Copenhagen

After a marathon 25 hours of travel, we made it to our AirBnb in Copenhagen. It’s a cute little apartment just east of the Rosenborg Slot, and about a 15 minute walk to Nyhaven- the historic canal and entertainment district. 

Almost straight away,  we were feeling under the weather so our sightseeing was somewhat limited.  Unfortunately, there was construction going on during the day downstairs, which wasn’t conducive to sleeping off whatever we both came down with.

We managed to wander around Nyhaven and up to the harbor where we saw a magnificent rainbow that we figured had followed us from home.

Transportation is easy here. We got a multi-day City Pass once we landed that gave us access to all any bus, train, or metro for a few days. The metro was super clean and easy to navigate. Sometimes we needed it, and sometimes we would just walk, racking up over 13000 steps in one day!

Danish people love their bikes. They appear to be the main mode of transportation here. Look out if you’re trying to cross the street though, the biking Danes stop for NO ONE!

They are also very big on recycling, with bins placed throughout the city to collect plastic, textiles, eWaste, paper, foodwaste, etc. There was even a kiosk that would give back money if you recycle a certain type of reuseable cup.

We happened upon a little place called the Happiness Museum. The picture of the red hat is an artifact representing the most unhappy day ever registered in the history of the Happiness Project, which is what the museum is based on. Unsuprisingly, that day was the day a certain someone was elected the first time. The postit notes are visitors comments about what makes them happy, or describing the happiest moment in their life.

We also went to the National Museum of Denmark and saw a really cool exhibit on the Vikings.

It was informative, but we both came away feeling like we wished there was more of an overview presented that would give context for what we were looking at. We did learn a lot about Völvas though, who were women with magical powers who were both revered and feared. Back home, our community was hit hard by a hurricane, so we found it hard to concentrate on the museum as reports of damage were just coming in. We still feel we got a lot out of it though despite being distracted. The food in Copenhagen was especially delicious.

The photo above was part of our meal the one day we went out for breakfast. We tried a danish sandwich at a place called Sprød & Co that was made with crispy pork, mustard,mayo, pickled cucumbers and homemade red cabbage. Sprød means “crispy” in Danish.  It was good, but not the kind of thing you would want to eat very often for your heart’s sake.

There was definitely a lot we wanted to see that we were unable to due to being under the weather, but we already know we’ll be back someday. Copenhagen is such a cool city!

Tourist Traps and Northern Lights in the Arctic Circle

 After a long 31 hour flight, we landed in Helsinki exhausted in the middle of the day. We took an easy light rail train to the main train station and stashed our bags in the lockers there because our night train to Rovaniemi didn’t leave until 11:45pm.

Lockers at the Central Train Station in Helsinki-Easy and cheap place to stash our luggage

 This gave us about 8 hours to wander around and we were able to get acquainted with the city just a bit but we were so tired we could barely keep going.

 We ducked into a movie theatre for the sole purpose of taking a nap, which turned out to be a great idea!

The “Polar Express” night train to Rovaniemi was nothing short of  awesome. We had a private cabin that had a bathroom and a shower, and it was relatively cheap considering it was our transportation AND accommodation for the night.

After arriving, we picked up our rental car and headed to the Apuuka Resort about 20 minutes out of town. We stopped at a place called Santa Park on the way for lunch and were delighted at how corny it was.

 Because it was September, it was obviously the off-season so there wasn’t much going on, but we walked around the merch-shop for a bit. First thing when you walk in was a giant display of reindeer hides and canned reindeer meat. I can only imagine how many little kids have been traumatized by this. 

In the back was the cafeteria where reindeer is served at the buffet. We found this hilarious for some reason. They also served moose which was super tasty!

You could also get a photo with Santa for 30€. To say this was a tourist trap would be an understatement. We bought a can of reindeer for fun (which was later confiscated at the Tallinn airport) and went next door to Santa Claus Village which was bigger but just as cheesy. It’s possible that these places seem more magical when there’s snow, but who knows?

This is what you do when you refuse to pay 30 Euro to see the real Santa.

So is Snowman World just a lake in the off season?

Santa Claus Village

The decision to go to Lapland was so we could try to see the northern lights, and it didn’t disappoint. They say that when the weather is clear, you can see them 50% of the time. We were lucky, the lights were visible both nights! We brought a good camera to take photos and the pictures definitely were more colorful than what we saw with the naked eye. The reds and purples were only visible in photos.

The Apukka Resort has igloo-like rooms with glass in the ceiling for viewing the lights, and we feel this was essential. It was chilly outside (50 degrees for us is chilly) so being able to be inside until the lights were visible was key. 

We aren’t usually resort people, but we really liked the Apukka. The grounds were right on a tranquil lake, and they had private saunas where you could also go in an outdoor hot tub. We did this and were lucky to see the Auroras during our session. It was magical!

On the second night, we went down to a dark spot on the lake hoping to get a better view. 

There wasn’t a ton else to do in Rovaniemi, but having been up all night viewing the lights, we were sleeping really late anyway so it didn’t matter. We did, however, go to a great museum in town called the Arktikum where we learned a lot about Lapland and the Sami culture.

We stayed for only two nights, which was plenty. We’re glad we rented a car and besides the museum, we just walked around the town to soak in the vibe. 

We also ate a stellar meal at a restaurant in town called The Arctic. They served us “Reindeer Three Different Ways.”

On our last day we had time to kill before catching the night train back to Helsinki, so we went bowling at a sportsplex called Santa Sport. Neither of us had been bowling for years and were paying for it later. Who knew bowling could make you so sore?!?