Tivoli Gardens is a playground paradise for tourists and locals.
Copenhagen is many things. It is the home of unique architectural masterpieces, where half of the people pedal to work and a culinary city where street chefs cook and promote international food cuisine.
But it is Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park a short distance from the Central Station, that sucked me in. The world’s second-oldest amusement park is located inside charming orange, yellow and red tulip-filled gardens with a lake and playgrounds.
The park in the middle of the city has roller-coaster rides, pantomime shows and amusement arcades.
On one end is a Vertigo which will turn you upside down at 100 kilometres per hour and on the other end are spiral adrenalin-inducing rides, some going too high for comfort.
To some adults, the rides seem a little scary, but to children? Pure fun.
A short distance from the entrance, there is a large grass area where plays and concerts are staged. Pharrell Williams, a US rapper, was scheduled to perform at the Tivoli Gardens the coming weekend.
In the expansive green grass are people with picnic blankets and chairs, wines and some are reading books in the summer sun.
Every evening, the gardens hosts the “Tivoli Illuminations.” These fairy tale-like fireworks fills the sky with bright bustling colours.
Another site that draws thousands of tourists to Copenhagen is the PapirØen Street Food Market on the periphery of the city.
It is a tempting tour of Copenhagen culinary spot with over 33 food, drink stalls and trucks with music.
At the entrance of the market— housed in a white-washed warehouse building— is a shiny bedazzled cow that looks like the flashy disco lights.
The ‘food city’ has coffee shops, pubs, and ice cream and juice bars. This is where you sample dishes from Korea, Japan, Turkey, Colombia, Mexico, Italy and India, enjoying the meal on wooden seats in an adjoining pier that gazes over the harbour at the city.
Copenhageners love bread. You will be served bread with sea food toppings, bread with raw beef or egg on bread. The street food market gives you more options.
Like most buildings in Copenhagen or Kobenhavn as locals call it, the Bella Sky Hotel in Orestaden, located south of the city centre, is a glass-walled building which is barely asymmetrical, with colourful triangular balconies and shapes.
It is one of the many futuristic design concepts that you will see.
Bella Sky Hotel in Orestaden.
Bella Sky Hotel, where I stayed, has two torqued towers that depending on where you look at it resembles DNA strands with a bridge-like connector at the top floor where the Sky bar is housed.
The reflective glass walls make the 812-roomed hotel gleam in the sun. It has an adjacent exhibition hall—Bella Centre— at the base of the hotel, where conferences are held.
The rooms overlook huge wind turbines, railway tracks and a parking lot.
The digital TV had a welcome message with my name on it as well as the room telephone.
In the evening, I ventured into Kobenhavn, the city of narrow cobbled streets full of Copenhageners riding bicycles back home.
My sojourns led me to Christianshavn, a town with colourful bright-painted, Dutch-style houses set by the sea with quays and yachts rocking in the artificial waterways.
There were lots of expensive boats docked along these canals. The sea water runs free through the old canals and the lakes. The canal of Christianshavn offers some of the most charming and exclusive neighbourhoods.
I dined at a restaurant not too far from Bella Centre. The Indian cuisine is as tasty and spicy as it would in New Delhi.
Missed flight
I had missed my flight to Denmark. Google which had synchronised my travel details broke the news. I called Delta Airlines to rescheduled the flight and after paying the fine, I wondered if it was worth it.
But the magnificent vast carpet of dark blue water —which I later learnt was the North Sea, the elegant city with a mix of architecture, artificial waterways, cobbled narrow streets, wiped off any regret of paying extra.
Tiny waves danced atop the sea. It looked like a brewing pot, with the froth foaming on the edges.
When you visit, take a trip to the iconic monument, the Little Mermaid, a statue by the sea. It is probably the most photographed symbol. I wanted to visit the famed Little Mermaid, but my 120 hours in Copenhagen ran out.
The fairy tale ended with a copper-coloured Little Mermaid fridge magnet— a souvenir—in my bag.
