The City of the Little Mermaid: København 2026

We made it to Europe! After a 4.5h flight from LAX to Toronto which left late, we had to go straight to the gate to board our international connecting flight to Denmark.

I have been to Copenhagen (København) a few times, as my parents lived in Denmark when I was in medical school due to my mom's State Department work; however, that was about twenty years ago (and usually in the dark winter as I recall).  After a long line in immigration, we found enough storage lockers for our four (!) bags across two different terminals and got on the metro from the Lufthavn (airport) to downtown.

It was an extremely warm day for these parts (>80 degrees!) and we visited the harbor area.

Nyhavn is a picturesque area of the harbor with 17th century colored house fronts (Hans Christian Andersen, famous writer of fairy tales, also once lived here).

We saw many Danes sunbathing (and swimming) near the Opera House.

The kids cooled off at a well-placed fountain near Amalienborg Palace.

We stopped by the famous Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue) statue along the waterfront. She's pretty short (only 1.25 m tall or so) but lovely, especially on such a hot, summer day.

We walked back to the train via the star-shaped Kastellet fortress park.

We were enchanted by the swans (and one "ugly duckling").

The Marble Church (Fredrik's Church) is a lovely church in the central area of Copenhagen.

We were lucky to be picked up at the airport and hosted by Kelvin's aunt (Di Thu), who is married to a Dane (Henrik) and moved to the Copenhagen area about 16 years ago.  They now live in the Limhamn district of Malmö, Sweden, JUST across the bridge, as Sweden provided to have an easier journey to European citizenship.

We got a quick briefing on Skånetrafiken, which is an incredible phone app which helps you navigate all forms (train, metro, bus) of public transport in Denmark and Sweden, and headed back to the city on our own on Monday. I'm so impressed by the public transport options here, as in much of Europe, which are also clean and eco-friendly (the buses are solar or electric) as well as so easy to navigate (wish the U.S. could follow suit, especially in super-congested places like L.A.).

We tried to get into Rosenborg Castle, a 17th century castle of the Danish kings, but needed a timed entry ticket, which we then bought for a later time. 

We walked to nearby Rundetårn (The Round Tower), another 17th century project of King Christian IV and built as an astronomical observatory. The spiral corridor to the top was an interesting walk, and there were many neat nooks, crannies and "holes" to peer down.

View all the way down....

The views at the top over the city were panoramic!

We got POURED on outside unexpectedly (the Weather app had NOT been helpful!) while walking, but headed back to Rosenborg Slot (Castle) [3/4 of us had rain gear. One person forgot her umbrella on the bench at Di Thu's house- oops]. We visited the Royal Chambers, and then the Treasury with the Crown Jewels of the Danish kings and queens, dating from 1606.  The silver lions guard the royal coronation thrones in the Knight's Hall.

We saw many lovely jewels, crowns, and bedazzled swords in the underground Treasury. Niall only got chastised once for touching glass.

We spent part of the afternoon at Tivoli Gardens, a famous and the second-oldest amusement park (1843).  I'd only been there in winter, but we saw many happy kids and families riding various rides and enjoying treats.   

We only did one gentle coaster, me still wary after my motion-sickness in Florida and the kids not loving heights. 

Kelvin dared (/tried to bribe) Iver to go on the "tower of terror" but he still declined.

Back in Malmö, we visited the Strand (beach) on a cooler but still nice-for-Sweden afternoon (it had not downpoured in Sweden!).

 Di Thu prepared delicious Nem nướng (grilled spring rolls), which even the kids enjoyed. 

Baltic Cruisin' with my parents starts tomorrow!