When we walked up, we were quite confused, as it looked like it was a gym, full of gym equipment and people working out. We made our way down a stairwell, where the DAC signs pointed, and found the ticket center on the basement level. The building had just opened about 3 weeks prior to our visit, and the building was just as interesting as some of the exhibits. It had been constructed for multiple purposes –DAC exhibits, workspaces, a gym, residences, and cafes. DAC seemed to be in the center because as we walked through we could often see into boardrooms and offices - it was such an interesting design! There was even a part when we were walking beside the cars that were driving on the road which went through the building. The design really added to the whole experience of the exhibit.

The current exhibition seemed like the perfect topic for us. It was called “Welcome Home” and it took you on a journey of housing architecture and design in Europe -but ultimately it had you really think about what makes a home a home as you walk through the exhibit. Seeing as we sold our house and most of our possessions before coming to Europe, it seemed even more interesting to us as it’s a topic close to our heart and something we have been thinking about quite frequently over the last four months.

From DAC we went and for a walk over to the meatpacking district to eat a late lunch and plan the next part of day (*for the best tacos we have ever eaten, check out our Week In Review: Week 3). Since it was already well into the afternoon, and most museums and sights closed around 5pm, we decided to head over to the Copenhagen Zoo. The main reason we chose the Zoo is because it costs $35 CDN per adult, and we had free access with the Copenhagen Card, which helped our activities get over the total of $80 (the cost of the Copenhagen Card). 

In general, our thoughts on zoos are mixed – we enjoy seeing animals we don’t have access to see in the wild, but at the same time we want to see them in a way that respects them and treats the animals well. Overall the Copenhagen zoo was above average on the types of animals we were able to see, and average with the animal exhibit spaces. It’s one of the oldest zoos in Europe, founded in 1859, and they have even preserved some of the historic buildings and exhibits from the 19th century. We enjoyed seeing a few animals we haven’t seen before, and in particular, it was pretty fun to see so many baby animals. We don’t go to zoos all to often, so we aren’t sure how common it is to see young animals, but almost every other animal exhibit had babies, and they were pretty adorable! Our favourite animals were the brown bear cubs, the rhinos and rhino young, and the Tasmanian devils.

The zoo, like many other sights in Europe, is under construction, as they are getting ready for a massive panda exhibit. The plan looks quite beautiful, and the exhibit will take up almost a fourth of the zoo. It will be shaped in the yin and yang symbol, and will be in the center of the first part of the zoo. So while construction is underway, it’s was a little confusing finding our way through the park to each of the exhibits.

We finished our stroll through the zoo right at closing time, and by then we had been walking around Copenhagen for over 10 hours. We were quite tired, but felt like we were satisfied with the sights we had seen. Overall, the biggest take away for us was that the next time we look to purchase a city card, we would spend more time looking into the included exhibits, where they are located, and then evaluate if it’s worth the cost. In the end we broke even on the cost of the card versus paying for each activity individually, so it was an cost neutral lesson.

The next day we headed north of Copenhagen to catch a ferry to Sweden. But first, we could not leave Denmark without having a Danish danish! The guide on our canal cruise raved about a bakery called Lagkagehuse, so we stopped for some delicious pastries on our way to the port. Our port was right near the Kronborg Castle, which is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and famously known to be the castle in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The castle wasn’t open when we arrived, so we took about an hour to walk around the building and admire it from the grounds. We also got a great view from our ferry ride to Sweden.

All in all our 72 hour adventure in Denmark was really enjoyable. We didn’t know what to expect before we arrived,  and we left with fond memories and wishing we had a few more days to explore the country. Denmark also gave us a taste for how expensive Scandinavia is, which was a bit of a rude awaking for us. With our budget needing to last for a whole year, there is likely no way we could have added more time to Denmark without sacrificing days we already have planned in Sweden and Norway. So for now, we continue to head north towards Norway, but maybe some day we will have the opportunity to return to Denmark to see more of this beautiful country.