Day 176: BeePaw and Lobsy Head Home — Biking Copenhagen — Savoring Final Hours at The D’Angleterre
We had one more breakfast with my mom and dad before they headed off to DC.
They left the hotel at 10am and we saw pictures of them hanging with family and friends at my brother’s place in DC before we went to bed here in Copenhagen. Sometimes air travel blows your mind.
We had such a good time with Lobsy and BeePaw. It was a perfectly coordinated trip, even my travel-hating dad had a great time. We’ll see Lobsy again in China in 3.5 weeks!
It was nice having this free “extra” day in Copenhagen. We’ve had so many family members and friends (and uninvited lice friends) in Europe that we haven’t had that many days to hang out just the four of us. That’s going to change in a big way in the second half of the year.
We rented two bikes — one normal and one with the big rolling kids seat in the front — and headed off from the hotel with only a tentative plan for the day.
First stop was the Genghis Khan exhibit at the National Museum of Denmark. We’re headed to Mongolia in 10 days (!!!) so we thought we have to check it out.
It was one of the most well designed museum exhibits I’ve ever experienced. Khan is obviously a super interesting subject and the Danish touch on the digital / audio / lighting combo even entertained the kids.
We discovered that they also had a “History of Toys” exhibit plus a kids area for dress up and exploration.
Margaret audibly gasped in excitement when she heard there was a dollhouse exhibit. She grew up going to the Dollhouse Museum in DC and then built one with her dad so she’s pretty much obsessed.
Several experiences on this trip have reminded her of this love and she’s determined to embrace it more fully when we get home. As she was buying these little doll-sized brass pots and pans in the museum store and Willa said, “But Mommy, you don’t even have a dollhouse.” So funny. Not sure how long that will be true.
After the museum we took a 15 minute ride back to Nørrebro where we started our food tour with Sine a couple days ago. Margaret wasn’t going to leave Copenhagen without wandering this cute street one more time. We had a really good veggie-heavy lunch outside at Manfred — even James gobbled some carrots and zucchini.
Margaret left to do some browsing and I took the kids to a playground after stopping for an Ice Coffee at Coffee Collective.
The locals playground had a plane crash climbing structure and a little circular soccer “arena” with two goals. James and I kicked the ball around there and then went over to a bigger paved “field” next door.
Back on the bikes, we rode through the cemetery from Day 1 with Sine, headed for the canals.
I was on the bike with both kids in the front bucket. It’s a legit workout pushing those two around but not as bad as I first expected. The two wheels in the front makes for a relaxing ride b/c you don’t need to worry about putting a foot down when you stop. But Copenhagen has solved that food-down problem anyway — they have these high railings at stoplights so you can hold yourself up and rest while waiting for green.
We stopped at BLOX, a creative space we first spotted on our boat cruise yesterday. They have a couple climbing structures but the kids were most into the huge shaded sandbox filled with toys. They had the place to themselves. Grownups chilled in the rope swing / hammock things.
Last stop on our self-directed bike tour was the the Havnebadet Islands Brygge, a set of canal water “swimming pools” surrounded by wooden decks and a grassy picnic / chill out area. It was a warm Sunday so everything was super crowded but it was so fun to take a dip with the locals.
Margaret smartly recommended that we call it a day and spend the late afternoon / evening in our suite at the D’Angleterre. The kids took a bath, we showered, put on the bathrobes and ordered room service. Total Imposters. I actively tried to appreciate every moment we were in this hotel this week. It was such a generous gift from my parents that we’ll always remember.
Danish Food
The Danes love salty food. The thick cut fries at Nimb Braserie were delicious and addictive but had so much salt you felt yourself swelling up.
But we’ve had really good meals this week — thanks to my mom who did a lot of the research, Sine for pointing us to some great spots and the Rookes for dinner on Friday.
Highlights included the pizza at Fiat, the Oysters at MASH, the crab appetizer at Kanalen, the entire breakfast buffet at D’Angleterre (but especially the vanilla yogurt with salty granola and fresh blackberries or raspberries), the carrot and zucchini small plates at Manfred and the entire meal experience at Restaurant Sletten.
