Travelogue: Copenhagen

Since returning from holiday on Sunday night, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen just how fantastic Copenhagen is. From the orderly, civilized way the traffic and travel systems work, to the beautiful buildings (seriously, I did not see a single eyesore during my time there) and the delicious food, it’s safe to say that the Nordic countries are my new travel crush. Here’s a brief slice of what my camera captured in Copenhagen this past weekend:

All images © Eleanor Busing

While I hope that the photos speak for themselves (at least in terms of the beauty of this city), I also wanted to point out a few cultural highlights, which I’d strongly suggest checking out if you’re planning a trip to Copenhagen in the future:

Copenhagen Card  This pass, which is available in 24, 72 and 120 hour versions, enables you to enter over 70 museums and galleries, as well as travel freely on the Metro, buses, boats and trains in the entire Copenhagen region. It was a huge timesaver for us, and allowed us to “pop into” many museums and galleries, without feeling like we needed to see everything to get our money’s worth.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art  This museum is located in the suburbs of Copenhagen, so you have to take a train to reach it. Once there, you’re rewarded with a huge collection of modern art, both inside the beautifully-designed museum and outside, in the landscaped sculpture gardens. We saw exhibits on architecture and Nordic identity, as well as a painting exhibition on self-portraiture. Fact: the café and gift shops are also top-notch.

Design Museum Denmark  A must-see for design lovers, this museum has a permanent collection which covers European design from 1500 to the present day. The furniture galleries are crack to any lover of mid-century modern design, as is are the lighting, poster and textile areas. We saw a temporary exhibit on Finn Juhl, one of my favourite MCM designers, and took in the entire permanent collection before enjoying a delicious lunch in the café.

The Danish National Library  My mother is a librarian, so I’ve spent quite a bit of time hunting down, and exploring, libraries in various corners of the world. In terms of setting and beauty, this one takes the cake. Known as the “Black Diamond”, the modern waterfront building houses a concert hall, exhibition spaces, a roof terrace, a bookshop, a café and a more upscale restaurant (I’d recommend it- Mum and I lunched here and it was delicious). Be prepared to snap a lot of photos because this place is photogenic.

Danish Jewish Museum  A small museum located within the older section of the library, go for the fantastic interior by Daniel Liebeskind. The permanent exhibit is also interesting and very digestible in size.

Opera House  The fun thing about this beautiful building (besides those awesome disco-ball-esque lights, am I right?) is that you can take a river bus to get there. I recommend getting off at the stop around the corner from the Opera (called “Holmen Nord”), and taking a walk through the riverside district, taking in the canals and the old warehouse buildings. The Opera itself is beautiful inside and out, and when you’re done, there’s a “bus” stop right out front.

WiFi  It’s everywhere. If you’ve got a smartphone, simply check out the signal in any museum or public building and nine times out of ten, there will be a password-free network to hop onto. Just another reason to love the Danes, I guess.