Word of advice: do not poke around with your writing late into the night when you really should be getting your rest. Once your mind is focused on sentences spinning on the loom of the day's events, it's hard to get the whole machinery to shut down. [So, I think I got some sleep last night, but I'm not sure!] And another thing: really resist the impulse to purchase a nice new pair of shoes to replace your worn but comfy ones for a trip. These days (and I say this having studied lots of feet out there!) shoes do not a person make. Everybody's wearing stuff that in the past you'd probably have saved for hiking into the Rocky Mountains and you should too.
Just sayin'.
Today the cool and blustery weather continues (as it probably does for the better part of the year). The wind gusts are strong and the occasional shower adds drama to the day, though again, no one seems to care. Pull out the umbrella or button your slicker and move on.
(view out my larger window this morning: you can just see the Tivoli tower; and blue skies, for the moment!)
I try to eat a lighter breakfast, but it's hard!
Still, I do try. The young parents have in mind bakery stops that are about as tempting as they come. I need to make room for a second breakfast!
I set out for their Copenhagen home (which is actually the home of a couple who raised many a child here, if you're to believe the occasional photograph found on display in the apartment).
I'm there just after 9 and the kids are still sleeping -- that's how tired they all were after the long trip, though you'd never know it, judging by their moods!
(still in p.j.'s)
("can I brush someone's hair?")
The plan for this morning is to walk over to the young couple's favorite bakery (Hart Bagery). This is how you get to really know and love a new city or town -- you discover and hold dear a bake shop! As soon as the kids are up and ready, we set out.
It's a lovely walk through the blocks of their neighborhood. We stick to a commercially vibrant street and the shops we pass begin to paint a picture of Danish life for me.
But nothing does this better than a pause at Hart. There is a short line, though it moves quickly. And the breads and pastries are beautiful!
They're mostly of the kind you'd like for breakfast, or for afternoon tea: cardamon buns (made from leftover scraps of croissant dough and black cardamon then glazed with melted butter -- these become my new favorites!!), Hveder buns, Spandauer buns, and poppyseed croissants with almond cream. But I know that they do a lot, too with fruit pastries (inspiring me to return to making those back home). Some pastries are more traditional to Denmark, but most show the influence of bakers from such places as Tartine in San Francisco, or Noma right here in Copenhagen. When Hart opened in 2018, the line then had 500 people in it and it quickly gained a reputation for being "the best local bakery anywhere." We take several bags of pastries with us...
... to savor and enjoy at the young family's Copenhagen kitchen table.
It's a reminder of how much Copenhagen has transformed itself in recent decades. That some speak favorably of the bakeries here even as compared with France (these would be people from everywhere but France, I'm sure!) tells you a lot how about how cuisines can evolve, just under the influence of a handful of talented people -- not necessarily born here (the head pastry chef at Hart is from England, though he spent his formative baking years in the sourdough capital of San Francisco, before being lured here to really push the Copenhagen bakery scene forward. All these exquisite baked goods dont come cheap and unlike in France, they probably aren't picked up daily by every household in town, but good bakeries always raise the bar for others and in the end, they all get a significant boost from the new offerings.
At this point, I part ways with the young family. They have some shops to visit (a promised Lego excursion!) and I really should take a nap to make up for last night.
I spend the afternoon in my room, admiring there what's blooming in Denmark these days.
We all meet up at 16:45 by the Ved Stranden pier for a boat ride along Copenhagen's canals. (We meet up for this with friends of the young family who are in town with their toddler.)
(As I wait for them to arrive, I glance at the benches on the little square. What do you think, Danish grandmothers?)
(here come the kids! my kids...)
We climb onto the flat, single level, open seating boat.
(Primrose is actually in front of the Little Mermaid statue in this shot -- surely one of this city's most iconic monuments! Here it is, albeit from the back.)
In all, it's a superb way to take a look at the city from the water's edge. Dark clouds hover overhead, but we never get the rain. At least not while we're on the boat!
(the royals live here...)
(Passing by the world's smallest hotel -- a room on the water...)
And now we're all hungry for dinner.
We walk through Nyhavn, across the river, to Popl.
This is a take-out burger place, though you can opt for a vegetarian burger. Burgers, fries or potato salad, or green salad. That's it. But on the other hand, it's not just a burger place. It was opened by some Noma people as a pop up place and then it stayed for good. Quality ingredients brought down to the level of the burger. Not fat patties, not overwhelming, just good beef from Denmark, tastily prepared.
But it was nippy! We all sat at a picnic table and the wind blew from every direction and eventually rain showers passed overhead, leaving us with this:
The land of many many beautiful rainbows.
Determined to do the night well, I retire (relatively!) quickly after that. So much to see and do still... I can't change my footwear, but at the very least I can start the day well rested!
Godnat once again!
