I’d been told by several trusted people that Copenhagen is amazing. That I would love the food, the people, the design stores, and everything there is to love about Denmark. Well, those trusted people were right.

Copenhagen was the first destination on the work trip I was blessed to take over the past two weeks. My boss and I traveled to Copenhagen, Stockholm and London to roll out the Social Selling program across Northern Europe. The whole trip was incredible (and yes, we did have some time to play in each city we visited).

But first, Copenhagen.

I arrived in Copenhagen on a Sunday (the 27th of September to be exact) and checked into the hotel. We stayed across the water from the main area, but it was a perfect location — only about a 20 minute walk to the hustle and bustle. The view from my room was incredible. I could see for miles and miles and miles and it truly was breathtaking.

I unpacked, worked out, showered, and hit the town to explore. I combat jet lag starting the evening before (seriously, a ZzzQuil and an airplane bottle of wine and I’m out for five hours minimum. It’s a blessing really.) so I was good to go.

My good friend Julie gave me loads of recommendations for what to see, where to eat, and which design stores I should check out so I started out with some lunch (called “smushis” at this place called “Smushi” that was really weird and I probably wouldn’t go back but the courtyard was cute), then hit the shops.

Some highlights from shopping:

• TIGER: Amazingly simple craft/houseware/stationery store.
• Illums Bolighus: Probably the most beautful store I’ve ever seen. Scandi design is incredible.
• Matas: Danish beauty store (naturally…).
• Magasin: Large department store
• Hay House: Was closed on Sunday when I arrived, but it’s just incredible. The Mini Market is where it’s at — so many amazing notebooks and organizational items. I was in heaven and wished I had a way to pack away more stuff!

The first night, I ventured off into the neighborhood of Kodbyens to eat at Fiskebaren (a recommendation from another friend). Holy wow this place was awesome. The food was incredible — started with Danish Oysters, then Plaice (which is kind of like tilapia) with root vegetables, then I finished it off with a blackberry brioche dessert. It was so good!

Day two, my boss landed in the afternoon so I finished up my exploration of design stores and ate an authentic Danish lunch at Restaurant Schonnemann. Pickled herring (not bad), minced beef with an egg and carmelized onions on top (think bunless burger), finished with a “dessert” of cheese on toast with a jelly and rum pourd on top (I have never met a cheese I did not like, but this one I could not, under any circumstance, consume).

My boss and I met up in the early afternoon and the first item on his list was to climb to the top of The Church of Our Saviour. There’s a spiral staircase around the steeple and you can climb the stairs all the way to the top. Breathtaking views of the city. Since we were over by the church, this area of the town that several people had suggested I visit called Christiana was nearby. I hadn’t heard much about the town other than it’s “crazy.” So, my boss and I walked over to check it out.

Apparently, Christiania is a “free town” meaning it doesn’t operate under the same laws as the rest of Copenhagen. This also means that as soon as we hit the main town center, all we could smell was pot. And that’s because at this main town center of Christiania, there’s basically nothing but pot dealers, hidden behind camouflage nets, lined up like bank tellers, dealing pot to their customers. The contradiction of what my boss took me to do and what I took him to do was comical. Thank goodness he has a good sense of humor.

We ate at Maven (per Julie’s recommendation) and I had deer for the first time. It was delicious, but also a little gamey. And made me feel like I was eating Bambi the whole time.

Our final “exploration” day in Copenhagen was a great success. We started the day visiting the Church of Our Lady to see the statues of the 12 Apostles and then we went walking. Walking and walking and walking. Walking around the university, the library, Nyhavn (where we enjoyed a lovely boat ride around the canals), the Little Mermaid statue, the Opera House, the Queen’s Palace, and Kastelkirken (a defense center that has a moat shaped like a star going around it).

We made our way back to the center of the city and found the oldest bakery in Copenhagen: La Glace. It was time for a sugar break, so we indluged in a pastry and some macrons. So. Good.

Back at the hotel to get some work done (our “work day” didn’t really start until 5-6pm local time as that was 9-10am PST/MT). We generally had early nights and went back to the hotel after dinner to make sure we were prepared and caught up on work.

We finished the day off with a delicious seafood dinner at Fish Market. We devoured a platter of seafood — oysters, shrimp, langoustine, lobster, it was delicious. I even made it through pulling the shrimps heads off. Yep.

Day three in Copenhagen was at the Adobe offices right around the corner from the hotel. It was a wonderful day and a great way to kick off the program with eager employees, ready to learn. The first training was a great success and we got a couple good stories out of it, too. I really am blessed with the best job.

Next stop… Stockholm!

You can see all my photos from Copenhagen here.