Gullible's Travels: City Break

Copenhagen, Denmark. Wednesday/Sunday 28-May/01-June-2025.

Every parkrun country has two special days when they can put on extra parkruns not on a Saturday. For all countries one is January 1st and the other is specific to the country. Sometimes, because of which day of the week the special day falls you can get two parkruns for the price of one weekend away.

It is down to individual parkrun teams as to whether they put on the special event. In the UK and Italy the special day is Christmas Day and we have done a number of chilly Christmas Day parkruns. In the Nordic countries their special day is Ascension day which is a Thursday in May.

We decided to visit Copenhagen for the special day double. We had hoped to do two countries because Malmo in Sweden is just an hour away on the train and we could tick off two countries as well. Unfortunately, Malmo parkrun was cancelled on both Ascension day and the normal Saturday. We suspect it might be because they get completely overwhelmed by tourists doing the two country double.

There are no direct flights from southern Italy to Copenhagen so we had to book ourselves four Ryanair flights changing at Bologna on the way up and Milan Bergamo on the way back. Given that RyanAir now charge for normal carry on luggage that would have meant eight lots of carry on baggage charge so we went for the free option of a small under seat bag each.

This required some very careful packing and travelling in our running shoes!

Wednesday 28-May.

Looking at the public transport options in Copenhagen, we wisely opted for a 96 hour Metro pass which covers all forms of transport in the central zone. First use was to get us from the airport to our Home Exchange accommodation.

I was most impressed by the fact that, being driverless, the Metro has panoramic windows at the front of the train so you can get a front row view of the tunnel. It reminded Mary of the Joni Mitchell lyrics: "I refused to ride on all those double-decker buses, all because there was no driver on the top."

Walking from the Metro to the apartment we passed a number of restaurants including Platito Hispanic / Filipino Bistro and Tapas which sounded intriguing. We went there for supper and had a very enjoyable ceviche and an assortment platter followed by a nightcap in Vinfar wine bar opposite. Also very pleasant so we booked for the following evening.

Our hosts’ WiFi. I had to google Weyland-Yutani. It’s from the Alien movie franchise. Their neighbours obviously share their sense of humour.

Thursday 29-May.

Copenhagen has four parkruns three of which were holding the special event. Our choice for the Thursday was down to two finalists with Amager Fælled initially the favourite. We were still deciding over breakfast but what swung it was the availability of toilets so we made a last minute switch to Fælledparken, north of Copenhagen centre. Three laps round a lovely flat park with geese and goslings for company in one place.

Fælledparken 29/05/2025 27:42 [152 / 307].

Such is the parkrun family that we talked to one couple who, seeing Mary's Salento t-shirt, gleefully told us that they would be there in July.

Going for coffee and second breakfast afterwards we met up with fellow parkrunners. We were introduced to a young man in his 20s (we guess) who had just done his first ever parkrun after only 3 hours sleep - we suspect that beer may have been involved. Despite that he declared himself hooked and would definitely continue parkrunning.

After a shower and salad lunch back at home, we decided to walk around and acquaint ourselves with the city. We saw lots of variety in architectural styles which we think makes any city a more interesting place.

Apparently the red brick buildings are in the National Romantic style which was a Nordic architectural style, part of the National Romantic movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is often considered to be a form of Art Nouveau.

All that walking is thirsty stuff so we found ourself a bar and had a couple of interesting and tasty beers: Mikkeller IPA and Rød Tuborg.

That evening we went back to Vinfar, this time for a meal: hake and mackerel stack.

Friday 30-May.

Having a full day free between the two parkruns we booked ourselves on a couple of excursions.

The first was a bicycle tour from Tropical Bikes lasting three hours led by Morena, a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide who, despite not being a native Dane, had all the facts at her fingertips and could answer all the group's questions with ease.

The tour took us round most of the major sites of interest. One item of note was the impressive number of libraries in Copenhagen. We had a coffee break halfway round at Nyhavn.

The Royal Library Garden was an impressive building with lovely grounds in front and a majestic heron. Plenty of goldfish still in the pond so he/she won't go hungry.

When you go to Copenhagen, the Little Mermaid statue is an obligatory stop on the tourist route.

Food was very Nordic: marinated herring for lunch at Dina Bar / Cafe.

In the afternoon we booked a very different sort of tour, a Politically Incorrect Beer Walk. Our guide led us on a walk around Copenhagen pulling a wheeled cooler full of beers stopping at intervals to produce the next beer, tell us about the location and its connection to the history of beer.

Included in the tour was Copenhagen’s original red light district which predated that in Amsterdam. Our guide claimed that was where Amsterdam got the idea.

There is a small refund on tin cans so the etiquette is that you leave your cans littering the street and homeless people wander around collecting them and cashing them in. Some rubbish bins even had special beer can shelves to make it easier for them.

That evening we had not booked any restaurants and decided to wander about and take potluck. We peered in at Pastabro but it appeared to be a very basic takeaway so we decided to pass. Walking on we arrived at Cibo an Italian café where we had a simple pasta dish. While eating we heard the couple at next table over who were wearing running shoes say the magic word "parkrun" so we struck up a conversation to discuss parkrun tourism and which venues we were both planning for the weekend.

Saturday 31-May.

Amager Strandpark 31/05/2025 29:04 [187 / 379]

We had always planned to go on Saturday to the parkrun closest to the apartment. Amager strandpark parkrun is on the beach - a two-lapper going over two bridges with a turn round on a pier.

After the necessary shower, we wandered into town for brunch at Wulff & Konstali and a little more exploration. Mary particularly enjoyed the canal view!

Someone had tipped us the wink that the City Pass ticket covered not only the underground and buses but also the water buses. Having walked, cycled and done two parkruns already we decided to take a free river cruise up and down the river, albeit without a running commentary.

The route of the water bus is a simple circuit it goes to a south terminus, turns around goes up to a north terminus and back again.

One of the buildings that was more impressive from the river is the Black Diamond, a modern waterfront extension to the Royal Danish Library's old building. Its quasi-official nickname is a reference to its polished black granite cladding and irregular angles. The building is clad in black granite of a type known as Absolute Black, which was mined in Zimbabwe and then cut and polished in Italy. The black cladding amounts to 2,500 square metres and each stone weighs 75 kg.

That evening we dined at Pirlo a restaurant recommended by our host. Mary booked it immediately following the recommendation and only afterwards looked it up to discover it was Italian, as if we don’t eat enough Italian food already! Nevertheless, it was a very classy joint linked to Vinfar next door and we had an excellent meal albeit very expensive.

Sunday 01-June.

The flight times for the return journey was such that we had a five hour layover at Milan Bergamo. That meant we had ample time to explore. We took the funicular up to the Cittá Alta for lunch and a wander around a typical Italian hilltop town.