Copenhagen, Denmark

June 2025

Scandinavia Stop 1- Copenhagen, Denmark. My intention in visiting here first, before the real reason for the international trip, was mainly to check off another country (have I mentioned my new goal of visiting 40 countries by my 40th birthday?). I don’t enjoy the planning and researching aspect of travel beyond the basic google searches of popular attractions and what food the place is known for, I’d rather wing it and figure it out as I go.

My time in Copenhagen is a perfect example of learning in real time and everything falling into place. It’s a long beautiful story but in short I started an audiobook, Unreasonable Hospitality, on the plane ride over and the author mentions a restaurant in Copenhagen. After a google search that led me down a rabbit-hole, I ended up submitting a long-shot entry for a dinner spot at Noma, one of the best restaurants in the world (they won the title like 5 times). I of course didn’t get one, but in that effort I learned about their burger pop-up they started during the pandemic which is now its own restaurant, POPL; Hart Bageri started by a former Noma baker and their famous cardamom croissant; their experimental lab Noma Projects pop-up. Even though I didn’t get into Noma, I was able to be Noma adjacent. And I kept remembering scenes from the tv show The Bear and the movie The Menu which both reference Noma in their own ways. It was fun to connect the dots and go out the next day and discover it in person.

Another serendipitous moment was when I was on my way to Hart Bageri and I passed a houseboat that caught my eye. It looked familiar. I stopped in my tracks and it hit me, I read a New York Times article about this exact houseboat and the Danish designer just a few months ago! I never thought when I read that I’d be seeing it in person just a few months later. Ever since reading Atchafalya Houseboat in college, I have wanted to live on the water.

I loved Copenhagen, it felt similar to Amsterdam with all the canals and boats. And the city was brimming with young and attractive people lounging along the waterways. I’m looking for a Copenhagen houseboat now.

*Houseboat profiled in New York Times article*

*The Genetically Modified Little Mermaid-found on Atlas Obscura*

Noma

Next: Overnight Ferry to Oslo, Norway