We head to Copenhagen, Denmark, first. Hailed as the most “kid friendly” city in Europe. Why is this important? Well, once word got out that Janet was retiring and she wanted to plan a trip to the Scandinavian and Baltic counties, our dear Charlie and Gabbie asked if they could join us in Copenhagen along with grandson Cohen. Yeah, come on down!
Early on, we contacted friends with an adult son and family who have lived in Copenhagen for at least 10 years, and they have visited them often. They had suggestions, with hands on experience. As well as the usual guidebooks, we also reviewed the blogs of “travel with toddlers” in the tagline.
Let’s start. We flew to Minneapolis and met Charlie and Gabbi at the airport for our 9:00 pm departure. Little Cohen was not surprised to see us. He greeted us by our familiar names: “Yia Yia and Papou! We wanted to start the trip together. The standard time in Denmark is 6 hours ahead and the flight was 8 hours, 4,300 miles. We arrived at Copenhagen on time. Janet and I slept; the parents and grandson did not. There was 5 lines and 100’s of people in the Passport Control line for those tourists not part of the EU. This line was the undoing of little Cohen, but his depressed sounds convinced an attendant to let us jump the line. Way to go Cohen! We took the modern M3 metro line to our Vesterbro neighborhood Airbnb.
Walking from the metro stop, we remembered our last time in Europe, specifically walking Amsterdam, Netherlands— same blocks of 5 story row houses, not as many bikes, nor ornamental facades.
Daniel’s Air BNB was a wonderful, a large 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment, easily accommodating us and fully stocked kitchen and supplies. It was the kid friendly place he advertised with toys, climbing wall, and playhouse complete with a play store.
The AirBNB building was a rectangular structure that filled an entire city block. The apartments were placed in the full 5 stories and included 6th level attic lofts with balconies. Lots of windows and patio doors allowed us to enjoy the view of the interior courtyard. The courtyard had trees and gardens, grass, play scapes, and picnic tables for the many inhabitants.
The view of the courtyard from our balcony of the Airbnb
Adventures Begin. Our first outing was to the #1 site in Copenhagen; Tivoli Gardens, a historic amusement park with gentle and thrill rides, cultural expositions, market streets, and gardens. Gossip has it that Mr. Walt Disney visited to gain ideas for the first Disney World. (But not including the Cinderella Castle found near Munich, Germany-we have been there).
This was Cohen’s day. We all had fun watching him marvel at the surroundings, as we all did. Nice lunch at the Smorgasbord food hall, 2 separate carousel rides, ferris wheel, pirate ship, playground, puppet show, ending with ice cream and a smooth train home.
Our first morning starts with a quick run to the local bakery for the famed danish and pastries, After scouting out several on our street, we opted for the bakery with the long line out the door. They did not disappoint, except we are all puzzled by the cardamon buns? Perhaps an acquired taste? it was not our favorite.
Our second trip was to Rosenberg Castle and Koegen’s (King’s) Garden, then to the Canal Boat Tour in the Nyhaven Port area. An easy metro ride and quick walk to the castle grounds with manicured garden and surrounding motte. The Renaissance designed castle was built by King Christian IV in early 1600s. His son Frederik III introduced royal absolutism and many of the furnishing we saw reflect the splendor of the absolute monarchy. After Federik III, then Christian V and Frederik IV and their queens by succession stayed in the castle until 1710. Since 1660 the castle was used to store the finest objects in the King’s possession.
Some of our research listed this castle as a toddler friendly location, after arrival, mom and dad opted to keep Cohen on the grounds, skipping the tour. This was the best option, the grounds are complete with a playground and cafe.
Back in the castle, the second-floor Great Hall show the splendor of the monarchy with Anointing Chairs and woven tapestries. The castle includes the Treasury, with the Danish royal jewels. Crown jewels are one of Janet’s favorites, so a must stop for us.
The canal boat tour at Nyhaven Port was a treat, with a funny guide. Cohen had a great seat next to the rail and loved every minute of this event. The canal exposes you to the most amazing modern urban planning and architecture on both sides of its route. The new Opera House and new Royal Theater are both massive glass structures and near by are equally massive glass and steel high rise residencies and several high-rise octagon shaped residential/commercial structures of brick. These building are fantastic. The trip also swings by the most famous lady of Copenhagen, the little mermaid, like some many travelers have stated before us, what is all the hype about!!!
The canal gets narrow with low stone bridges and the historic row houses, colorfully painted, are now reimagined as blocks of walkable paths presenting outdoor seating for busy restaurants, taverns, and boat watching. Lodgings are spruced up too. You really just begin to understand the variety of districts in Copenhagen; appreciating the wealth and grandeur abutting the water and interspersed with all the practical residential neighborhoods surrounding older governmental buildings, schools, churches, royal palaces, and commercial sectors.
Its Thursday., and this is our special day with Cohen. Mom and dad are off to one of the excellent Michelin restaurants “Geranium”. This was also our first rain day, so we bundled up and headed to the Experimentarium. This is a 4-level hands-on museum with flashy Helix Stairway. We stayed in “The Mini-Verse-Play Valley” ages 1- 5, allowing Cohen to play with artfully creative interactive fixtures and playhouses of wind, light, and shadow, along with undulating running paths that simulate a forest trail; all safely age proper. See photos of Cohen playing.
We navigated 2 metro’s and 2 trains to move back and forth from the airbnb. Rain did not deter us, as we were prepared. This trip exposed us to other neighborhoods and levels of commercial districts interspersed along our route; some upper scale and others more practical. It was a great outing and we think that Cohen had a great Yia Yia and Papou day.
Mom and dad enjoyed their “me time,” complete with caviar, seafood, creams and spices, wine, chocolates, and a tour of the kitchen. We are so glad that they had such a special outing. Maybe, they will send a short blog of their experience to share?
We woke on Friday to more rain, finally it broke and we rushed out to our last must see, the Zoo. It was cold, with a strong wind so we bundled up and went off to see the Pandas and Polar Bears. We didn’t see polar bears but had lunch near a very active giant Panda while sitting in the glass enclosed restaurant that adjoined it’s habitat. To my surprise, window seat view with Panda shown in 1st episode of Netflix “Borgen”. Great view and the food was good too.
Due to cool, mild weather, many other animals were active. The Zoo is well planned and set up for easy access to the habitats. Cohen enjoyed the Lions, Kangaroos, and mostly the Turtles, among other wild beasts. We adults also were entertained.
Saturday is the day we took the kids to the Copenhagen Airport. The luggage, stroller and support bags are all packed and ready to be pulled down cobblestone sidewalks to the S-Train station elevators, the correct platform, and then to the Metro subway platform to the Airport. Lucky we had enough hands on deck. Cohen was just fine even when Delta Airlines failed to provide the customer service we had come to expect. The kids were delayed getting checked in and then getting through security. Just a hassle, but all turned out OK.
Final thoughts on Copenhagen with a toddler:
We had a simply wonderful time with our kids and 23 month old grandson. Copenhagen lived up to it’s reputation as the most child friendly city in Europe. The amusement park, public parks, hands on museums and zoo are great, but what makes this city stand above all others are the sheer accessibility; the public transport is clean, with great working lifts. All public toilets include a family option complete with sink (clean!!). People are super friendly and helpful. Lastly we did our homework, our airbnb was outstanding, so many toys and child aids, if we had opted for a hotel, it might not have been such a success.