Saturday, April 21, 2018

Is there anything sadder than being on the last day of an amazing vacation and getting an email saying that your flight is ready for checkin? All of the crying emoji.

In the morning, we got coffee and a breakfast sandwich from a nearby cafe and noticed that there was a large flea market going on in the parking lot right by our friends’ apartment, so we went to check it out. Kurt picked up a few various odds and ends, including some Scandinavian candlestick holders and a wall hanging. Since it was such a nice, sunny day, we decided to go to the nearby Copenhagen Zoo. I will fully admit that one of the reasons I was interested was because my friend Dani had a Game of Thrones celeb-sighting there once; she saw the actor who plays Euron Greyjoy while he was there with his kids. While we didn’t end up spotting any Danish actors, we saw something I was possibly even more excited about.

red panda!!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to a zoo and the red pandas are hiding in the indoor part of the exhibit, out of sight from the crowds. I’d never seen one in person before. When we reached the exhibit, we were super lucky to see two red pandas actively exploring their habitat, climbing logs and using the fenced-in walkways that went over the paths like a habitrail. The up-close red panda viewing made my day.

Denmark is big on protecting personal freedoms, and as I joked to Kurt, this carries over into how close they let you get to kangaroos in the zoo. To our shock, people can actually walk into the kangaroo enclosure where  you’re kept on the trail by an ankle-high fence that the kangaroos obviously cross all the time. In the picture below, that’s me in the green shirt.

Me hanging out in the kangaroo exhibit, no big whoop

As an American who struggles with conversion to the metric system, I now have a new guideline: a half-meter-long hot dog is roughly equal to one-and-a-half feet of hot dog.

half-meter-long hot dog

After exploring the zoo, we took a leisurely last walk through the Frederiksberg Gardens. Plenty of people were spending the day outside, laying on blankets enjoying picnics while their kids ran around and played by the ponds or on the rolling grassy hills. Copenhagen is an idyllic place to raise a family, a fact that our friends can attest to.

For dinner, Kurt and I returned to Torvehallerne and ordered a charcuterie plate and a bottle of wine. Dani was able to meet up with us for our last night, and we had a nice evening out.

last night in Copenhagen

As the night grew later and we said goodbye to Dani, Kurt and I wanted to make one final stop. We used our 24-hour Metro pass to return to Nyhavn to see the row houses lit up at night. The colorful buildings reflected onto the surface of the canal, and people sat along the banks, drinking and socializing.  Boats rocked idly on the water. Kurt and I found some open chairs in an outdoor seating area just outside the bar (I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet one of my favorite things about Copenhagen, which is the blankets laying on all outdoor seating in case of cold weather). Live music poured out from the nearby bar, and we had a last round of beer as we took in the sounds of people laughing and dancing to a cover of “Purple Rain.”

From the perfect weather to the amazing scenery, fantastic company, and fun music, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect final night.

❤ Copenhagen