Hot Dogs, Pickled Herring, and a Beef Wellington We Almost Missed

Hot Dogs, Pickled Herring, and a Beef Wellington We Almost Missed

There's a particular kind of exhaustion that only an overnight transatlantic flight can produce. You know the one. You've been awake for so long that time stops making sense, and you arrive somewhere beautiful feeling approximately like a crumpled napkin.

That was us landing in Copenhagen.

The overnight flight out of Stewart, NY with a short stopover in Reykjavik deposited us into Denmark around 10:30 in the morning. We were both a bit wrecked, so we did what any reasonable person who's been awake for a small eternity would do. We found coffee and a pastry before we did anything else. And listen, I know I've had pastries in a lot of places at this point, but a Danish cardamom pastry in Denmark hits differently when you're running on fumes and the city is dusted with the kind of cold that makes your cheeks hurt. It was exactly what we needed.

First stop after checking our bags: Nyhavn. If you've ever searched 'Copenhagen' on the internet, you've seen it. The famous row of colorful townhouses lining the old canal, boats bobbing in the foreground, the whole scene looking like a painting…

It was absolutely freezing. Nordic-winter freezing. We walked the canal anyway, collars up, hands in pockets, doing that thing where you tuck your chin into your coat and still somehow end up with cold ears. Worth every second of it.

We ducked into a warm, cozy pub to thaw out before heading to the hotel for what I can only describe as a medically necessary nap. We woke up ready to actually see the city.

That first night we had what turned out to be a fantastic dinner, and I say 'turned out to be' because honestly, Matt's photos were basically unusable. Terrible lighting in the restaurant. It happens. Some meals you just have to eat and remember rather than photograph and post.

There was a lot of Wagyu beef involved. And a beef Wellington as a main that I'm still thinking about. If you know, you know.

Before this trip, I would not have described us as a pickled herring people. Matt’s uncle shared some of his coveted stash with us that he purchases yearly from a place in Northern Washington and it was tasty and thoroughly enjoyable to eat, but not something I would think about regularly or even to seek out to purchase. That changed in Copenhagen. The marinated and pickled herring we had was a revelation. I don't know what they do differently here, but it's briny and silky and nothing like what you might imagine. We ordered it more than once. That tells you everything.

We wandered Magstræde, one of the oldest streets in Copenhagen, dating back to the 16th century. It's one of those places that makes you stop and actually think about time. The cobblestones, the narrow width of it, the buildings that have been standing there watching things happen for five hundred years. 

Lunch and several “snacks” were Smørrebrød, the traditional Danish open-faced sandwich. Dense rye bread stacked with pickled things and cured things and all manner of toppings. We also, naturally, had herring at every opportunity.

We visited the Round Tower, a, you guessed it…round tower built in the 1600s that you ascend by walking up on a spiral ramp instead of stairs. And Rosenberg Castle, home to some royal portraits that I have to say... don’t portray the Danish monarchy's ancestors as exactly an “attractive bunch”. If nothing else, we appreciated the honesty.

One of our favorite meals of the whole trip was at Pauludans Bogcafe, which is exactly the kind of place that makes you wish you lived in the city so you could go every week. It's a cafe and bookshop and study hall all in one, mostly full of university students with laptops and coffee, and you eat dinner surrounded by shelves of books, couples on dates, and everything in between.

It just felt like the most Copenhagen thing possible: unpretentious, warm, a little intellectual, and completely comfortable. The food was good. The atmosphere was better.

Copenhagen does this thing where it sort of sneaks up on you. You arrive exhausted, it's winter, it's cold in a way that requires real commitment to be outside, and even more of one to walk over their treacherous sidewalks full of packed snow and ice. We left feeling muscles in our back and legs we didn’t know existed due to the tenseness of constantly walking to maintain balance and prevent ourselves from falling.

The food alone could justify the trip. Hot dogs from a street stand (yes, the Danes have elevated the hot dog into something genuinely worth eating) and pickled herring and a beef Wellington and dinner in a bookshop. That's a pretty good eating tour for 48 hours in the cold.

It’s certainly not the most inexpensive city in the world, but it offers a glimpse into Nordic lifestyle, the seemingly less stressful, finding joy in the small moments kind of way. Definitely worth a few days and I would love to experience it in warmer weather to truly enjoy the many parks and outdoor dining options they have more comfortably.