Our first night in Copenhagen started with our last morning in Stockholm.  We decided on our last day, we’d explore Sodermalm (taking advice from our waitress at the Harry Pig Deli, mentioned in my last post) and see where /how the Swedes live.

First stop was our second stop at Juiceverket.  This time I had the Homage Till Désirée Del 2 (the one Jim had the day before) and Jim got the Coralldo PickMe Up (spenat, citron, gront apple, selleri & clean greens).  Both, again, were heavenly.  I cannot express enough how much I recommend this place.

Armed with our juice, we set out to explore the island, wandering through boutiques, galleries, and various stores, until we made our way to Nytorget, a pretty park close to Greta Garbo’s house where we sat and weighed our brunch options, settling on Kaferang, upon recommendation.

Kaferang is a cute little brunch spot to the left of the Nytorget photo (above).  We got there around lunchtime and were (easily) the only native English speakers in the whole spot.  Jim ordered “American” pancakes while I opted for a dish where all I could translate was “egg” and “chevre.”  It ended up being the best egg’s benedict (two poached eggs, roasted mushrooms, chevre, and greens on toast) I’d had in a long time.  It was huge and perfect.  The spot turned a number of tables and everything we saw come out looked tasty.  If you’re around Sodermalm, we’d recommend this spot – 100 percent.

Following lunch, we decided we wanted to seek out Stockholm Brewing Company and see if we could get a taster of local beers.  Unfortunately, though, SBC is only open on Fridays.  We were bummed.  So we decided to visit a local ceramic spot – Keramikerna.  Inside you can see the work of both Mia Blanche and Anna Svenson.  I believe you can also sign up for classes, which is pretty cool.  The spot is small, but bright and filled with (I presume) the artists.  When we were there, the shop was empty and three women (the artists?) had called someone on the phone and proceeded to sing that person a song in Swedish (I think it might’ve been some version of Happy Birthday).  It was an absolutely delightful thing to witness, as they held nothing back in their delivery.  We ended up buying some ceramics from Mia Blanche, featuring the Swedish horse (which you see everywhere).  It was all really pretty work.  If you’re interested in local ceramics, you can buy some from her here.

Before heading back to Stockholm C Station, we grabbed a little Swedish gelato from Stikki Nikki.  In looking up their website later, I noticed they offer a gelato tasting.  You can actually book a tasting (ahead of time) to try all their flavors and learn how they make the gelato.  Honestly, if we’d known about this, I totally would’ve considered doing it.

Around 4pm, we caught our train from Stockholm to Copenhagen via ACP Rail.  It was a gorgeous ride.  We saw bucolic landscapes, tons of greenery, and one of the longest and prettiest sunsets of my life (see below).  The sky was this gorgeous pink color for at least 20 minutes, maybe a full 30 minutes.  Definitely beats a flight.

We arrived in Copenhagen around 11pm and were a little surprised to see Tivoli Gardens is directly across the street from the train station, and we were able to see some rides lit up.  We checked into our hotel then set out to get some Danish beer at our favorite Danish bar – Mikkeller Bar.  For those of you unfamiliar, Mikkeller (pronounced Miklers, which we’ve been mispronouncing for years) is a hip Danish brewery that’s been around for maybe 10 years or so.  They opened a tap house in San Francsico about three years ago, and it quickly became our favorite SF beer bar (GREAT beer on tap, should you find yourself in the Civic Center area).  There are a number of bars, bottle shops, etc affiliated with Mikkeller in Copenhagen, but I’d recommend this one (eventhough they don’t have any food).  After a few beers, we called it a night and headed back to our hotel for a little R&R, as the next day we explored Copenhagen!