København - Day 2

The second day of Copenhagen started off with much nicer weather and even a bit of sunshine. We took the bus into the city and walked the streets looking for another place to have coffee and pastries for breakfast. In Denmark, this was an easy task as we found pastry shops at every corner (but no Starbucks, which is both weird and great).

The first stop of the day led us to Christiansborg, an island which houses the national parliament and government offices, as well as some royal buildings. We wandered around the grounds for a bit before heading off to another part of the city.

We walked toward the west side of Copenhagen called Vesterbrogade. We were on our way to a restaurant that our guide book told us was a "carnivore's dream." We were excited to sample some of Denmark's tasty meat dishes, such as Flæskesteg and Hakkebøf. To get there, we strolled down a street that was a unique blend of fancy hotels, adult stores, hair salons, and ethnic food shops. After walking for a good 30 minutes, we couldn't find the restaurant, and eventually found out it had closed, "many years ago," according to the florist next door. We ended up finding an artsy British cafe with an amazing Croque Monsieur and a Danish egg smørrebrød.

Next stop was a visit to the famous Ølbutikken bottle beer shop. Its stock had been cleared out due to the recent Copenhagen Beer Festival, but we still found some goodies to load up in our packs to bring back to the U.S. Right around the corner was the Mikkeller Bar (see attached pic - an example of Danish interior design). Mikkeller is a gypsy brewer with no facilities, so the bar is his showcase. This bar easily had a world-class bottle list, featuring some of the best from Northern Europe, as well as others. We stuck to the Mikkeller beers and had a Bourbon Aged Beer Geek Brunch Weasel (made with kopi lowak coffee - beans digested by a civet, then harvested) and others. However, the highlight was Mikkeller Black aged in a cognac barrel, which is definitely a world class stout on par with the cognac Stormaktsporter.

After spending the afternoon at the bar, we sought out "Denmark's greatest hot dogs." Sadly, this shop had moved, so we headed into Tivoli Gardens for some dinner to accompany our recreation. Luckily, we found a Danish restaurant and tried hakkebøf for dinner. This was basically a hamburger with onions, but it hit the spot. Relaxation was the theme for the rest of the night while we wandered around Tivoli, people-watching and just enjoying our last night in Copenhagen.