København

At this point, København (Copenhagen, Denmark 🇩🇰) was beginning to look familiar. Denmark was our third Scandinavian country and it was clear why people around the world so often mix them all up. There are differences if you look close enough, but to my uncultured eye, it wasn't easy!

Despite my continued ignorance, it was still a beautiful city. The streets were narrower, but clean, and clearly marked. The bus dropped us off outside the main terminal at the CPH airport. Eventually we figured out the way to the city center and boarded an express train at Platform 2.

This is a tangent, but I think the default zooming scale of Google Maps is different compared to the US. When I open the app and quickly evaluate my location in reference to some destination, I always arrive twice as fast as I mentally predicted. Maybe I'll be twice as slow when we return the US!

Gallivanting

We didn't have much planned for København. In my mind, it always existed as a convenient stopping point between us and Belgium. It mostly lived up to that reputation, and that's not a bad thing!

We visited a variety of new restaurants, enjoying authentic Palestinian, Romanian, and Danish cuisines. I particularly enjoyed the Danish food, which essentially was a plate full of fried bacon and potatoes! 🤤

One day, we walked up and down a grassy park/pier in search of the famed "Little Mermaid" statue. Unfortunately it was at the start of the pier, not the end, but that's okay! 🙃

Another day we visited an art museum and walked through the royal palace grounds. A few evenings, I went out for a solitary walk around the city. Luckily, I didn't get lost this time! The final night before we left for Belgium, I went to another hole in the wall bar to listen to some live music.

Final Thoughts

I'm really glad for the experience of visiting the countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. I'm sad we couldn't also visit the other Nordic countries (Finland and Iceland) due to political turmoil and finances, but we've created some great memories and I have some ideas for visits in the future! I'd like to see the Fjords, perhaps on a Norwegian cruise, and visit the far northern reaches of Sweden and Finland and experience the northern lights.

This official marks the end of Part 1 of our 3 part excursion. In the next two parts, we'll be slowing down a lot, spending time with family in Belgium and taking short excursions out to various destinations. I'm also going back to work this month and will be working on a 6-9 hour offset from my colleagues across the US.

I imagine our posts will continue at about the same rate of 1-3 posts per week moving forward.

Please enjoy some music and thanks for reading!