I spent Christmas in Copenhagen and New Years in Edinburgh. I travelled with my friend Nikki, whom I've known since high school. We went to Copenhagen for the Christmas market experience and some hygge. And Edinburgh for their big Hogmanay celebration.
As I am no longer used to the cold, most of my trip preparations involved preparing for cold weather. Funnily enough it really wasn't that cold in either place. It was in the 30s/40s during the day and the 30s at night. We had some snow flurries in Edinburgh but no snow really in either place.
What I was not prepared for was the short days. We had about 6 hours of daylight, and 3:30 was dusk with 4:30 pretty much dark. It caught me off guard, and had some impact on how much sight seeing you can do, especially if you aren't even ready to get going until 10 or so.
The other thing I was not prepared for was the Danish language. I knew that most people would speak English. However, when you ride the bus there are recorded announcements with the stop. Danish does not sound like you think it should! So it was interesting a few times. The grocery store was also an interesting experience not always being sure what you are buying. We never did learn how to pronounce the street our apartment was on Oehlenschlægergade. I had printed it out to give to the taxi driver when I arrived!
Copenhagen was an interesting mix of old, ornate architecture with very modern Scandinavian design. I went to the Christmas market in Nyhavn by the water and enjoyed some abelskivers and hot chocolate while I looked at the stalls. We saw a cabaret show at the Tivoli and enjoyed wandering around seeing all the Christmas lights. We did a hop on/hop off bus tour so we got to see more of the city. Many things were closed the 24th and 25th, but it wasn't quite as shut down as I was expecting. We finished our last day with a trip to Helsingor to see Kronburg Castle, better known as Ellsinore of Hamlet fame. It is on the Baltic Sea, and was very cold and windy, but the castle was enjoyable.
Our apartment was a bit odd in Copenhagen as the bathroom had no separate shower stall so in theory you could sit on the toilet and shower. The reality was very messy, especially when you forgot to take the toilet paper out of the room before showering! 7-Eleven was prevalent everywhere, and nothing like American 7-Elevens. There were lovely pastries and pizzas as well as selections of sandwiches and such. All in all I enjoyed Copenhagen and would like to see more of it at a better time of year. It felt a bit quiet and reserved to me.
Edinburgh had a more festive/rowdy feel to it. It's a beautiful city and has some lovely architecture. It was enjoyable to wander aimlessly which is always a favorite activity of mine. We stayed in the Stockbridge neighborhood, and the apartment had a "normal" bathroom and had some Christmas decorations as well. The neighborhood had a few gastropubs, a takeaway fish and chips place as well as a few coffee shops and small grocery stores and shops.
I did two different hop on/hop off bus tours, and explored the Palace at Holyrood, and a short tour of the royal yacht, Britannia. I had a few strolls through the hilly city. In old town they had a Christmas market/fair set up so fun to see the carnival rides next to old buildings. The Hogmanay celebrations did not disappoint. We participated in the Torchlight Procession on the 30th. It was enjoyable but at times disconcerting to be surrounded by folks with torches who are looking down at their phones and not paying attention to their torch. There was a great fireworks display at the end. We opted to be inside for NYE and went dancing instead of to the big street party.
We enjoyed the apartment and access to some of our favorite foods like bacon flavored potato chips. I will never understand why that flavor hasn't caught on in the US. The apartment owner left us a box of Tonnock's tea cakes, which were quite delicious. In addition to the scotch selection, it was a pleasant surprise that there were a number of chocolatiers in Edinburgh and we enjoyed some fine chocolate.
The entire vacation was very relaxing, and while I was a bit annoyed by not doing as much sight seeing as I might normally, I think the slower pace was a good thing. I look forward to exploring both cities again at a different time of year. I don't know that I would travel to northern locales again in the winter.
Copenhagen photos:https://photos.app.goo.gl/tLqaTQ50gYOF0DVy2
Edinburgh photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VG334qRD6TDatD9u1
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