Sunday, July 29, 2012
Met Chris and Nate in the lobby for Nespresso, my first time using this impressive machine. The Radisson Blu Falconer has a Scandinavian brunch buffet that we decided to try even though we hadn't included it with our rooms. It's an impressive spread with lots of different kinds of food and beverages and probably easily satisfies all their target traveler's culinary needs for brunch. I thought it was the quietest brunch I'd ever experienced. We were among the first to arrive when it opened, and it seemed obvious that they were expecting larger crowds to come later. We chatted briefly with staffperson Emilio from Cuba about the origin of the fruit, particularly the pineapple. Afterwards we walked the city with no particular agenda. We toured parts of Frederiksberg Have, a large city park/garden. We entered at Frederiksberg Allé, saw Frederiksberg Palace from a distance and toured other parts of the park. We exited at at Frederiksberg Allé then walked Frederiksberg Allé to Vesterbrogade to Gasværksvej to Gammel Kongevej, stopped for a rest at Skt Jørgens Sø past Tycho Brahe Planetarium, Vesterport Station, down Jernbanegade. City Hall Square is under construction. We walked along Strøget, a pedestrian shopping street which reminded me of Khao San Road somewhat with its many street shops and sidewalk restaurants. We stopped for Illy coffee at Kongens Nytorv (King's New Square), ordering from Streckers, a 1913 Baroque Revival kiosk and sitting at a small table under a small heat lamp. (The sky was overcast.) A man nearby played Ave Maria and Memories on clarinet to recorded accompaniment. We continued along Strøget and when we reached the end we returned on a parallel street and stopped at Cafe Norden for lunch. Chris had tomato soup with lots of different kinds of sliced chunks of bread. Nate had smørrebrød, a trio of open sandwiches: shrimp and egg, pork loin and red cabbage, chicken salad and watercress. I ordered a sandwich with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. When my sandwich arrived I was confused. The plate I received looked to me like a salad but with the correct ingredients—scrambled eggs and smoked salmon—and some flat wedges of bread on top. I asked the runner about this, but she insisted I had the correct order. After some investigation, I did indeed find two wedges of a flat bread underneath to match the same two wedges on top. It was much more food than I had planned to eat. To drink, Chris ordered an iced tea and Nate and I each had 33 cl of Leffe, a blond beer. This turned out to be a surprisingly expensive meal: 595.00 Krone or about $100. I couldn't finish all my food and when I asked for a to go container I had to follow someone into the restaurant and watch him hunt for a container. He gave me one and it was too small, so I asked for a larger one, but he didn't have a larger one, so I asked him for a second small one which he gave me. Then I asked him for a plastic fork and he went to look but could not find one and instead gave me two wooden spoons. By now it was obvious to me that it's not common for people to ask for food to go, and so I thanked him and left. On the walk back to the hotel I snaked a plastic fork from a Chinese restaurant. Hotel. We met with Ravi, this time with Maia and Siddhartha. We took the metro to Kongens Nytorv and walked to Nyhavn for a canal boat tour. The tour was terrific, but I was falling asleep due to jetlag, and halfway through the tour it began to rain. Plastic ponchos were purchased and worn. Metro back to the hotel. Ravi set up dinner at La Vecchia Gastronomia for Chris, Nate, and me. To bed, exhausted, despite also wanting to check out gay nightlife.