Copenhagen & London
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November 24th, 2009
Just 24 hours after we had returned from Berlin, I went back to the airport and left for Copenhagen and London. Emily had to go to London for work, and since I am currently unemployed, I decided to tag along. I used up some of my frequent flier miles to get an (almost) free flight. Since I was using a reward ticket, I couldn’t get a direct flight and had to connect in Copenhagen. And since I had never been to Copenhagen, I decided to stop there for a free 24 hour layover on the way to London.
Copenhagen, Denmark
I only had one day to explore Copenhagen so I obviously couldn’t see or do everything. I stayed in a hotel just south of the train station and spent the majority of the day walking from there all the way across town up to the Little Mermaid statue and back. I really liked all of the pedestrian areas in the city center, especially Strøget which is supposedly the longest pedestrian street in the world. Copenhagen also seemed very bike friendly, and I thought the bike infrastructure was even better than Amsterdam (although I admittedly didn’t ride a bike in either city). One other thing that I noticed was the city’s obsession with climate change (it was hard to miss). There were exhibits in the airport and all over the city about climate change. After I left I found out that the UN Climate Change Conference was taking place in Copenhagen a few weeks after I left.
Unfortunately, though, it was not the ideal time to visit Denmark. The weather was cold and lightly raining the whole time I was there. Also, the Tivoli Gardens were closed (they reopened with Xmas lights a week later), the quaint Nyhavn harbor was deserted, and the sun set at 4 pm. After visiting Norway when there was still snow on the ground in March and Copenhagen when it was cold and rainy in November, I’m going to implement a new policy of only visiting Scandinavia in the summer from now on. Lesson learned.
Pictures from Copenhagen on Flickr
London, UK
From Copenhagen I flew to London and met Emily there. We spent the first night in Richmond, near her office, and then spent the next 2 nights at a friend’s apartment near Earl’s Court. CK somehow managed to be a great host and take us all over the city despite getting steadily more and more sick as the weekend progressed. Thanks again, CK!
On Friday night we met up with some people on Carnaby Street, which was a part of London that I had never seen before. The Christmas lights were already up and it seemed like a nice area. We all ate dinner at Cha Cha Moon, which was very good and a similar style to Wagamamas. On Saturday we went to the Borough Market, which was amazing. It is probably my favorite place in London. There is a ton of great food to eat there: our favorites were the scallops, the raclette grilled cheese, fresh ravioli, and oysters (according to Emily). The ribeye sandwich, chorizo sandwich, brownies, and turkish delight were also quite good (did I mention that we ate a lot that day?). If anyone is ever visiting London, I would highly recommend the Borough Market.
