SQ A350 Y to Copenhagen: Bicycles, The Little Mermaid, and Lunch at Noma

[yflyer]

Continuing with the TR...

For most of my stay in Copenhagen, I stayed at the Moxy Copenhagen Syndhavnen.

This was the first Moxy property I had ever stayed in. I only became aware of the Moxy brand, part of Marriott, when I began researching hotels for this trip. In Marriott's own words, the Moxy brand was pitched as being "playful, affordable and stylish", and it certainly lived up to that. The Moxy brand was launched in 2013 (More on the launch in this Business Traveller article). The brand was a tie up between Marriott and Inter Hospitality, which is part of the Ikea group. While I didn't note anything in the Moxy in Copenhagen that screamed Ikea, one selling point of Moxy hotels was a fairly inexpensive, very budget-friendly, price point.

The Moxy Copenhagen was located in Sydhavnen, a mainly residential neighbourhood, just a few km away from the city centre.



This was a fairly new hotel, with a very stylish, youthful vibe. It reminded me of the Aloft brand in its use of bright colours, but I thought the Moxy brand was even more edgy, more youthful and whimsical than the Aloft.



Beautiful lobby seating...



Very comfortable public areas, clearly designed for fun and relaxation...



You literally checked in at the bar counter. What a wonderful concept. The reception was fully integrated with the bar and dining area...



When you checked in, you were offered a complimentary cocktail as a welcome drink...



I checked in early in the morning (I had pre-booked the previous night, and alerted the hotel that I would be arriving in the morning), so instead of getting a cocktail right away, I claimed my free cocktail (A pre-mixed Mojito) that evening.



There were no special privileges for Marriott Platinum, and I was not offered a room upgrade, although I was given a room on a high floor. Needless to say, there was no Exec Lounge on the property. Oh well.

If I wanted status privileges during my stay, I should probably have stayed somewhere else. But this hotel checked all the right boxes in terms of price, location and ability to earn nights towards Marriott elite status, so here I was. In any case, on my final night in Copenhagen I would move to another Marriott property, the Marriott Copenhagen. My impressions on that other property later in the TR.

I took the lift up to my room...



First impressions: A smallish room, but very stylishly decorated, and also very clean and new. As far as personal taste went, my preference was usually for a simpler room which was new, vs a larger or more luxurious room that was older, so I was quite happy with this room.

Large flat screen LCD TV...



What counted for a writing "table" (A glass counter) and "chair" (More like a padded stool)...



Not an ideal workspace, but I wasn't going to spend much time working in the hotel room anyway, so this was fine. On the bright side, the wifi was complimentary, and quite fast.

There wasn't even a wardrobe: there were a few hangers...



You hung your clothes directly on the wall...

[yflyer]

The bathroom was very compact...



With shower stall...



Large bottles of hair/body shampoo and conditioner mounted on the wall...



There was no iron or ironing board (There was an ironing room). There was no mini-safe, and no kettle. There was no ice bucket either, but the staff at the bar were happy to give me a cup of ice to bring up to my room.

This was a very basic room -- some would even say minimalist. But it was stylish, clean and very new. Not lux by any means, but I found the room to be cosy and comfortable.

The view from my room...



There was a small gym...



...and a public work area in the lobby...



I appreciated that there was a Mac and printer for complimentary, public use, in case I needed to print anything out, like itineraries, boarding passes etc.

[yflyer]

The bar/dining area in the lobby served a daily breakfast on a chargeable basis...



This was a fairly basic spread...



...of both hot and cold dishes...



Bakery items...



There was a microwave in case you wanted to heat up your own food...



Beverages and snacks were available for purchase throughout the day...



The restaurant only served breakfast. There was no lunch or dinner available in the hotel, but that didn't really cause issues as there were many F&B options in the area, including a great burger restaurant across the road, as well as grocery stores and a petrol station store that had a decent snack/beverage selection (including alcoholic beverages) and basic hot dogs too.

Overall I thought this hotel was a very pleasant place to stay. The young staff were cheerful and helpful. Location wise, it worked for me too: the Moxy was not far from the Bella Convention Centre (10-15 min by bus) where my work was taking place, and also fairly close to the city -- just 10-15 min away by S-train. And most importantly, the price was right!

[yflyer]

As I had slept very well on the plane, I was feeling quite energetic after checking into the hotel. It was still fairly early on a Sunday morning.

I decided to indulge one of my favourite activities when visiting a new city: I would head out for a long, slow orientation run!

Copenhagen is a very runnable city. It is fairly compact, has many footpaths (and even more bike paths), and most of the time the weather is wonderful. I spent the next 20 or so minutes Googling attractions and planning my running route. It looked quite feasible to check out many of the sights in the city within a 10-15km run.

By the time I was ready to head out, the weather, which was fair when I landed, appeared to have changed for the worse. The sky above Sydhavnen had turned dark and grey, and there was even light drizzle.

This was the day's weather forecast on my iPhone. Dang!



Things did not look too optimistic. But I was hard up for a run...it was today or never, since I had work commitments for the next few days. If I didn't head out today, I would not be able to run until the end of the week.

It was 12 degrees, and wet! I felt cold just thinking about it!

I thought, heck it, I'll just head out and run anyway and see how it goes...and that's exactly what I did. As a precaution, over my running attire, I wore a light down jacket.

I stepped outside in a very light drizzle, and began jogging towards the city centre...



At that point, it was still drizzling, but there were other pedestrians and cyclists out...and was that a glimmer of blue sky far ahead?

I continued my run along Enghavevej, which had apartments on one side, and railway lines on the other...



Along the way I saw preparations for a mass running event...



Apparently a run was taking place later today, which would pass this way...



Amazingly the rain got lighter and lighter as I got closer to the city centre. I was even starting to perspire, and took off my jacket. Thankfully this was a very light down jacket which could be rolled up tightly and held in my hand while I ran...

I continued running and eventually arrived at Radhuspladsen, or City Hall Square, with the Copenhagen City Hall building on the right, and the Palace Hotel up ahead.



I took a slight detour to check out the entrance to Tivoli Gardens...



...before continuing through the old city...



...with its cobblestone streets...



By then the rain had subsided to just a light drizzle...



...and folks were out and about...

[yflyer]

I continued my run to the Round Tower...



...before continuing on my way, pausing briefly to admire a beautiful floral display...



I arrived at Rosenberg Castle at the 7km mark of my run...



This was a small but beautiful castle, still guarded by Danish soldiers...



The castle overlooked the King's Garden...



At that point, my phone battery was showing a red low-battery warning.

I reluctantly stopped my Runkeeper tracker on my phone and ended this segment of the run at about the 7km mark.

Here is a map of my route that day, with the full planned route in blue, and the actual route in red, starting at the Moxy at the bottom left, and ending at Rosenberg Castle just after the 6km mark.



I had to turn off my phone to conserve power for just a few more photos, and instead turned to my Apple Watch, to track my run.

From this point on, I would be running without the benefit of GPS and Google Maps. No matter, the route from this point on would be straightforward: Towards Nyhavn at the waterfront, then follow the waterfront to Kastellet and the Little Mermaid...

I passed King's New Square (Kongens Nytorv)...


...and arrived at the picturesque Nyhavn, lined with colourful restaurants and bars.


By then, the sky was a brilliant blue! Whatever happened to those dark clouds? The weather was now perfect. My gamble to head out for a run, despite the ominous weather forecast, had paid off!

The eateries that lined Nyhavn looked really tempting. What a beautiful place to spend time over a meal or a drink, especially at the outdoor tables lining the canal. I made a mental note to return to Nyhavn in the evening, for a meal after my run.

[yflyer]

From Nyhavn, I headed straight for Kastellet, or the Citadel.

Kastellet is an old fort that was first built in 1626, with very distinctive fortifications shaped in the form of a pentagon, with bastions at each corner.



What made this such a memorable and popular running and walking route was that it was possible to go right up onto the ramparts and walk or run along the top, tracing the shape of the fort as you went along...

The view from the ramparts was spectacular...



What a unique place for a run, amidst such history surroundings. I later read that Kastellet was used in the defence of Copenhagen in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807, against the British. And in 1940, during WW2, German troops occupied the Citadel during the invasion of Denmark.




I only took a few pics that day to conserve phone battery power, but here are some additional pics of Kastellet from a run at the end of the week...

There were still soldiers manning Kastellet. I saw several of them on patrol...



I made a loop of the entire pentagonal route along the top of the ramparts...


After a loop of Kastellet. I headed towards the waterfront, to Langelinie Park, to see what was probably Copenhagen's iconic tourist attraction, The Little Mermaid...



It actually wasn't very easy to find the Little Mermaid.

For the top tourist attraction in town, there was surprisingly little signage guiding visitors to it. In any case, it wasn't difficult to find, with the help of a last gasp of battery power on my phone, where I started up Google Maps, for final directions on how to find this mermaid.

The Little Mermaid was a very fine bronze statue, created in 1913, and smaller than I imagined it would be. It was a beautiful sculpture.



That was effectively the end of my run, as far as scenic checkpoints were concerned, although I continued a little further to get to the train station to catch a ride back to my hotel.



At that point, I finally encountered the runners for the mass running event they were preparing for that morning. This was a huge event, with many spectators cheering the runners on...



I caught a train from Osterport station back to the the Moxy.



This 2nd part of the run was about 8km, starting at Rosenberg Castle, with actual route in red (and planned route in blue). I headed straight for the waterfront and Nyhavn at the 1km, and did a loop of Nyhavn, before continuing to the north to Kastellet, at the 3km mark, and did a 2km loop of the pentagon-shaped ramparts, before heading to The Little Mermaid at about the 6.5km mark.



Look at the beautiful star shaped route traced around the ramparts of Kastellet!

Total distance that day across the 2 parts of the run was about 15km. What a wonderful way to see many of the sights of Copenhagen!

[yflyer]

Back in the hotel, I took a hot shower, then prepared to head out again.

After that super expensive taxi ride from the airport, I resolved to use public transport as far as possible for the rest of my trip. This was very possible, given the compact nature of Copenhagen, and the fully integrated transport system here, where buses, trains and the metro all used the same ticketing system. In fact, it is an honour system here, where you don't need to go through turnstiles to board trains etc. The only ticket checks are spot checks by ticket inspectors, which I only encountered once the entire week, while on the metro.

While there are ticketing machines at the train and subway stations, for visitors, there as a mobile app on iPhone or Android that you could download, and pay for by credit card. This would give you 1-4 days of unlimited access to whichever zones you needed. All I had to do was download the app, pay for a the ticket on the app via credit card, and I had full use of Copenhagen's public transport system for the week. Super convenient!



Sydhavn Street train station was just a 5 min walk from the Moxy.



You could see the Moxy from the train platform -- that's how close the station was.



The commuter trains from here to the city ran at very regular intervals.



The trains were very comfortable...



With room for bicycles...



Lots of room -- whole carriages in fact...



Which made sense considering how popular bicycles were here in Copenhagen. Everyone got around on them...



The bicycle culture here wasn't about fitness, or middle-aged men in lycra...it was all about commuting, and the types of bikes and accessories on the road reflected that.



Folks here commuted for both work and play. I think the cool weather definitely helped. This approach would never work in Singapore, with its heat and humidity.

[yflyer]

The bus system here was great too...



Very comfortable buses...



...which even had USB ports...



Apart from the S-train commuter train system, there was also a Metro system, similar to our MRT, in the heart of the city (This would also be extended to Sydhavnen in a few years time)...



This was a very modern system...



With clean, spacious trains...




I didn't see any major traffic jams on the roads while here, and trains and buses were usually not crowded either, although in the morning rush hour, I did find myself in a packed bus on at least one occasion.

What wonderful public transport infrastructure, I marvelled. Between the bikes, trains and metro, I suspect most folks who lived in Copenhagen would have little need for a car when commuting within the city.



The only minor thing that slightly marred the experience for me was the extensive graffiti that could be found both on the exteriors and interiors of the trains here. I guess here in Denmark, and in much of Western Europe, there was much more tolerance of minor mischief like graffiti.


Apart from that, I think Copenhagen really set the standard for what the future of commuting should be in a city. It probably helped that Copenhagen was a fairly small city with between 700,000 to 1 million plus people living here.

[yflyer]

After my post-run shower, I left the hotel and took the S-train to Nyhavn for an evening meal...



This was where you could also embark on one of the many canal boat tours on offer...



I was already getting a little tired from jet lag, so decided to skip the boat tour and just head for a meal at one of the many restaurants lining the water.

After strolling up and down, and checking online reviews as I walked, I ended up at the herring buffet at Nyhavns Faergekro...



This was an all-you-could-eat spread of different herring preparations: marinated, smoked and cooked, along with a few side dishes...



There were tables inside, but the weather outside was perfect, and most folks sat outside along the water...



Some of the marinated herring selections...



Cooked herring, with potatoes...



There was an intriguing dish of smoked herring, with raw egg on the side...



Many different flavoured schnapps to go with the herring, available by the glass...



With such a huge selection, I would have to pace myself well if I were to try it all...



Plate in hand, I headed to my table outside, and ordered a glass of Schnapps to go with it all.

Yum...this was really good.

I headed back for seconds...another plate with a different selection of herring preparations.

[yflyer]

After a couple of plates of the marinated and cooked herring, I decided the smoked herring and egg was just too intriguing to pass up.

"Excuse me," I asked the waiter, "how do you eat the smoked herring?"



"You open it up, and then spread the egg over it, like jam..."

"Ah, I see!"



This was quite delicious, with the gooey egg yolk complementing the fine, tender smoked herring very well!

I could not resist a glass of their house white wine to go along with the herring...



This was a wonderful first dinner in Copenhagen, and a relative bargain at DKK 185, or SGD 35.



Thumbs up!

[yflyer]

The next day, I had business meetings in the afternoon, but had a little time in the morning to do a little more sightseeing.

I headed to the Round Tower...



This was a 17th century observation tower, with an astronomical observatory and telescope on it's top.



The interior of the tower was quite unique. Rather than steps, it was a circular slope...



...which wound it's way almost all the way to the top...



Finally, a narrow spiral staircase...



At the top, you were rewarded with spectacular views of the city...



There were few skyscrapers in Copenhagen...what a unique and beautiful skyline, with beautiful spires and towers...



The old astronomical observatory has been preserved...



A look inside the observatory...



One last look around before heading back down...

[yflyer]

I was actually in that part of the city to run an errand...

When Mrs yflyer learned that I was going to be in Copenhagen, she asked me to get her clothes from renown fashion designer, Mads Nørgaard. She was a fan, however they didn't deliver internationally, so here I was at one of his stores in Copenhagen.



Inside, a mind boggling selection of clothing...



To be frank, I felt quite lost...but went about snapping pictures of his clothing and whatsApping them to Mrs yflyer for her feedback.

Eventually we settled for a few of the iconic striped 101 tops, designed by Jorgen Nørgaard, and introduced in 1967...



...including this classic design...



It would have been much simpler if Mrs yflyer was there, of course...I have no fashion sense when it comes to buying clothing...

With shopping out of the way, I went in search of sustenance...



I headed to one of many hot dog stands dotting the city...



Danish hot dogs are unlike those I have eaten in any other countries...



For a start, there are many different types of sausages and toppings, all of which taste different...



I just picked one at random...



OMG...delicious...they were light, refined and tasty, with a wonderful crunch to the toppings...so different from the heavy, oily hot dogs you had in other countries!

[yflyer]

The hot dog was so good that I couldn't have just one.

I headed to another hot dog stand I had passed earlier, near the Round Tower...



More mind boggling choices to be made...



I struck jackpot again...I don't think there is any wrong choice when it comes to these amazing hot dogs!



Two hot dogs was about right for lunch. To be frank I could probably have handled a 3rd one too, but good sense prevailed...



DKK 40 (About SGD 7.50) for a hot dog. Not exactly cheap for street food, but the quality was so good, and considering how pricey things were here, almost a bargain!

The other thing you could get here was gourmet coffee out of small vans. There is quite a coffee culture in Copenhagen, with proper espresso dispensed out of real espresso machines built into the back of small vans...perfect on a cold day.

[yflyer]

It was then off to do some work.

In the evening, one of our business partners organised a small reception at Anarkist Bar at Tivoli Gardens.



The beers at Anarkist came from their microbrewery in Odense, and there were many different brews available.



Many were available on tap...



Our reception took place on the upper level private bar area, where 9 beers had been selected for our consumption ("If you want anything else, go downstairs and we will get it for you...")...



At that point, I set my personal goal for the evening, which was to try all 9 beers before the night was out...



Most of the beers were Anarkist's popular brews, but number 3 stood out. Heineken? Strange, especially since Copenhagen was Carlsberg territory! Probably thrown into the mix so that guests would have a familiar reference with which to compare all the others...

I made my way through the list...



Alongside the beer, the kitchen at Anarkist did wonderful pizzas as well...who knew the Danes were also such pizza masters (And also masters of the hamburger, as I would learn later on my trip...)...was there anything that wasn't delicious in this country?



I had a great time chatting with everyone at the reception...being well lubricated with beer certainly helped move the discussions along...

And I was making great progress with the beer too....



I eventually managed to taste all 9 beers, though in order to make it through the evening on my own two feet I had to pull small pours of each, rather than full glasses. I know some folks who could probably have made it through all 9 with full glasses, but such superhuman acts were beyond my capabilities...

And as part of the evening, our hosts gave out tickets to enter Tivoli Gardens. Brilliant!

[yflyer]

I headed into Tivoli Gardens...



What a lovely park...



There was so much history in this amusement park...

The Chinese Pantomime Theatre, where pantomimes and performances were staged...



The Arabian-themed Nimb hotel, built in 1909 by Tivoli's in house architects...



The Ballongyngen (Balloon Swing), a Ferris wheel which first opened during WWII, in 1943...



There were of course also newer rides, including the Himmelskibet, or Skyship, which opened in 2006...



At a terrifying 250m, this was the world's tallest swing ride...



In short, there were rides for young and old here...



Including this wooden roller coaster, built in 1914, with a mountain theme...



...that could have been the inspiration for Disney's Matterhorn rollercoaster ride in Anaheim...



Apart from this antique wooden rollercoaster, there were modern rollercoasters that were as fast and terrifying as any in theme parks anywhere in the world. Something for everyone here, really.