Copenhagen With Kids: The Rebirth Tunnel

continued from Banana Split, Hold the Banana

Before catching our flight back to California, we decided to extend our travel a few more days, and stay in Copenhagen. I was able to book us a fully furnished, high-end, designer apartments at STAY Seaport. ($250/night including taxes). To get there, from the airport, we took the Öresundståg (O-tag) to the Swedish Railways (S-tag) to the DSB, and got off at Nordhavn. From that stop, we walked another ten-minutes to our apartment. The whole trip took less than an hour, and provided enjoyment for our public transportation loving kids. In fact, Greg appreciated the trip so much that he put his hands and face all over every part of the three trains…which would come back to haunt him later.

After a good nights sleep, we got up early to explore Copenhagen. Our apartment was in the North Harbor District, so we enjoyed our breakfast on the back patio, overlooking the water. We scored with the weather, as it was sunny and 78 degrees the entire time that we were there. This was quite warm for them as the locals swarmed the harbor to sunbathe and go for a swim.

Tivoli Gardens

After strolling around the harbor, we took the DSB to Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli Gardens is the world’s second-oldest amusement park, opening in 1843. Tivoli Gardens has been the inspiration for fairytale writer Hans Christian Andersen (who visited many times), and Walt Disney, who built Disney World based on what he saw here.  (There are a number of similarities.) The scenery in the Gardens is beautiful as well, with exotic architecture, and lush gardens. The rides are designed to blend in. The best thing about this park is that we never waited more than five-minutes for a ride, as everything runs incredibly efficiently. Tivoli’s oldest and most popular ride, the wooden Rollercoaster, that we rode many times as our kids are thrill seekers, is one of only seven rollercoasters in the world that still have a brakeman on board every train. 

We were in Copenhagen during the 2018 World Cup, and Tivoli Gardens happened to be the gathering point for fans watching the “Round of 16” game between Denmark and Croatia. I generally don’t think twice about the World Cup, but I did that year. The excitement from the Danish fans was like nothing we had witnessed before.

STAY Seaport

After a full day riding all of the rides, we grabbed dinner before heading back to our apartment for the night. Greg fell asleep during the meal, which was really odd. I guess I should have seen it as foreshadowing for what was about to come.

The next morning, we slept in and had a leisurely day planned. Doug and I took turns going for a run while the kids watched the Danish version of “Paw Patrol”. While Doug was out on his jog, Greg suddenly needed me to “pick him up and comfort him” which during the episode where Chase and Marshall go parasailing, is never a good sign. Yep, within seconds, Greg “tossed his cookies” all over the two of us, the couch, the throw pillows, and the wool rug. I really didn’t know what to clean up first, but decided to start with the him.

By the time Doug returned from his run, I had everything under control. I was sure that Greg had caught something from all the windows he had licked on the S-tag the day prior, and I had no idea how were going to get him on a plane the next day in his current state. Happily, in just under 45-minutes, Mr. “Puke and Rally”, was one-hundred percent himself again. Go figure.

Nyhavn

With that behind us, we took the DSB to the Nørreport St. Station in Central Copenhagen to stroll around Nyhavn. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbor front, just south of the Royal Playhouse, Nyhavn is a cobble street lined with brightly colored 17th and 18th century townhouses, bars, cafes and restaurants. The canal here also harbors many historical wooden ships which were right up Greg and Roy’s alley.

Renting a Bike

Cycling in Copenhagen is an important mode of transportation and a dominating feature of the cityscape. The city has the distinct honor of being one of the most “bicycle-friendly” cities in the world, and so with that, we felt that we had to try it ourselves. We rented bikes for Doug and I in Nyhavn, that included child seats for Roy and Greg. Cycling in the “City Center” was very intimidating, so we headed out of town as quickly as possible. Our personal bike tour took us past Christiansborg Palace (the location for the Danish Parliament), The Little Mermaid, and the Admiral Hotel (where Doug had stayed when he was a kid). Copenhagen was mostly flat, aside from the bridge we kept crossing, over and over (and over) again because we were lost. While I was glad that we rented bikes, I was very happy to return them again at the end of the day.

Experimentarium

For our last day in Copenhagen (our flight left in the evening), we visited the Experimentarium, a world class science center, located in Hellerup. The museum was about a 45-minute walk from our apartment (to which our kids walked about 3 minutes of). There was a ton of original things for the kids to explore here, the most memorable being the “Rebirth Tunnel”. I have no idea how I wound up in that thing, but the people there kept advertising it to me as this “life changing” exhibit that I needed to try. It was, a pitch black tunnel that required me to to crawl my way through (it) until I finally saw the light, and was subsequently, reborn. Not one to appreciate small, dark places, I thought I was going to have a panic attack. The kids, of course, found this absolutely hysterical and have never let me live it down.

Flying back to the USA

Leaving the Experimentarium, we then had to hoof it back to our apartment, pick up our luggage and make it to the airport for our flight home. Because our kids refused to walk with any pace, we basically carried them the entire way. (To this day I still think I have a bruise on my hip). By the time we finally had our kids strapped into their seats on the Dreamliner (787) heading to Oakland, CA, both Doug and I fell asleep. The kids proceeded to watch unlimited episodes of Bugs Bunny cartoons. We arrived in California late on the 4th of July. While standing in the long line at passport control, Roy realized that he was going to miss the fireworks, suddenly the top thing on his mind. In an effort to avoid a complete meltdown, Doug, who is never dishonest, told Roy that we would in fact make it home in time for fireworks that night.

We, of course, did not, but Roy was too sound asleep to notice when we pulled in our driveway just after midnight.