Denmark Catchall: Tivoli, Church of Our Lady, Kaptajn Nalle

All my “big” recaps of Denmark are finished, but I still had lots of random photos from in and around Copenhagen.

Sweden to Denmark + Copenhagen Days #1 and 2 (Church of Our Saviour, Christiania, Koldskål)
A Day Trip from Copenhagen: Visiting Roskilde Viking Ship Museum + Roskilde Cathedral
Day Trip from Copenhagen: Lille Tilde, Burial Mounds, Island of Møn
Day Trip from Copenhagen: Day #2 on the Danish Island of Møn (+ Visiting Møns Klint)

One day (I can’t remember which at this point!), we met up with one of my brother’s friends. He has a pass to Tivoli, which meant he could get us in for free. This was a very nice perk because there’s a steep entry fee just to get inside the park.

Tivoli Gardens opened in 1843 and is the second-oldest amusement park in the world. It’s right in the middle of Copenhagen, but somehow feels like its own little world! There are gardens, thrill rides (sort of), theatres (they have a lot of concerts on site), and lots of restaurants.

The oldest amusement park, Bakken, is located just outside of Copenhagen. My sister-in-law worked there as a teen, and she and my brother took Belle and Indy there for a quick visit when we were visiting. (In case you were curious, the third oldest amusement park in the world is Prater! So the kids got to visit the Top Three.)

Back to Tivoli!

We arrived a bit early for our rendezvous, so we took advantage of the fact that there’s a LEGO store right outside the park entrance.

Indy was happy to get a chance to hoist the FIFA World Cup trophy. I’ll admit I was holding my breath the whole time and praying it didn’t slip through his fingers and smash into a thousand little plastic brick pieces.

It didn’t!

We didn’t buy anything, but it’s always fun to tour a LEGO store.

We had told the kids they could go on one ride at Tivoli. By this point in the trip, we’d spent plenty of money at amusement parks (Prater! Linnanmäki!), and Tivoli is more famous for its atmosphere than its rides. There was one floorless roller coaster that had caught their fancy called the Dæmonen.

As soon as we arrived at the park, their hopes were dashed because we learned that particular ride was under renovation. Womp, womp.

Tivoli is especially famous at Christmas time. I can only imagine how gorgeous this space would be decked out in twinkly lights.

There are all sorts of little shops and alleyways. It reminded me a lot of Disney.

The railings at Tivoli are adorable.

Apparently I didn’t take any pictures of it, but the kids DID manage to go on a roller coaster. And not just any roller coaster! They rode Tivoli’s classic wooden coaster, Rutschebanen. It’s been running since 1914 and is one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the world.

While in Denmark we had set our sights on trying smørrebrød, a traditional Danish open-faced sandwich. It’s basically yummy stuff piled on rye bread. We opted for a slice topped with chicken filling at the Tivoli food hall, and it was delicious!

We loved spotting a Canadian flag drawn in chalk by a street artist.

Speaking of flags, I celebrated my birthday while in Copenhagen and had not one, not two, but THREE birthday cakes. The first was purchased by John at a nearby bakery ahead of my actual birthday.

People in Denmark are very passionate about flags, and it’s common to fly the national flag outside your home on your birthday. I thought the mini Canadian flags my sister-in-law used to decorate the top of my cake(s) were adorable.

Speaking of cool things, I thought this next idea was BRILLIANT! We saw quite a few people collecting bottles for the deposit, and usually they had to rifle through bins full of trash. But on the outside of garbage cans in Roskilde, there were slots where people could leave bottles and cans to be returned for the deposit money.

Visiting the Church of Our Lady was a standout memory from our first trip to Copenhagen many years ago. I knew I wanted to go back, and it didn’t disappoint. I love the clean aesthetic of all the white marble statues (carved by the Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen).

When we arrived, it was open and basically empty, but then two people showed up and started arranging chairs on the main stage. When we walked by a few hours later, there was a wedding going on! Turns out we unknowingly timed our visit perfectly. I don’t imagine the bride and groom would have appreciated us wandering in during the ceremony…

That same morning, we strolled along Strøget, the main pedestrian street in Copenhagen. There are lots of upscale shops, and it’s a lovely place to walk.

John and I took a swing by Nyhavn!

Our final little adventure was heading out to see one last Thomas Dambo statue. This one was our favourite, and it’s called Kaptajn Nalle.

(We saw Green George in Christiania, and Lille Tilde on the way to Møn.)

It can be tricky to get to his statues without a car, and we were grateful to my brother for driving us to see it.

This particular troll is huge and has so much personality!

I enjoyed visiting Dambo’s sculptures more than I expected to and definitely recommend making time to check out a few if you happen to be in and around Copenhagen. (He has sculptures all over the world, so you’re not actually limited to Denmark.)