Copenhagen was so much more than Joe and I expected! First off, we owe our visit to Eric, my sister’s boyfriend, who won an architecture competition at UPenn and was awarded a monetary prize. He chose to spend part of his winnings on my sister, who joined him in Norway and Denmark. How sweet is that? Then, he kindly agreed to allow Joe, my mother AND me crash the Copenhagen-portion of their journey. I can’t decide if the second part of that makes him even sweeter, or just a little out of his mind!

Regardless, we hope that he only regretted the fact that the Anacondas were at the vet…and not that he encouraged three tag-alongs to cross the Denmark border.

So…back to why Copenhagen was so delightful! Maybe it was because the weather was so cheerful after a long winter in Germany. Maybe it was because Eric enlightened us to all things architectural. Or maybe because there were so many random/surprising things that we experienced during the trip. Whatever the reason, this post is filled with the small discoveries of Copenhagen!

I’m not gonna to lie…I was pretty pumped when Eric and Tammy said they wanted to go to Den Blå Planet (The Blue Planet) aquarium, because of its architectural importance. Scooooore for me!!

When the foursome was in Scotland (click here), Eric brought the world’s attention to my shtick (click here). However, what he was unaware of, until the aquarium visit, was my phobia of all things crocodilian. Yikes!

I spent some time at the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek, which was a beautiful building, in addition to an interesting museum collection. In the mummy section, I came to find out that dead bodies were prepared for embalming by removing the brain through the nose with a hook! Then, the internal organs were taken out through an incision under the lowest left rib and placed in separate jars because they contained different spirits. This poor guy, while being studied by archaeologists over a hundred years ago, had his wrappings disturbed, thus leaving a few fingers exposed.

Nothing is creepier than a really old finger!

Ever wonder what happens to the missing noses of all the Greek statues?

Well, they’re kept in the “nasothek” at the Glyptotek!

We spent an evening at Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world (1843)! Here, the amazing 5-cup Danish beer carrier was discovered. Excellent invention Danes!!

There are a couple of peacocks that wander around Tivoli at will. Whilst waiting for a concert to begin, sitting on the grass, enjoying some beer easily transported by our clever carrier, Joe felt a nudge against his arm. Thinking it was a person who just needed a bit of extra space, he was surprised to find a peacock sauntering by. He swept through the crowd like he had the best looking tail in the group. The audacity!

Tivoli by moonlight

After a cruise through the canals, we enjoyed the sun, the weekend, and some Danish beer along Nyhavn, “the world’s longest bar”.

Speaking of beer, the Jutlandic horses at the Carlsberg Brewery had heads the size of your entire torso! We underestimated the sign that read “pet at your own risk”, and Aksel here pushed us around a bit with his huge noggin.

Coincidentally, Copenhagen was also celebrating Carnival while we were there. Apparently this is how Copenhagen does Carnival: pregnant and cheeky!

So as not to leave Copenhagen on that note…here is a pic from our quality time with Max Weinberger (drummer from “E Street Band” and “Conan O’Brien” fame) on his way back from the grocery store. Random much?!

Good work Copenhagen….you were thoroughly impressive!