This is again a feature by Husband Chris. Here it goes.

I’m not sure if we would’ve made it to Copenhagen this time around if it wasn’t for the idea of going to experience the much coveted, once rated world’s best restaurant, Noma. But as it turned out, we decided that we had to go. Wife A. managed to book for a Thursday lunch, it was agreed that our additional guests would take time off work to make it. Then, we managed to book for the Saturday lunch for 6 people that included my Mum and Dad. What a goldmine.

So we arrived, after a fair bit of delay getting train tickets at the most confusing train station I’ve ever experienced, and made it to where we were staying. Self-contained apartments near The Little Mermaid statue. It was awesome to see my parents again after a few months of traveling around Europe and a stay in Romania. We spent the first night just relaxing, the months and months of traveling had been absolutely tremendous but also very tiring. Carrying our luggage to various airports, train stations and cars had taken its toll slightly.

The next day we awoke at a reasonable time and spent the day walking around exploring Copenhagen. It was really beautiful and the weather was gorgeous, very sunny and more fresh than cold. We had breakfast at a café with really good sandwiches and coffee. So nice to have a strong café-made espresso after a good night’s sleep. We then walked around the Rosenberg Palace Garden, where everyone seemed to be enjoying the beautiful weather lying on the grass. I honestly felt as though I could’ve laid down for a few hours myself. We continued on exploring the many interesting yet expensive shops around the city. Dad wanting to buy stuff with Mum attempting to discourage him as much as possible. We stopped at a few furniture shops, I could’ve have easily bought a whole living room, so original. That night my sister and her husband arrived to complete the gang.

The day of the booking we left, walking 2 hours before lunch was to start. I knew that Dad, and Wife A., would want to take photos along the way. We arrived just in time for our booking. We were greeted by about 20 of the waiting staff as we walked into the door all saying hello at the same time. The menu was set for that particular time of the year. I can barely remember all the dishes we had, but since then I have been given the new Noma book so that has refreshed my memory quite well. The restaurant is astonishing to say the least. The food is original and intriguing. The wine again, original and delicious. The juice menu is arguably better than the wine menu. I did have a wine that tasted very much like the one Wife A’s aunt makes from scratch back in Romania. I was also interested to see that they served wild garlic in a number of their dishes, something we had foraged for back in Romania a couple of weeks earlier. All in all the experience is hard to describe in just one blog post, but I must admit I did feel a little overwhelmed with the number of dishes and the need to try absolutely everything and as many new things as possible. I had been reading about their coffee service for weeks before we went to the restaurant but I found it hard to appreciate after so many dishes. I guess we will just have to go back. We went for a tour of the kitchen after the meal, a real, real treat. It looks like a really great place to work and I actually got to have a quick chat with the head chef Rene while he was rushing to attend to something. A down to earth and nice guy.

The rest of our time in Copenhagen seems like a dream now. Spending time with my wife, parents, sister and her husband, really something special and to cherish. We paid a visit to the design museum, which was very cool. Some really funky patterns and a good collection of both past and recent art/design work from that part of the world. A really unique place and somewhere I would very much like us to revisit at least once more.

Memories Hunting
The stores were pricey but we managed to find a print that had to come home with us. With found it in a shop called Cinnober a lovely print by Rasmus Bregnhøi. We saw it, left it there since we thought we should resist, next day we ended up buying it. When it still speaks to you after you left the shop maybe the duck experience, the topic of the print, needs to come back with you.

So with a red woman swinging and a duck experience we can wrap up the European Travels and get ready for some North American adventures.