Copenhagen is now one of my favorite European- Scandinavian cities. The Danish people are very friendly, helpful and spoke perfect English. The weather was great and so was the food, along with the history. 

I chose to stay at The Copenhagen Admiral Hotel which had a perfect, sunny room overlooking the waterfront, where day and night I could see the boardwalk below with tourists walking and taking boat rides at the harbor. I could also see the Copenhagen Opera House, which at night was beautiful all lit up. Across the way were six gigantic, newly built apartment buildings of neat Danish architecture and around the corner sits the black glassy Royal Danish Theater’s Playhouse.

This hotel is full of history in itself, being a 200-year-old warehouse, built in 1787 with the finest raw materials and massive pine beams from the mighty forests of northern Germany and Poland. These beams are found not only in the bar but in the rooms and add a lot of character, reminding visitors that here was the heart of shipping traffic to Denmark and the rest of the world, with barrels of grain and a grain-drying oven being occupied in what is now the lounge. Sadly, in 1794, the Christiansborg Palace was on fire and the Royal Family had to quickly evacuate, luckily to be housed there.

King Frederik V reigned during the construction of The Amalienborg Palace, but it was the autocratic monarch King Christian VII who acquired it and moved in. Today this is one of the finest and architecturally most prominent areas in the capital. Here lies Nyhavn, my favorite area, with its’ beautiful pastel-colored buildings, popular outdoor restaurants, shops, The Royal Theater and the convenient Kongens Nytorv metro station.  

The day I arrived in Copenhagen, I walked five minutes from my hotel to the Amalienborg Palace, saw the Changing of the Guards, then strolled along the waterfront past the glistening Opera House, the Gefion statue water fountain in Kastellet Park, the Anglican Church made of flint, then to Hans Christian Andersen’s very popular fairy tale, the Little Mermaid statue. In 1909 brewing Magnate Carl Jacobsen, inspired by a ballet performance of Andersen’s story, hired a young sculptor Edvard Eriksen to immortalize the mermaid as a statue.

The following day starting at Kongens Nytorv, the large square at the head of the Nyhavn canal, I meandered down Stroget, a wide pedestrian-only boulevard, to Amagertov, with the Stork Fountain.  Here are department stores such as the Royal Copenhagen store, stacked with three floors of porcelain, Illums Bolighus, with its’ Danish design and Louis Vuitton. Thereafter, I found myself at Radhuspladsen with the City Hall, Radhus,  Copenhagens’  landmark with Danish history and symbolism, topped with its’ tall clock tower and green spire. Next was Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen’s classic amusement park.

Taking a side street, I came across and entered the Copenhagen Cathedral, the Cathedral of Our Lady, and the Lutheran Church, where King Christian III was crowned, then walked across the street to the obelisk Reformation Memorial that celebrates Denmark’s break from the Roman Catholic Church in 1536. On the opposite side of the church is the Copenhagen University and venturing more, I passed the Round Tower and the Holy Ghost Church, making my way back to Nyhavn, enjoying a delicious double-scoop ice cream waffle cone at the popular Vaffelbageren.