6-7 CPH

Steve and I both wanted to see Denmark outside Copenhagen, so we rented a car (with an unrequested upgrade to an electric Toyota bZ4X SUV) and drove west a few hours to Jutland. Driving was easy, though either Steve nor I had any experience with an electric vehicle. It was fascinating to see how Denmark had adapted to support EVs, having started years ago with broad national and EU support. Every exit had charging stations, many with large lots of 12-20 stations constructed near fast, casual foo d restaurants to pass the time during an hour-long charge. The problem was that at our first stop at a Circle K, no one in the store knew how the machines worked, though they helped us figure out badly written Danish directions. We initially thought it was our credit cards, and because our phones were US based, we couldn’t install the payment app. On the way home, I was able to install an app using a VPN to place my phone in Denmark. Adding to the aggravation, every time we stopped, it began to storm with strong winds and pouring rain, not uncommon in Denmark.

Despite the challenges, it was a great trip out of the city,—including a visit to Billund, home of Lego and the Lego House, the only place in the world where certain limited edition Lego sets are available, some personally autographed by the designer—and made us wish we had several days to explore the country.

Because we were taking the ferry from Copenhagen to Oslo in the afternoon, we checked out of our apartment and checked our bags at the Central Station where we would catch the shuttle bus to the ferry terminal.

Rather than taking the typical canal cruise with dozens of passengers on a large boat, we chose Hey Captain’s smaller boats (8-12 passengers) and their “social sailing” philosophy that encourages passengers to get to know each other. It was more expensive, but a great experience with 1-3 hour tours.

Walking from Hey Captain’s dock at Ofelia Plads, we passed the major tourist spots of Nyhavn, Kongen’s Torv, Amelienborg Palace, The Marble Church, Christiansborg Palace, Rosenborg Castle and Gardens, and ended back at the Central Station for the city’s famous hot dogs before we caught the shuttle. The hot dogs really are that good.