One place I’ve always been fascinated with is Denmark and I always wanted to go to Copenhagen. I don’t know if it was because of the huge role the Danish play in the ballet world (the Danes claim one of the main six schools/systems of ballet training, Bournonville, named after August Bournonville who was a Danish dancer/choreographer) or something else, but when we booked our first cruise which started and ended in Copenhagen, I was so excited. And while we didn’t get to see the Royal Danish Ballet in performance (I checked, but they weren’t in theatre during our visit) Copenhagen had so much more to offer and might have been one of the greatest family places we visited.
We only spent a day and a half in Copenhagen before boarding the ship but those two days were jam-packed with things any three-year old and almost one-year old would love!
We arrived in the early afternoon, met hubby’s parents at our hotel (we stayed at the Marriott in a great location right on the river and close to everything) and then headed out to explore. Copenhagen is the home of Hans Christian Andersen and where he wrote many of his beloved fairy tales. Our first stop in Copenhagen was to the World of Hans Christian Andersen which is part of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum. While you can get a multi-ticket for all the exhibits (including Ripley’s, the Guinness Records and Exploratorie) we chose to just do the Andersen exhibit since it was later in the day and we had the girls. The Hans Christian Andersen part brings the fairy tales of the famous writer to life through light and sound displays and also tells the story of the author’s life. We all really enjoyed the visit and the girls (even Sugarplum at 11 months) were fascinated by the displays. But beware of the rat (who unexpectedly scared me and Honeybun to death!)
The next day we headed towards Christiansbog Palace. The Palace at Christiansborg is the last of many palaces to be built on the site and the ruins of the previous palaces have been excavated and maintained since the current palace was built. A combo ticket while visiting the palace includes seeing the Main palace’s Royal Reception Rooms and Queen’s Tapestries, the ruins and the Royal Stables. There is also the option to visit the Theatre Museum which we did not do.
We then stopped by Gammeltorv (the “Old Market”) and had a nice Danish lunch outside. Sugarplum was having a hard time sitting and waiting so I took her for a stroll through the square where there was a little art market.
Our next stop, though, was the highlight of our trip: Tivoli Gardens! Tivoli Gardens is the second oldest amusement park in the world and was a truly amazing place to visit and experience shared with our girls. You can visit the park and just see the shows and grounds, but we chose to get the multi-ride ticket which allowed us unlimited rides. Not only were the gardens and grounds beautiful but the park was so family and child friendly. Nearly all the rides were appropriate for Honeybun (at just barely 3 years old) and we spent hours riding the rides, exploring the park and we stayed from just after lunch until dusk and got to see the park all lit up for the night.
