One of the places that I was really excited to visit was Copenhagen, Denmark. I had read the book The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russel last summer, and I loved it so much. It was very influential in me wanting to visit this country and experience their culture. With that being said, I had really high expectations going into this trip, and unfortunately, most of my time in Copenhagen ended up being a flop. Love that for me!

Saturday, November 26th:

Today was Carson’s birthday, so we had gone out the night before to celebrate. I didn’t drink and I left early, but my flight was so early that by the time I got up for the airport, I had only slept for an hour and a half. My lack of sleep definitely contributed to my mood as the rest of the day progressed.

I had booked a bike tour of the city at 2:00 pm, and I ended up just hanging out at the hostel beforehand since I couldn’t check in yet. Since this was such a short trip, I had only packed a backpack. I was hoping to store my backpack at the hostel until I could check in later, but you had to pay for the lockers with Danish coins. I didn’t have any coins, so I just ended up carrying my backpack around for the afternoon. I left an hour before my bike tour and walked around and explored for a bit. There were a ton of Christmas markets set up around the city.

The sun came out right as my bike tour was meeting up along the river. I had thought it would be fun to do a bike tour for something different and because biking is so popular in Denmark. It was fun to bike through the city, although we did end up walking our bikes for a good portion of the tour, which was a bit disappointing. I had also underestimated how cold it would be when I was packing, and I didn’t bring my gloves. This was so stupid of me because it was FREEZING. It was mostly just my hands that were cold because I had my coat and hat on, but my hands were frozen around my bike handles. At the very end of the tour, about seven of us got separated from the group when we stopped at a red light and made a wrong turn. We were eventually able to navigate ourselves back to our starting point, which is where we figured the rest of the group was headed since, based on the time, it was the end of the tour. Although, it was not fun being lost with a bunch of tourists and borrowed bikes.

After the bike tour was over, I walked back to the hostel to check in and warm up. I had bought a ticket to go see West Side Story at the Royal Opera House that night. I knew I would want to get dinner beforehand, so I figured I would head over there early enough to find somewhere to eat and then be within walking distance of the theater. I downloaded an app and figured out how to buy a bus ticket to make my way towards the Opera House. What I didn’t realize was that there were no places to eat around the Opera House. Honestly, there was nothing AT ALL around the Opera House. When I got off the bus, I was surrounded by just empty buildings. There wasn’t a business or a soul in sight… Cool! By this point, I was starving. The only thing I had eaten that day was a Burger King Impossible Burger from the airport at 5:30 that morning. I went to the theater and asked if there was anywhere to get food nearby before the show. I was able to get directions to the nearest restaurant, which was a 10 minute walk away past a bunch of empty buildings and construction sites. I finally found the nearest food establishment, and just my luck, it was a burger place. Even though, the only other thing I had eaten that day was also a burger, I decided to stay here because who knew where my next closest option would be. I got myself a table for one and ordered a veggie burger, fries, and a spicy margarita. I felt I deserved a drink after my day. My veggie burger was slippery and crumbly and the margarita was tiny, but I was fed.

I walked back to the theater for the show. The Opera House itself was beautiful! Apparently, they also have a rule that you must check your coat. I didn’t know this, so when I sat down with my coat on, an usher came over and told me that I would have to keep my coat on for the entire show because they don’t allow “loose coats”. The show was starting soon, and but I knew I was going to be sweating if I kept my coat on. I already had two layers on underneath. When the usher wasn’t looking, I slipped my coat off. When I bought my ticket online, I learned that the whole show is performed in Danish. I had bought a seat that had English subtitles available. There was a little screen on the back of the seat in front of me. I selected English, and it showed subtitles of all the dialogue and lyrics throughout the show. It was a nice option, but it was honestly annoying to have to keep looking back and forth between the stage and the screen. The show was fine. I was so tired that I napped on and off during the first act. Since I know the plot of West Side Story, I followed along just fine. I could probably have gone without seeing this just because I was so exhausted that I would have preferred to just be laying in bed.

Once the show was over, I headed back to the bus station to go back to my hostel. To make a long and traumatizing story short, I didn’t have a valid bus ticket. Police officers came on the bus at one point and were checking everyone’s tickets. I tried buying one on the spot, but that is not allowed. The officer took my passport and issued me a ticket with a fine of $140 USD. The officer was so rude. He didn’t even actually tell me that I was getting a ticket, he just kept saying over and over, “You have to buy the ticket before you get on the bus”. I kept trying to ask him how to scan the tickets on the app, but he just ignored me, shoved the ticket in my hand, and walked off the bus. I was so confused and honestly didn’t know what had just happened. Everything on the ticket was in Danish too, so when I got back to the hostel and typed everything into Google Translate is when I figured out that I had gotten a ticket for $140 USD. I was so upset and angry with myself. I sat in the hostel lobby and cried for a while before going to bed. It had not been a good day, and I was really wishing that I was back in Barcelona.

Sunday, November 27th:

Due to my lack of sleep and my crappy day, I let myself sleep in alarm-free. I ended up sleeping in until noon and woke up feeling rested. I took a hot shower and got ready for the day. I was still cranky and just not really feeling up for exploring. I kept my plan for the day very low-key. I wanted to get something to eat, maybe read my book, and then go see the Nutcrackers that night.

I put my AirPods in and walked to a cafe while listening to my favorite podcast. I ordered a salad, and of course it came with walnuts on it. I picked around them while I ate the rest of my salad and drank my English breakfast tea. I spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around the streets of Copenhagen.

By 4:15 pm is when I figured I should start orienting myself to make sure I would have time to walk to the theater for the Nutcracker at 5:00 pm. I had bought the tickets for both West Side Story and the Nutcracker through the Royal Opera House website, so I assumed the show would be at the same place I had been last night. There were multiple buildings/theaters in that complex, so I assumed one of them housed the Nutcracker. When I checked my map, I realized that in order to walk there I would need to leave like NOW. At that point, I was less than a 3 minute walk from the iconic Little Mermaid statue, but I was afraid that if I went to go see it that I wouldn’t make it to the show in time. I decided to turn around and skip out on seeing the statue. It was also pitch black already so I figured it wouldn’t be much to see anyway. I speed walked back towards the theater district I had been at yesterday. I pulled out my ticket and realized that, just my luck, I am at the wrong theater! I put the address into my phone, and it is NOWHERE near where I am. It’s a 15 minute walk away, and of course, it’s in the direction I just came from. I turn around and start speed walking again towards the correct theater. I made it to the theater in time and walked up to the very tippy top of the balcony to my seat. Again, there were no loose coats allowed in the theater. I was dripping sweat by this point after my rushed walks in all my layers. The Nutcracker was fine. The dancers were good, but a lot of the choreography was just… bad. I’m glad I went for something to do other than wallowing in my bad mood, but I wasn’t impressed in the way I had been hoping I would be. The show was over by 7:00 pm, and I spent the rest of the night sitting in one of the hostel common areas.

Monday, November 28th:

I slept in again today until about 10:00 am. I went to a nearby cafe for breakfast and got an acai bowl and a bagel with cream cheese. I planned to spend the day at Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park in the middle of Copenhagen. I got there around noon and bought an entry & ride pass. There were a ton of outdoor food and souvenir stands. I spent about 30 minutes just walking in laps around the park. I wanted to find somewhere to sit inside with a warm drink to figure out which rides I wanted to go on. There seemed to be almost no indoor places to eat, let alone any that were open. I finally find a coffee shop that was open (although it didn’t look like it; it was empty of customers and employees, but they were open!). I sat with a hot chocolate and a cookie and hung out there for about an hour.

Most of the rides appeared to be kiddie rides, but I picked five that I wanted to try out. The first was a roller coaster called The Demon. It was fine… It couldn’t have been more than 30 seconds long. I went on another ride that took you past scenes of 32 Hans Christian Andersen fairytales. I went on an indoor ride where you rode in a boat along a lazy river through a mine. There were animatronic rats (???) working in the mine, and you also had a laser gun to try and shoot the targets and earn points. In my boat, it was just me and one other guy behind me. It was silent the whole ride, and it was so awkward. The last ride I went on was The Roller Coaster, which is a wooden roller coaster. What makes it unique is that an employee rides on the train with you and manually works the brakes. This one was very fun, but I was extremely underwhelmed by all the other rides I went on.

I left Tivoli and walked to a bookstore/cafe where I got poached eggs on toast and read my book for a couple hours. I went back to my hostel around 5:00 pm and hung out there for the rest of the night.

I’m really bummed because I had been so excited for Copenhagen, and I really thought I was going to love it. But I was just so sad the whole time I was there, and the series of unfortunate events that unfolded while I was there did not help. I spent most of my trip just being sad and wishing I was back in Barcelona. Maybe I’ll give Copenhagen and Denmark another chance in the future, but for now, I was just ready to get back to Barcelona.