Stockholm-Copenhagen trip report
Jul 31st, 2006 | 09:09 AM
#1
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Stockholm-Copenhagen trip report
We have just returned from our travels to Stockholm and Copenhagen, Denmark. A perfect summer journey, with normal daytime temperatures in the low 70's, and nighttime temps in the 50's....when nighttime finally comes, that is! The sun set about 11...and rises again a little after 3! When you get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, it's morning!
Beautiful Gamla Stan (Old Town), the relic of Stockholm's largest island, dating to the 1300's, was our first stop. ("Downtown" Stockholm is actually comprised of 14 islands, connected by 50 or 60 footbridges. ) Our small hotel sat on the outer edges of this beautiful cobblestoned maze of narrow alleys, lots of restauants
and cafes, street musicians, book and antiques stores and, of course, its fair share of souvenirs. When we arrive, it rains....for literally 5 minutes. This is thankfully all the rain we will see for our stay.
Stockholm is an exquisite, regal, clean city where you are never far from the water. We decide to make our first stop the Hop On, Hop Off boat tour, to get the "lay of the land," from the water. We stay on the boat, and pass 6 centuries in an hours' time. We see Nordiska and Vasa Museets (Nordic and Vasa Museums, which we unfortunately never get to see inside, Kungliga Slottet (the Royal Palace), Stadshuset (City Hall) ....beautiful buildings, old and new. An hour later we disembark, walk up the sloping cobblestone sidewalk to the front entrance of the Royal Palace - just in time to witness the Military Parade preceeding the Changing of the Guards @ the palace.
We meander to Stortorget, a square in the heart of Old Town, edged by a mangnificent palate of muted builings of mellow colors I cannot describe - restaurant/cafes, Borsen (the Stock Exchange), the Nobel museet. We come back here often, for a meal al fresco (like our first lunch, of beer and poached fish, and dinner later that day), to sit and delight in a creamy ice cream nestled on a fresh waffle cone, to people watch, to visit the Nobel Museum.
On our 2nd day we enjoy our hotel's bountiful breakfast smorgasbord, including soft boiled eggs, cheeses and meats, marinated herrings, pate, beet salad, cereals, drinkable yogurt, delicious dark grainy breads...and wonderful strong coffee. (We save some things, including the Swedish pancakes, for another day!)
We venture to the canal behind the Grand Hotel - called Nybroplan - and take a relaxing 2 1/2 hr boat tour in and around many of Stockholm's beautiful archipelago islands. ("Greater" Stockholm is actually 24,000 islands, some inhabited, some not, many no bigger than a large stone in the Baltic Sea.) When we return, wind-blown and content, we hop on a bus and go to Skansen, an open air folk museum, built in 1891, with houses and buildings assembled from all over Sweden. We are disappointed in Skansen, as it feels contrived and unnatural...but, @ least we can say we saw it. If we had it to do over, we'd go to Vasa or Nordic museums.
After we cab back to our hotel (cabs are tres expensive here) for a little R & R, before heading out later for smorgasbord dinner on the Grand Veranda @ the Grand Hotel.We walk off dinner....sit by the water, head back to relax @ tortorget....and plan tomorrow we head slightly out of the city, to the Carl Millesgarden, home of Sweden's greatest sclulptor of the 20th century.
An easy train, bus then short walk, this is a beautiful large tract of land, sitting @ water's edge, overlooking Stockholm city, is a series of gardens and terraces and studios, with beautiful sculptures all around, many on high pedalstals, to be viewed, up, with the sky as the background.
Afterwards we we return to Gamla Stan, and visit the Nobel Museum....sitting @ Stortorget Square, where else!
The next evening, before dinner, we discover there is more than one way to beat the heat -Absolut vodka's famous Ice Bar! T-bana (subway), 1 stop, to Central Station. We find the bar. They suit us up in warm ponchos with attached gloves, ready for the sub-zero (Celsius) temp. We enter a room where the walls, bar, sitting area...is all ice! Everyone is giddy. Our drinks are all IN the rocks...not on them.
The following day we are travelling south, to Copenhagen. We reflect that we have seen a beautiful city and haven't had a bad meal. (I have fish every day, sometimes even @ every meal!)
We head out to the modern and evidently under-utilized Stockholm Airport. We take a 50 minute flight to Copenhagen, although my baggage does not accompany us! (It arrives late that night.) We had considered a train, to see the countryside, but the train is 5 hours longer and 4 times as expensive, so we fly.
Coming from quaint Gamla Stan, the location of hotel @ first worries us - thick in the fray on downtown Copenhagen, which is bigger than we imagined, just a few blocks from Radhuspladsen (Town Hall) and Stroget (pedestrian-only shopping street), Tivoli Gardens and Central Station. It is not until we hop on a bus for an hours' city tour that we begin the get the lay of the land, and see how quiet cobblestoned Indre By (Old Town) is just nearby, as are many old beautiful sights. Our open topped bus passes, squares, art museums, fountains, the cruise ship port, Amalienborg and Rosenborg Palaces, courthouses, churches and, of course, Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid).
We have dinner - again al fresco - on Grey Friar's Square. Stroll (and ice cream, of course), after dinner.
Our first full day we head to the excellent Tourist Information office just across from Tivoli. I take literature to supplement my extensive studies with Rick Steve's book and website, Frommer's book, and the this Fodor's website.
We take a guided walking tour with delightful and informative "Sir Richard" (aka Hans Christian Anderson), who is a former (reformed) NYC stockbroker, who came to Copenhagen 20 years ago and fell in love with the city and one of its women....He meanders us past Radhuspladsen (Town Hall Square), through Old Town, past the courthouse and Debtor's Prison, Nytorv Square (we later return for a lunch of beer and a traditional Danish smorrrebrod.
Open faced sandwiches of pork, fried fish, lox, herring, roast beef and chicken salad. Yum.)
Our guided walk passes the Opera House, Kongens Nytorv (New Kings Square), the Royal Theatre, Gammel Strand (Old Shore) with the beautiful old fisherwoman statue and many other public art displays...Amelienborg Palace (and more Changing of the Guards), then looking out past a beautiful fountain, towards the new Opera House. We end @ Nyhavn, where we will tomorrow take another canal boat ride, and Nikolaj Church, dating to 1530.
After lunch we head over to Christiania, the social experiment establish in 1971, when idealist/hippie/non-materialist squatters established themselves in abandoned military barracks, where you find a ramshackle collection of wood housing, cozy cafes, lanes, people selling tie dye and homemade jewelry. A motley, but interesting, crew...When you leave the village, the sign says "You are now entering the European Union."
We stop @ Vors Frelsers Kirke (Our Saviour's Church), built in 1696, and view the huge pipe organ and admire (but don't climb) the unique spiral spire.
We saw an American movie with Danish subtitles - "The Woodsman," with Kevin Bacon. The theatre lobby looks more like a pub, including people @ tables drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and eating popcorn. Seats are reserved. Unfortunately here, as everywhere, it is not air conditioned, and the weather has been 20 degrees warmer than usual for this time of year.
Wednesday we head out from Nyhavn for a canal cruise. Again, the color palette of the city is exquisite - dust-y rust, pale beige-y yellow, ocra, brick. I really don't have adquate words.
We head over to Botanisk Have (Botanical Gardens), next to Rosenborg Castle, for a picnic, by a beautiful lake. We attempt to leave via S-tog, to a quick visit to the Carlsberg Brewery, but the trains are having a problem. We hop a cab. Visit the brewery. Have a beer.
Dinner @ Tivoli. We have a pleasant dinner overlooking a lake, hear a big band concert, perhaps have another ice cream cone. Tivoli is way too crazy and busy and sort of cramped, rides and music and concessions right on top of one another, so we decide not to stay for the closing fireworks. So, "Been there. Done that," and leave...
Thursday, our last day, we venture 22 miles outside the city, by train from Central Station, to Hillerod, to see the beautiful Det Nationalhistoriske Museum pa Frederiksborg (Frederidsborg Castle), dating to 1560. It's hot....but we are undeterred. (Little do we know that we will have train delays on our way home....just like home!) Since it's so warm, we stay inside the cool(er) castle, and do not walk around the expansive (sunny) gardens.
Another traditionally Danish lunch at yet another relaxing outdoor cafe....We go to a grocery store and buy some cookies and candies to bring home. We head back.
For our last meal, we return to quaint Nytorv square, and dine near City Hall, where Frommer's tells us many lawyers and their clients enjoy old-fashioned Danish cuisine. We are not disappointed.
Another stroll, even along Stroget, the pedestrian-only street, which, to us, has all the charm of 34th Street across from Macy's!
All in all, a beautiful vacation. We saw many beautiful things. Did enough to learn about the places we visited, but did not run ourselves ragged so as to remember it all in a blurrrrrrrrrr........
Safe home.
Beautiful Gamla Stan (Old Town), the relic of Stockholm's largest island, dating to the 1300's, was our first stop. ("Downtown" Stockholm is actually comprised of 14 islands, connected by 50 or 60 footbridges. ) Our small hotel sat on the outer edges of this beautiful cobblestoned maze of narrow alleys, lots of restauants
and cafes, street musicians, book and antiques stores and, of course, its fair share of souvenirs. When we arrive, it rains....for literally 5 minutes. This is thankfully all the rain we will see for our stay.
Stockholm is an exquisite, regal, clean city where you are never far from the water. We decide to make our first stop the Hop On, Hop Off boat tour, to get the "lay of the land," from the water. We stay on the boat, and pass 6 centuries in an hours' time. We see Nordiska and Vasa Museets (Nordic and Vasa Museums, which we unfortunately never get to see inside, Kungliga Slottet (the Royal Palace), Stadshuset (City Hall) ....beautiful buildings, old and new. An hour later we disembark, walk up the sloping cobblestone sidewalk to the front entrance of the Royal Palace - just in time to witness the Military Parade preceeding the Changing of the Guards @ the palace.
We meander to Stortorget, a square in the heart of Old Town, edged by a mangnificent palate of muted builings of mellow colors I cannot describe - restaurant/cafes, Borsen (the Stock Exchange), the Nobel museet. We come back here often, for a meal al fresco (like our first lunch, of beer and poached fish, and dinner later that day), to sit and delight in a creamy ice cream nestled on a fresh waffle cone, to people watch, to visit the Nobel Museum.
On our 2nd day we enjoy our hotel's bountiful breakfast smorgasbord, including soft boiled eggs, cheeses and meats, marinated herrings, pate, beet salad, cereals, drinkable yogurt, delicious dark grainy breads...and wonderful strong coffee. (We save some things, including the Swedish pancakes, for another day!)
We venture to the canal behind the Grand Hotel - called Nybroplan - and take a relaxing 2 1/2 hr boat tour in and around many of Stockholm's beautiful archipelago islands. ("Greater" Stockholm is actually 24,000 islands, some inhabited, some not, many no bigger than a large stone in the Baltic Sea.) When we return, wind-blown and content, we hop on a bus and go to Skansen, an open air folk museum, built in 1891, with houses and buildings assembled from all over Sweden. We are disappointed in Skansen, as it feels contrived and unnatural...but, @ least we can say we saw it. If we had it to do over, we'd go to Vasa or Nordic museums.
After we cab back to our hotel (cabs are tres expensive here) for a little R & R, before heading out later for smorgasbord dinner on the Grand Veranda @ the Grand Hotel.We walk off dinner....sit by the water, head back to relax @ tortorget....and plan tomorrow we head slightly out of the city, to the Carl Millesgarden, home of Sweden's greatest sclulptor of the 20th century.
An easy train, bus then short walk, this is a beautiful large tract of land, sitting @ water's edge, overlooking Stockholm city, is a series of gardens and terraces and studios, with beautiful sculptures all around, many on high pedalstals, to be viewed, up, with the sky as the background.
Afterwards we we return to Gamla Stan, and visit the Nobel Museum....sitting @ Stortorget Square, where else!
The next evening, before dinner, we discover there is more than one way to beat the heat -Absolut vodka's famous Ice Bar! T-bana (subway), 1 stop, to Central Station. We find the bar. They suit us up in warm ponchos with attached gloves, ready for the sub-zero (Celsius) temp. We enter a room where the walls, bar, sitting area...is all ice! Everyone is giddy. Our drinks are all IN the rocks...not on them.
The following day we are travelling south, to Copenhagen. We reflect that we have seen a beautiful city and haven't had a bad meal. (I have fish every day, sometimes even @ every meal!)
We head out to the modern and evidently under-utilized Stockholm Airport. We take a 50 minute flight to Copenhagen, although my baggage does not accompany us! (It arrives late that night.) We had considered a train, to see the countryside, but the train is 5 hours longer and 4 times as expensive, so we fly.
Coming from quaint Gamla Stan, the location of hotel @ first worries us - thick in the fray on downtown Copenhagen, which is bigger than we imagined, just a few blocks from Radhuspladsen (Town Hall) and Stroget (pedestrian-only shopping street), Tivoli Gardens and Central Station. It is not until we hop on a bus for an hours' city tour that we begin the get the lay of the land, and see how quiet cobblestoned Indre By (Old Town) is just nearby, as are many old beautiful sights. Our open topped bus passes, squares, art museums, fountains, the cruise ship port, Amalienborg and Rosenborg Palaces, courthouses, churches and, of course, Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid).
We have dinner - again al fresco - on Grey Friar's Square. Stroll (and ice cream, of course), after dinner.
Our first full day we head to the excellent Tourist Information office just across from Tivoli. I take literature to supplement my extensive studies with Rick Steve's book and website, Frommer's book, and the this Fodor's website.
We take a guided walking tour with delightful and informative "Sir Richard" (aka Hans Christian Anderson), who is a former (reformed) NYC stockbroker, who came to Copenhagen 20 years ago and fell in love with the city and one of its women....He meanders us past Radhuspladsen (Town Hall Square), through Old Town, past the courthouse and Debtor's Prison, Nytorv Square (we later return for a lunch of beer and a traditional Danish smorrrebrod.
Open faced sandwiches of pork, fried fish, lox, herring, roast beef and chicken salad. Yum.)
Our guided walk passes the Opera House, Kongens Nytorv (New Kings Square), the Royal Theatre, Gammel Strand (Old Shore) with the beautiful old fisherwoman statue and many other public art displays...Amelienborg Palace (and more Changing of the Guards), then looking out past a beautiful fountain, towards the new Opera House. We end @ Nyhavn, where we will tomorrow take another canal boat ride, and Nikolaj Church, dating to 1530.
After lunch we head over to Christiania, the social experiment establish in 1971, when idealist/hippie/non-materialist squatters established themselves in abandoned military barracks, where you find a ramshackle collection of wood housing, cozy cafes, lanes, people selling tie dye and homemade jewelry. A motley, but interesting, crew...When you leave the village, the sign says "You are now entering the European Union."
We stop @ Vors Frelsers Kirke (Our Saviour's Church), built in 1696, and view the huge pipe organ and admire (but don't climb) the unique spiral spire.
We saw an American movie with Danish subtitles - "The Woodsman," with Kevin Bacon. The theatre lobby looks more like a pub, including people @ tables drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and eating popcorn. Seats are reserved. Unfortunately here, as everywhere, it is not air conditioned, and the weather has been 20 degrees warmer than usual for this time of year.
Wednesday we head out from Nyhavn for a canal cruise. Again, the color palette of the city is exquisite - dust-y rust, pale beige-y yellow, ocra, brick. I really don't have adquate words.
We head over to Botanisk Have (Botanical Gardens), next to Rosenborg Castle, for a picnic, by a beautiful lake. We attempt to leave via S-tog, to a quick visit to the Carlsberg Brewery, but the trains are having a problem. We hop a cab. Visit the brewery. Have a beer.
Dinner @ Tivoli. We have a pleasant dinner overlooking a lake, hear a big band concert, perhaps have another ice cream cone. Tivoli is way too crazy and busy and sort of cramped, rides and music and concessions right on top of one another, so we decide not to stay for the closing fireworks. So, "Been there. Done that," and leave...
Thursday, our last day, we venture 22 miles outside the city, by train from Central Station, to Hillerod, to see the beautiful Det Nationalhistoriske Museum pa Frederiksborg (Frederidsborg Castle), dating to 1560. It's hot....but we are undeterred. (Little do we know that we will have train delays on our way home....just like home!) Since it's so warm, we stay inside the cool(er) castle, and do not walk around the expansive (sunny) gardens.
Another traditionally Danish lunch at yet another relaxing outdoor cafe....We go to a grocery store and buy some cookies and candies to bring home. We head back.
For our last meal, we return to quaint Nytorv square, and dine near City Hall, where Frommer's tells us many lawyers and their clients enjoy old-fashioned Danish cuisine. We are not disappointed.
Another stroll, even along Stroget, the pedestrian-only street, which, to us, has all the charm of 34th Street across from Macy's!
All in all, a beautiful vacation. We saw many beautiful things. Did enough to learn about the places we visited, but did not run ourselves ragged so as to remember it all in a blurrrrrrrrrr........
Safe home.
Jul 31st, 2006 | 10:21 AM
#2
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 37,459
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Loved the daylight. I was just the opposite!! Dark at 4:00 and not light again til about 8:30 or so in the morning. Having been to both cities in the winter, I would LOVE to go during the summer. We stayed in Gamla Stan in Stockholm and Nyhavn in Copenhagen. I was just imaginging what a boat trip down the canal would be like in the summer. The boats had about 18" of snow in the decks when I was there. LOL So glad you had a nice trip and I'm so jealous you got the "borgesmorg" and the Grand Hote. I wanted to do that so much but alas, they weren't doing the "borgesmorg" in January. Thanks for the report. Makes me want to go back.
Aug 3rd, 2006 | 04:11 PM
#4
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,837
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Thanks for the report. I would love to visit that ice bar. I will be in Stockholm July 2007. Anymore specific info on that would be great. Are you saying it is located in the subway? Would you happen to have an address or website link to share?
Thanks,
Annika
Thanks,
Annika
Aug 3rd, 2006 | 04:53 PM
#5
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 7,067
Likes: 0
I also just returned from both cities - my trip report won't be done for a while, I also went to Portugal and have that one to do too. But I enjoyed reading your report, we saw many of the same things. I'm actually glad to hear you were underwhelmed with Skansen since I didn't get there. I did go to the Vasa Museum and really loved it. Awesome is all I can say. I was also very interested in your description of Christiania which is another area I didn't get to. How many days total did you have? Will you have any photos online?
Aug 3rd, 2006 | 06:53 PM
#6
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 578
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I too am just back from both of those cities plus a trip to Trondheim & Geiranger Norway. Amazing - all of it. Wasn't it interesting how many people ride bikes in Copenhagen?? Such civilized, laid back countries. Very expensive, though.
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Aug 3rd, 2006 | 08:47 PM
#9
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 5,206
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annikanny: here is a link to my trip report on stockholm from this past May, with some info on the ice bar is included as well as their web link w/ directions
http://tinyurl.com/jc22r
cobbie: I remember when you were planning nad look forward to your report !!
http://tinyurl.com/jc22r
cobbie: I remember when you were planning nad look forward to your report !!
Aug 4th, 2006 | 05:47 AM
#12
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 317
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Annikanny- just Google "Icebar Stockholm" and you'll find the address and info. (Or look in the Frommer's book. It's in there.) No, it's not in the subway! It's a few blocks from the stop where we got off, in the Nordic Sea Hotel. You absolutely need reservations, and they make them @ 45 minute intervals. It was a hoot. Thanks for all the wonderful feedback. (Some people call my vacation missives my "term papers," and refuse to read them! LOL.) Yes, we were under-whelmed by Skansen...and by Tivoli and Stoget, I'm afraid. The former felt contrived and theme parkish, the latter tacky. Thanks, but no, our photos won't be posted online. (There are 147 of them!) Some really came out great, if I say so myself. 4 are already hanging, matted and framed, in my office.
