My first weekend in Copenhagen

Canals. Ikea. Stairs. Pizza. That’s probably it, in a nutshell.

But let me start from the beginning…

After a lazy morning, we walked just a few doors down from the D’Angleterre and got cappuccinos. Can we stop here for a second and admire how gorgeous this hotel is, though? Daaay-um.

Our post-coffee activity was exploring Nyhavn, arguably the most picturesque of all the canals in Copenhagen.

We walked up and down this little waterfront haven, taking in the warmth and the sunshine. These are two things that happen pretty much… never in Copenhagen. (Trust me, I’ve been learning first hand.)

Then we stopped for ice cream. 5 scoops of creamy goodness! This guy thought it was awesome too. With bellies full of sugar, it was time to hang up the Tourist Hat and put on the Less Exciting Hat.

Enter: Ikea.

Obviously I wasn’t in any sort of rush to see all the sights, since I’ll be here for a substantial amount of time. I was more concerned with making use of our rental car and furnishing my new room! Mark obliged – and not even that begrudgingly.

I don’t have any photographic proof of our Ikea antics, mostly because I was way too overwhelmed with the crazy strong cinnamon bun smell. Honestly, how are you supposed to shop with that sugary sweetness wafting through literally EVERYTHAAANG?! It was a doozy, but somehow I made it out with a bed frame, mattress, pillow top, sheets, blankets, towels, a bed side table, hangars, storage boxes, and a mirror for LE CHEAP. Ikea, I love you.

Then came the really fun process of actually getting things from the Ikea parking lot to my room. Didn’t love this part as much, and I didn’t even have the short end of the stick (short stick carrier would be Mark, all the way).

Cut to:
– Driving back to my apartment with the mattress perched precariously on top of the car, and Mark with his arm out the window, holding on to it.
– Mark lugging said mattress up 6 flights of stairs to my room. (A visual that I will literally never forget.)

My directive was to provide moral support, i.e. channel my inner Chandler and yell out “PIVOT!” at random moments. Cause when I tried to actually help carry it, I almost pushed him backwards off the steps. I don’t get along well with physics, apparently. (“Don’t try to help, you’re just making it worse!!!”)

Stairs, stairs, glorious stairs. Somehow we made it aaaaaall the way up. Dropped everything off in my room, and hustled out to refuel. Furniture assemblage would come later, FOOD FIRST.

We ate dinner at Marchal, a one-star Michelin rated restaurant inside the Hotel D’Angleterre.

It had the least amount of fancy shmancy Michelin stars of the foodie restaurants we’d visited on this trip, but it ended up being one of my favorites. The food was delicious, portion sizes were pretty massive, and ambiance was on point. I had tempura fried Cod, Mark had beef tartare, and then we split a big cut of chateaubriand that they sliced table side.

Then we ended the meal with macarons. As every meal should end.

Sunday started with MORE FOOD. Yay, room service. The middle bit consisted of Ikea furniture assemblage at my place. Plus another Ikea run to get a few things I forgot the first time. We celebrated our successful Ikea instruction deciphering with pool time at the Hotel D’Angleterre. It was another indoor pool, and so cool. Crappy lighting though, so I didn’t think to take any pictures. And no jacuzzi, which was lame. But they did have multiple sauna rooms.

Post-pool, we did a loop up and down Strøget, the main shopping street in Copenhagen. Then, for dinner, we stopped at a little Italian place for some pizza. Well, pizza for me. Calzone for him.

Both so, so good. And then, just like that, it was time to go back to the room, pack, and have one more sleep before…