Illums Bolighus

There are other department stores in Copenhagen but the house/home store of Illums Bolighus is fantastic. We were told we would likely find a particular souffle dish there--we needed to replace one we'd broken in our exchange apartment. If that dish hadn't crashed to the floor, we wouldn't have discovered this gorgeous store, filled with all the top Nordic and European brands of homewares, marimekko, iittala, Design House Stockholm to name a few. The displays were stunning--check out the rainbow of colors of Peugeot pepper mills, the glorious KitchenAid mixers and racks of pretty Marimekko paper napkins. In the big glass tubs are cool looking clothespins (the Danes like to dry clothes outside in summer, these pins would make the job more fun).

You see the lanterns? Many houses in our neighborhood in Copenhagen had lanterns such as these at the front door; I've been looking here at home for cute ones like these, without any luck so far.

more Copenhagen favorites

If you go to Copenhagen (yes, do!) make sure to eat at Restaurant Sankt Annae You will find all the Danish specialties on the menu, which means it takes a long time to make up your mind. The salmon I had for lunch was perfection (served on Royal Copenhagen). The Danes love to party, so the waitress was kept busy filling up the bottles of acquavit for the tables where there seemed to be a toast every five minutes. The world's happiest people? Well I believe it.

La Glace

Delectable works of art, that's what is to be found at La Glace in the heart of Copenhagen. It's one of the oldest pastry shops in the city. The ambience is so refined and elegant that while savoring this sliver of cake I wouldn't have been at all surprised to see the Queen of Denmark come in for an afternoon sweet.

Royal Copenhagen

No way could you get a view of the Royal Copenhagen pattern in yesterday's post so here's a picture that's a little better.. They have not just the classic blue but also orange, plus the motif is larger. How pretty it is! There was a Royal Copenhagen outlet near our apartment but I passed right on by, not wanting to be tempted. I'm sure even outlet prices were beyond me...So, here again, the Royal Cafe

cafes in Copenhagen

Visiting and sampling the bakeries, cafes, restaurants and food shops when I'm traveling is at least as important to me as going to museums and other tourist attractions. The list I made of "musts" for foody Copenhagen was way more than we could do in the two weeks we had there but here are some highlights.

The Royal Cafe and Bakery, is off the main pedestrian street, the Stroget, along a little passageway between the iconic stores of Georg Jensen and Royal Copenhagen. Walking into the bakery is to enter a fantasy of Mad Hatter-painted walls, silver tea servers and of course work-of-art pastries. This danish pastry was one of the best I had...and it was such a pretty presentation, maybe you can just make out the Royal Copenhagen motif of the plate?

back from Copenhagen!

Here are a few pictures of some of what I loved about this city: bikes/biking everywhere--look at the sea of bikes at the Central Station; and the pretty streets and buildings. (We DID bike everyplace, everyday, except when we were heading out of the city and took the train oh and when we caught the train to go over the bridge to Sweden for lunch!)

cheesy rolls

A mixed-up weather day, rain then sun then rain again, perfect to stay in and make a yummy snack. That's Parmesan cheese on top.

Thursday we leave for 2+ weeks in Copenhagen! We're doing a home exchange and are so very excited! I've xeroxed lots of guide book suggestions of places to visit and of course places to eat...the Rough Guide has a section on the best bakeries in the city, bring them on! It will be fantastic to live like a local in our city apartment, riding bikes everywhere (or where we don't ride, using the excellent Danish transit system). Next to Amsterdam, Copenhagen is Mecca for cyclists. Check out the site copenhagencyclechic and you will see one of the big reasons we decided this is a city were crazy about before we even packed out bags. Oh and the fabulous Danish design that awaits...Thursday, roll on!