The King's Garden, Canal Tour, Lego Store, Smushi and Tivoli

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It was a long day. We woke up early because of the jet lag, and decided to go to a playground. Because we had our Copenhagen card, we elected not to repeat our mistake yesterday of walking everywhere, and grabbed a bus to Rosenborg Slot, where we went into the gardens. Kai and I had a nice run along the long avenues of trees, and discovered the quiet natural "dragon" playground, mostly constructed of wood, with two large wooden dragons. I immediately looked at it and thought that without slides, swings, or climbing structures, Kai would be bored, but it actually set his imagination alight. He decided he would have to ride two dragons (like two planes) to go to the North Pole, and led me on a journey that consisted on riding on the two wooden dragons, hopping across logs, and around wooden pillars. We then left the playground and continued our journey to a fountain (of a boy riding a swan). From there, we explored most of the gardens, and he was in the best mood ever. We both were - running around freely, laughing, and generally realizing the purpose of vacations - to spend time with your family without worries.

After that, we walked to the Copenhagen Canal Tours at Gammel Strand, stopping at a Baresso coffee for a break in the walk. It's quite clear that Saturday night is the big party night here from the debris, including cigarette butts and beer cans in the Stork fountain. It was early morning still and trash collector men were already in progress of sweeping it all up, making the city beautiful again. The Canal Tour is included in our Copenhagen card, otherwise, I probably wouldn't recommend it highly. It's a peaceful journey but if you don't sit on the end, your view will be quite obstructed. It was, however, an easy way to see the Little Mermaid statue without a long walk. Kai enjoyed it though (we did give him the window seat).

We followed this with a trip to the largest Lego store in Scandinavia, on the Stroget, and then lunch at a place I had seen featured on Samantha Brown, the Royal Smushi. The food was good, but not a life-changing experience. I would still recommend it because of the beautiful setting, and because so far it's the best food we've had in Copenhagen (granted, our other meals were at coffee shops and a hot dog stand). The word Smushi blends the word Sushi and the word Smorrebrod together. It's the essence of Smorrebrod but served in a sushi sized package or perhaps more of the aesthetic. You have to eat it with a fork and knife, but what reminded me of sushi in it is how all the ingredients had to be tasted together for maximum effect, as in a makimono. So I ordered one that was egg and shrimp, another that was salmon-based, and a third that was a chicken pate with a jam. Kai's kids' meal was better than most adult meals at most places -a noodle carbonara with the most delicious chunks of bacon and ham. Truly, those must have been some happy pigs.

After a break at home, we returned to Tivoli round 5pm. We spent all evening there, as it continued to be light here until long after we left. Kai was able to go on every ride he wanted, multiple times, and he also had ice cream for dinner, whereas I had a cafe mocha (the jet lag hit me hard around 6pm) and a wonderful cookie. We traded off joining him on rides, and when not on a ride, it was very peaceful just to people-watch and take it all in. It was never so crowded that we had to wait in a line, and all restaurants had a plenitude of tables with open seats. When you strolled, it was never hectic, but with plenty of room. And this is high season on a weekend. I enjoyed two rides the most - the Mine and the Fairy Tale. Both of these reminded me of Disney, because they were simple rides where you take in a story told by scenes (sometimes animatronic), and went on a journey inside the ride, very much like "It's a Small World" or "Peter Pan" at Disney, which I compare it to because that's why I (and most Americans) know best. In fact, Walt Disney was inspired by Tivoli to open his on amusement park. But Tivoli has something that Disney doesn't. It helps that it's sixty degrees instead of ninety, and that, well, the people-watching in Denmark contains a lot more eye candy than the US. However, it's more about the simplicity here. It isn't over the top. It reminds me of the small amusement park I visited as a child, canobie lake in New Hampshire, only it's more "magical" than that because they've troubled (like Disney itself) to reconstruct at atmosphere here, whether it's the China/Japan section, or the small street behind the rollercoaster that feels like an old European street. It's beautiful and charming in a way that comes from not being SO polished, but still being clean and wholesome.

Also, at Tivoli, you can order a beer, wine, or an Irish coffee at almost every food outlet. Also, the food is quite good.

I'm a little afraid that Copenhagen is considered the cheapest of all Scandinavian countries, because it is so expensive here. I paid $14 for a cafe mocha and a cookie. Even the most basic of meals are extremely expensive. For three coffee drinks and three pastries at a coffee shop, you pay nearly $30. We have also been to grocery stores but it doesn't help that much. Basically, it's very expensive, as we explain to Kai when he doesn't finish his meal but then wants more food immediately thereafter. On the other hand, after two days of walking 15-20K steps per day, and eating sparingly (though richly when it's available), I appear to have lost all the weight I gained from the past three weeks at work (locked in a conference room 8 hours a day with snacks, which is very productive for our project, but not so good for me).

Another practical thing is the absolute need to have a Chip & Signature card at least. We had to pay cash at the Copenhagen Card place because they only took chip & pin. However everywhere else has taken a chip & signature card, and luckily two of our credit cards have recently been converted to strip, chip, and signature. Everything takes credit card luckily, and you can also pay for the rides at Tivoli with your mobile phone. Do note however that if you're going on more than one ride, you should get an all-day pass (around $80 for a child & co-rider, which means either of you can accompany your child, but cannot go on rides alone). Each ride would cost around $20 for two people on average (sometimes more or less), and so individual rides are not a good idea unless you just want the experience of saying you rode one ride at Tivoli.

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