Baltic Cruise: Day 12 – Copenhagen
Our second, and only full, day in Copenhagen we’d arranged for a van to drive us about in and around the city to all the things we should see. We spent a good 8 hours touring, including about a half dozen spots both and outside the city. We hit all the tourist spots in town including a fountain, a lookout tower, the Little Mermaid, a changing of the guard and more old buildings than I care to remember. We also visited several of the royal castles located within twenty miles of the city. Everything we saw was interesting and the castles were the most accessible we’d been to (read: not a Russian woman in every room clapping at you when you break the rules) but saying that does nothing to explain the experience. Instead I’ll say that you’d be much better served browsing the pictures of our city tour once they’re online.
Note: This post is part of a series about a recent cruise in the Baltic Sea. They are [being] published in chronological order and if you haven’t read the introduction post I encourage you to do so. (I moved this piece here in case you feed some of the content.)
The city itself is an interesting dichotomy of new and old. On one hand you have buildings that are hundreds upon hundreds of years old and on the other hands you have hordes of young people biking around the city listening to their ipods. About the young people on bikes; most are dressed very fashionably (think European professional) commuting on bikes like you might find at the beach. We’re talking women in their mid 20s, wearing a skirt or black pants and a peacoat, peddling their bike with 4” heels while their long blonde hair flutters in the wind behind them. It’s a site to behold, that’s for sure. As I was saying, the city is 800+ years old and can easily prove its age but it’s young, it’s hip and everyone speaks English. If you want culture, there are museums and castles. If you want nightlife, there are strip clubs, gay bars and dance clubs all in plain view, not hidden in the seedy part of town. I guess it’s not that unlike any major city in the US, it just seems to have more of a positive vibe.
After our tour we decided to visit the Absolut Ice Bar, located in Hotel 27 (see that strange picture on their homepage? that's a large print in the hotel entrance) about eight blocks from where we were staying. We had to walk through a major square situated just in front of the Copenhagen City Hall. In the square, there was a sound stage set up with a DJ spinning some tunes. It wasn’t cheesy American pop or stupid dance hits; we’re talking European trance, breakbeats and high energy dance all professionally mixed together. He wasn’t selling CDs and there weren’t any posters but he was pretty good. The music was loud, there a ton of people mulling about and even a few people dancing. So there we were, listening to kickass dance music in the shadow of City Hall and the cops weren’t hassling them. You’d never see something like that in the US.
The Ice Bar itself was somewhat of a disappointment. We paid our $30 entry fee, donned the parkas they provided and entered the bar for our free drink. It wasn’t so much of a bar as it was a large freezer with ice stacked against the walls and sculpted ice furniture. It’s my understanding that the original in Sweeden is a lot cooler (no pun intended) but this one felt like little more than a gimmick… and an expensive one at that. We had our complimentary Absolut vodka cocktail in our ice glass, spent about 15 minutes taking pictures and left before our 45 minute allotment was up. It was something you do to say you did but I doubt I’d return. After leaving the bar we walked back to the hotel, stopping briefly to listen to the DJ some more, and packed to head home the next morning.
Note: This post is part of a series about a recent cruise in the Baltic Sea. They are [being] published in chronological order and if you haven’t read the introduction post I encourage you to do so. (I moved this piece here in case you feed some of the content.)
The city itself is an interesting dichotomy of new and old. On one hand you have buildings that are hundreds upon hundreds of years old and on the other hands you have hordes of young people biking around the city listening to their ipods. About the young people on bikes; most are dressed very fashionably (think European professional) commuting on bikes like you might find at the beach. We’re talking women in their mid 20s, wearing a skirt or black pants and a peacoat, peddling their bike with 4” heels while their long blonde hair flutters in the wind behind them. It’s a site to behold, that’s for sure. As I was saying, the city is 800+ years old and can easily prove its age but it’s young, it’s hip and everyone speaks English. If you want culture, there are museums and castles. If you want nightlife, there are strip clubs, gay bars and dance clubs all in plain view, not hidden in the seedy part of town. I guess it’s not that unlike any major city in the US, it just seems to have more of a positive vibe.
After our tour we decided to visit the Absolut Ice Bar, located in Hotel 27 (see that strange picture on their homepage? that's a large print in the hotel entrance) about eight blocks from where we were staying. We had to walk through a major square situated just in front of the Copenhagen City Hall. In the square, there was a sound stage set up with a DJ spinning some tunes. It wasn’t cheesy American pop or stupid dance hits; we’re talking European trance, breakbeats and high energy dance all professionally mixed together. He wasn’t selling CDs and there weren’t any posters but he was pretty good. The music was loud, there a ton of people mulling about and even a few people dancing. So there we were, listening to kickass dance music in the shadow of City Hall and the cops weren’t hassling them. You’d never see something like that in the US.
The Ice Bar itself was somewhat of a disappointment. We paid our $30 entry fee, donned the parkas they provided and entered the bar for our free drink. It wasn’t so much of a bar as it was a large freezer with ice stacked against the walls and sculpted ice furniture. It’s my understanding that the original in Sweeden is a lot cooler (no pun intended) but this one felt like little more than a gimmick… and an expensive one at that. We had our complimentary Absolut vodka cocktail in our ice glass, spent about 15 minutes taking pictures and left before our 45 minute allotment was up. It was something you do to say you did but I doubt I’d return. After leaving the bar we walked back to the hotel, stopping briefly to listen to the DJ some more, and packed to head home the next morning.
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