COPE-enhagen, Part the Third

 I felt like the queen of the castle that day.

Inside the dimly lit cellar we were greeted by a neutral-faced security guard brandishing a walk-talkie, seemingly ready to pounce on any slight infringement of the treasury room rules.  A big sign with a laughing profile and a red slash mark through it made it clear that no noise would be tolerated within this inner sanctum.  The guard took one look at the baby and I could feel sweat beads forming as she warned, 'You should be careful because any high pitched noise will set off the alarms....'  And then her eyes got all gooey and her mouth broke out into a huge grin and she stooped down to address the baby at eye level in a sing song baby voice, 'It often happens to groups of Italian women in this room.'  Sorry Italians, but I was too relieved to point out the overt stereotyping.

Obligatory mermaid pose.  Yeah, I'm not sure what I'm doing either.

We made it through the castle and then took the obligatory trip to see Den Lille Havrefrue (see, I even had time to pick up some Danish!) and catch a little bit of dinner at the famous Cafe Norden where we sat for hours munching on their huge servings of food with nary an eyebrow raised at our unabashed occupation of the table in an otherwise busy and full establishment. One man in the combined men's/women's bathroom handwashing station (I know, how Scandinavian), where I had gone for a diaper change, looked at the baby as he dried off his hands and told me, 'Oh, this is the best time of life, enjoy it!'

So if you're a parent with a young child looking for somewhere far and exotic to go to but dreading the thought of hauling your little screamer out into public, especially a FOREIGN public, go, run!, to Copenhagen, they WANT your children there. From the coffee shop owner who helped me lug the buggy down the steep steps that seem to be in front of every little below-street-level shop in the city, who told me that in Copenhagen the philosophy is that you just take your children with you everywhere, to the canal boat tour guide who told me to leave our buggy on the dock while we took the tour because no one would bother it (they didn't), to the thousands and thousands of bicycles I saw with baby carriers in the front or back or both and those crazy front compartment rickshaw things full of kids being bicycle-pooled by their parents, Copenhagen just screamed kid-friendly.


And if you're looking for another nice little cafe for lunch, check out Bliss which offers really fresh local dishes at reasonable prices and has really nice wait staff who 'ninja-ed' (his words) our hot elderflower drinks with cute napkin bibs.

Drinks well and truly ninja-ed.