Onwards to part two of our day of hire-bike adventures (we really did a lot that day – no wonder we all woke up feeling like a truck had hit us).
Ordrupgaard conveniently sits just below Jægersborg Dyrehave, a mad deer park that is home to over 2,000 deer.
It was a beautiful afternoon to be careering around Dyrehaven, and it did not take long to find some deer to get overly excited about.
There is a hunting lodge, Eremitageslottet, right in the middle of the park. We stopped there to have the world’s latest picnic lunch (I think it was 6pm – these long days are a constant source of circadian trickery).
As you may have guessed by now, this won’t be the last you hear about Dyrehaven (spoiler: we’ve already been back). It’s a magnificent place and I want to live there surrounded by all my new graceful deer friends. That said, the park is a decent hours ride from central Copenhagen, so we eventually had to hit the road again and start making our way home.
NEJ! HOLD NU OP! The magic isn’t over yet. We were happily riding towards the exit, just minding our own business, when we were stopped in our tracks by some more deer. Why did the deer cross the road? I have no idea – it seemed like a poorly-timed decision by this herd, but fun for us so I am not complaining.
Having taken an inland route on our way up north, we followed the coast road on the way back home. One of the more significant landmarks along the way is the Skovshoved Petrol Station… I know, it sounds super lame and boring but stick with me.
It’s famous because it was designed by Danish architect Arne Jacobsen and built as a prototype for a design that was supposed to be rolled out all over Denmark. The roll out didn’t end up happening, and so there is now just one Arne Jacobsen Petrol Station.
In writing this post I just learned that the round shade canopy gives it the nickname Paddehatten, which is a super cute way of saying ‘the mushroom’ in Danish that I wasn’t aware of. Why would you ever call them svampe when you could say paddehat!?
Anyway, that’s enough about Paddehatten, except to note that it’s still a working petrol station and icecream shop, should you ever need any of those things while in or around Skovshoved.
After an obligatory detour through the prettiest streets in Østerbro, we ended up at Papirøen for some late night street food dinner, and some even later night cruising around Christianshavn.
The real highlight of the day, which was already excellent on many fronts, was that we could finally ride home over Inderhavnsbro. Wonders will never cease! This is a bridge connecting the north end of Christianshavn to Nyhavn that was supposed to be finished in February 2013, but only opened a few weeks ago. That’s right, Febuary 2013. From what we can tell, almost everything that could go wrong with the bridge did. Nicknamed Kyssebroen (the Kissing Bridge) because of how the two halves joined up, they couldn’t actually get it to kiss properly for the longest time. I don’t know what two-bit engineers they had working on it, but that’s all in the past now. It’s open and makes it a lot easier for us to get to and from Christianshavn. Let’s never fight again, Kyssebro.
Sadly this was almost the end of Anna and Steve’s week in Copenhagen. Their last day in town was pretty rainy and mired with preparatory chores for the next leg of the journey. The only cure for last-day malaise is to go sit in Illums Bolighus and pretend like the showrooms are your very own Scandi-inspired house. Oh, and also to pickle some cucumbers and cook meatballs and make some very fancy Hasselback potatoes. We have been waiting for a good reason to try this pointlessly time consuming recipe ever since we found it in our trusty Nordic cookery bible and it did not disappoint.
Heads up to Steve – I totally stole your photo for bragging purposes to document this important culinary occasion.
Oh my god, we are finally at the end of this missive. Ant actually just asked me if I was writing a ‘bumper post’. Um, maybe? I blame Anna. For everything.
rigtig vigtigt 