Copenhagen – Hipster dream

​We landed in Copenhagen in early December and made our way to our room in Nørrebro.  We generally like edgy gentrifying neighborhoods to stay in, which is often more interesting, but usually because it’s cheaper.

In Nørrebro, you will feel the swirl of all the impactful influences of our time – diversification, local and sustainable, and ingenuity and craftsmanship.  Historically it was the working-class neighborhood outside the city limits, but today it is an interesting and affordable places to live and visit.  You can also see the amazing impact of immigrants over the years through food and shops.  This is a neighborhood, where one in six people carry a non-Danish passport.  The neighborhood also has a notorious history of violence and protest, but today it seems like an up-and-coming place to live.  Young entrepreneur, artisans, craftsmen picking it to be the places to start building their business.  For instance, we lived only a couple of blocks away from Relae, which is one of the top restaurants in the world. 

We split our time in Nørrebro and Vesterbro.  Vesterbro was going through major renovation while we were there, but it was clear why this was such an appealing neighborhood to live in.  The streets were lined with intimate shops, restaurants, and pubs and family strolling with their children was a norm.  Or sometimes parents stopping for a quick bite and drink and kids in the stroller parked outside the restaurant.  This is something we would never fathom in the US, but common place in Denmark.  Vesterbro, like the rest of the city, puts a lot of trust in its fellow citizens.

When we wander through out the city, we continue to see the same things over and over again – trust and respect for others, accessibility of resources, creative and ingenuity that spans everything from foods to architecture, and an active lifestyle.  On the latter, it is a sight to see rush-hour bike traffic on major roads like Nørrebrogade, watching mass numbers of bikes orderly maneuvering to get home often in rain or snow.  Copenhagen is a wonderfully progressive place!

​For more, check out our video about our visit, but here are a few tips:

• Top restaurants in the world –  NoMa was closed for renovation when we visited, but Relae delivers on innovative tasty food in a "no muss, no fuss" atmosphere.  It is also one of the top 50 restaurants in the world.  A wonderful meal and at a more "affordable" price point makes Relae a spot to hit.
• Brunch innovation – There are a couple of trends we noted while we were there.  The first being tapas style breakfast and second being gourmet porridge.  We really enjoy trying a lot of different things.  So tapas style breakfast was right up our alley.  Brilliant!  For the porridge, it was delicately made from natural local ingredients, but you really got to like porridge, which we do.  Mad & Kaffe is a great place for what we call the tapas breakfast, but be prepared for long waits.  We also recommend GRØD for porridge.
• Best free visits – Christiansborg Palace is gorgeous from the outside, but there is also a free observation deck in the tower.  It’s probably one of the best vantage point of the city.  A library is not a place people consider going to during their vacation, but Royal Library (Kongelige Bibliotek) is a great blending of new and old.  It sits along the waterfront with a bunch of new building.  It’s a great place to take in architectural style that is defining Copenhagen. 
• Street food – Probably the best place for some street food is on Paper Island, but unfortunately that is now closed as of this writing.  They expect to be back May 2018.  We definitely hope it comes back!  It was a fantastic place to socialize and grab a lot of tasty food in one location.  For a more upscale, but no less tasty check out Torvehallerne.  Note that both these places are very busy and  Torvehallerne is more like a market with very little seating.

The Danes are well known to be some of the happiest people on earth, but for Copenhagen, if I had to come up with a brief description, it would be that Copenhagen epitomizes all the best of what makes a hipster community with little pretense.  Fantastic!  It's a place we can imagine calling home.

-Vu

P.S.  We took some time off in late December for the holidays and now we are both sick with the flu, but expect more post soon!

​Grocery Beer Price Index: 18.95 DKK for Stenol Ale 500ml ($3.10)