Denmark Day 1

Friday morning Caitlin and I woke up before the sun did, and at 4:30am we were in a taxi heading for Cork airport.  Our flight was at 6:30am, and we were headed for Copenhagen!

I cannot tell you how incredibly spoiled I felt to have this trip start from Cork airport. It is such a luxury to at least catch a couple of hours of sleep in my bed.  Even though 4am is an early wake-up call, I'll take it over the alternative; Dublin airport. 

There were a couple of factors that lead to our decision to fly out of Cork for this trip.  To begin with it was only marginally more expensive, and the added benefit of a closer airport significantly outweighed the minimal difference in cost.  Secondly, this trip was extra special because as a birthday present for Caitlin, her parents got us a hotel room to stay in for the weekend, so the splurge on Cork seemed to appropriately go along with the theme of the weekend. 

Our first flight left Cork at 6:30am and we flew with Aer Lingus into Amsterdam.  We got off the plane, headed straight for our next connection, and because the Amsterdam airport is so massive we arrived at our gate as the first passengers were boarding the next flight to Copenhagen.  We boarded this flight and within and hour we had already touched down in Denmark.  

Our hotel was close to the airport so we were sitting in the lobby only a half hour after we had landed.  At this point it was 12:30pm and we were hungry.  We headed into town to grab something to hold us over until Lindsay arrived and we could get lunch. 

Pastry Shop

Our hotel was in the best location so we walked into town and stumbled upon this bake shop, which was excellent.  It was the first of many delicious pastries I would eat over the next couple of days. I got a cinnamon bun, and man have I missed those! We found a bench and sat outside enjoying the nice day, and friendly atmosphere for a little while before going back to the hotel to meet Lindsay. 

Lindsay is a friend from Holy Cross who is studying abroad in York, England for the year, and it was so much fun spending time with her over the course of the weekend.  

Shortly after her arrival we all realized how hungry we were and went in search of lunch.  We got a recommendation to try a restaurant named Halifax for burgers.  It was one of the best burgers I have ever had, and at 4pm for lunch I was so hungry that burger did not stand a chance! 

 Halifax

Caitlin has a family friend named Caroline, who is studying abroad in Copenhagen this semester, and she came and met us at Halifax. She came armed with Danish treats to welcome us to the city, it was so nice of her.  She also brought along a map of the city where she highlighted the places she thought we would enjoy most and how we would get there from our hotel.  

Flødeboller - Danish dessert 

After our late lunch Caroline brought us around the city to give us a taste of her life, at school and socially.  It was so relaxing to walk around with someone who knew exactly where she was going, and had fun facts about everything we were seeing. 

The city was so colorful! 

As it got later the sky turned a little dark, and it was fun to see the city begin to light up. 

We climbed to the top of Christiansborg Palace, which is the Parliamentary building in Copenhagnen. 

View from the top

City at night after climbing down from the tower

After walking around for awhile we stopped inside a bar called The Living Room.  It was extremely cozy with couches, oversized chairs, fireplaces and dim lighting.

The Living Room

We had such a large lunch so late in the day that we were not hungry for dinner, so we decided we would just get desert instead. 

 Caitlin and Lindsay got chocolate cake, and I got a mocha cheesecake....delicious! 

We enjoyed our treats and after a little while decided to call it a night.  We headed back to the hotel cleaned up for the night, and made plans for Saturday.  Staying in a hotel made such a difference here because we had our own room with a clean, hot shower with fresh linens and towels each day.  Then, most importantly, we went to sleep on extremely comfortable mattresses, and as soon as our heads hit the pillows we were out.