Denmark – 48 Hours in Copenhagen

In June, I met up with a friend that I hadn’t seen for 7 years in Copenhagen.  She’s from Sydney and we first met in Austin, but now she lives in London.  Since we’re on the same continent, it was super cool to catch up in a new place.

20180602-DSCF9965

20180602-DSCF9962

Friday

We got in after work, and took a train from the airport, past the center, and to our Airbnb in the Nørrebro neighborhood.  All of Copenhagen is hip and trendy, but Nørrebro is known to be more of a creative, multicultural, and young student area with loads of cute shops, cozy coffee shops, and late-night bars.  Because we got in a little late, most of the restaurant kitchens were already closed, but we ended up finding a Turkish place for dinner give each other the CliffsNotes on what we’ve been up to the last 7 years.  It was during Ramadan, so the restaurant was pretty lively as many families were having iftar, breaking their fast and having a great time.  Afterwards, we grabbed a bottle of wine from a corner store and had a grand ole time staying in and watching Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife.

 

Saturday

It was one of the sunniest and warmest Mays on record for Denmark, and we definitely felt it.  We slept with the patio door and windows wide open, and I still woke up sweaty  and cranky with the sunlight barging in at 4:30 am.  A cold shower and a strong coffee from the Coffee Collective was the cure.

We didn’t have much of an itinerary, so we just walked through the lovely neighborhoods to the center.  Around the iconic Nyhavn canal, it can get pretty crowded and touristy, especially on nice days.  It was so warm that people were walking and cycling around with just a swimsuit on, which reminded me of Austin summers.

20180602-IMG_5020

20180602-IMG_5015

 

 

 

 

 

20180602-IMG_5019
Copenhagen Opera House

 

20180602-DSCF9966

Continue reading “Denmark – 48 Hours in Copenhagen”

Stockholm & Helsinki

A very accomplished friend and former Dell colleague of mine, Ang, was spending 7 weeks traveling around Europe before starting business school at Harvard, and she let me tag along for a stint.

20170721-DSCF9444
Hotel Diplomat Stockholm
20170719-IMG_2456
Boulebar Rålambshov

Stockholm

We stayed at the City Backpackers Hostel near to the central train station.  It was a great space where we met a bunch of cool people, and the hostel offers a few different types of tours as well.  The first night we were there, we went to the Ice Bar with some random people from the hostel.  It was cold but a bit kitschy for me.  Can’t say I need to do that again.

20170719-IMG_2430
Stockholm Public Library

Day 1:  We went to the Stockholm Public Library (I know, I guess have a thing for libraries).  Then Ang and I rented a kayak from Rålis Kayak and even though I still do not know how to kayak properly, we paddled for 2 hours around the Kungsholmen island.  The guys running Rålis Kayak were really chill and nice, but this was the only place we encountered the whole time in Stockholm where we couldn’t pay with our credit cards.

20170721-DSCF9443
Strandvägen, Stockholm

Continue reading “Stockholm & Helsinki”