How to spend 24 Hours in Copenhagen

Norman and I are in Copenhagen for the day, on our way to Aalborg where Norman will sing a series of concerts. (I think they will even be recorded for Danish television!)

I don't know very much about Danish culture, but I do know they have incredible fashion and furniture designers, so in the spirit of celebrating my love of mid century furniture, I booked a night at the charming Hotel Alexandra . They appoint all their rooms with pieces inspired by Danish designers from the 50's and 60's, including Hans Wegner and Finn Juhl. Some of the pricier rooms are even decorated original art and furniture, which are available for purchase.

They also have a small cabinet with other classic items for sale, including this Arne Jacobsen alarm clock I've been eyeing for less than half the retail price in the USA! I opted for the bordeaux color, although they did have all the classic colors as well.

Fighting the fatigue of our long journey, we decided to get up early and get on European time. Our first stop was at Baresso for coffee and croissants, which despite being a chain is pretty high quality. It didn't hurt that it was less than two minutes from our hotel too!

After checking out, Norman and I visited the Acne Studios archive store, which is an outlet for the luxe Swedish clothing label known for interesting designs, and hefty price tags. After much deliberation, I walked out with this one of a kind sample sweater that can also double as a dress.

Between the jet lag and the hand wringing at Acne, (I'm not a decisive shopper), we were getting pretty tired, so we refreshed ourselves with ginger tea at the neighboring Cafe Plenum.

I noticed that almost all the cafes in Copenhagen have real lit candles burning all day to create the concept the Danish call "hygge", which translates most closely to cosiness in English, a description that is rather incomplete. Actually, for the Danes, hygge is a way of life, a tool to combat the long, dark winters, adding cheer to the gray, windy, often rainy days. In English, imagine cosy plus snug plus warm plus a hug and some tea, and that's hygge.

With our time running short we opted not to go to a restaurant for lunch, so we found a great little Vietnamese cafe serving hot fresh sandwiches. We ordered a sliced pork and roasted beef sandwich and shared them, except mine had extra spicy peppers and hot sauce!

We wanted to check out the trendy Vesterbro district, but it was raining and we had to catch a train, so that will have to wait for another trip I guess.

Tomorrow I will be exploring Aalborg and hope to find some fun addresses there too.

Godnat!

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