Celebrating my 21st birthday in Copenhagen

Last Wednesday, March 11th was my 21st birthday!!!!!

While it is a landmark birthday and a really big deal at home, it is very different celebrating in Copenhagen. Here I am already legal. I can already get a glass of wine with dinner or a beer at a bar. I am here with about 500 American students so they all understand and I had alot of fun anyway.

My original plan was to go out to dinner Tuesday night to celebrate, but unfortunatly I had a biology class that night. (Here at DIS it is apparently acceptable for a teacher to cancel class because they are sick or have a meeting and then reschedule it for another time. This get a bit annoying because these make up classes are often in the evenings and throw off your schedule). The night wasn't a total loss though. We watched the BBC special Blue Planet (From the Plamet Earth series).

After biology I went home and got ready to go out. My birthday picked a bad week and everyone had alot of work to do so most people stayed in, but Linda, Margaret and Kari went out with me. We went to a bar and had celebratory drinks at midnight when I officially turned 21 and then we went home.

My real birthday celebration was on Wednesday, my actual birthday. Glenn took me out for the whole day to celebrate. First we went to Ida Davidsen, the most famous smørrebrød restaurant in Copenhagen. The Queen even caters events from there! It was delicious! All of the smørrebrød are displayed in a glass case, you point to what you want (or say it if you can manage the Danish pronunciation) and they bring it to the table. I choose one with breaded fish (i think it was breaded in panko and lightly fried) and it was topped with a red caviar/mayonaise sauce, asparague and baby shrip. This was all piled on a piece of dense dark bread. Glenn chose one that was eel, scrabled eggs and mushrooms. They were both so good! They are interesting to eat too. You eat them with a knife and fork and the Danes, like most Europeans, almost never put their silverware down. They eat with the knife in the right hand, fork in the left. They don't do the silly American switching of the fork back and forth. I am actually starting to eat like a European too. It feels totally natural. It must mean that I am starting to fit in :) After those two smørrebrød we decided we wanted a little more so we split another. This time when we went to the counter we talked with Ida Davidsen herself! Yes she is a real person and she is there everyday, running the restaurant with her son. She reccomended the special of the day, the Roger Moore. It was actually suggested by Roger Moore (he made the James Bond movies) when he visited the restaurant. It is on a piece of french bread and is topped with hard boiled eggs, tuna, red caviar, dill, baby shrimp, and a delicious but unidentifiable sauce. At first it was a very strange combination and our mouths were very confused but after a few bites the flavors settled and it was amazing. I would definitely order that again!

                                                          The Roger Moore Smørrebrød

                                                                       Ida Davidsen

After lunch we walked around that section of the city. We were actually very close to Amelienborg Castle so we walked over to it and went into the Marble Church. It is built between 2 of the 4 buildings that make up the Royal Palace. It is relatively small and unassuming as far as European churches go and that gives it even more beauty. It has a single dome and has a completely circular interior, beautiful artwork inside and a gorgeous organ.

After exploring the church we went to Nyhavn, the harbor area of of Copenhagen that is featured in every picture of Copenhagen. We found a cafe and got 2 cups of tea and sat out in the sun because it was such a nice day. 

When we finished our tea we headed over to the Statens Museum for Kunst (the National Gallery). The main part of the museum is free everyday which I love! There was a gallery of modern art, art from the "Golden Age" of Copenhagen, a sculpture gallery and an exhibit about frames. Now this may sound really boring but that was a really interesting exhibit. 

For dinner, Glenn took me to a really old, historic Danish restaurant. It was opened in 1728! Yet another Danish restaurant older than America. Amazing! When it first opened it was actually a place for the carriage drivers to go for a few hours while they waited for their wealthy employers who were at fancy restaurants or the theatre. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was so hygge (the popular Danish phrase meaning cozy). There were candles and entertainment (a man played piano and sang both Danish and American songs.

What a good birthday!