One thing we knew we definitely wanted to do while in Copenhagen was visit Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli is a charming amusement park located right in the prime downtown area of the city. Luckily for us, we arrived just in time to visit the gardens on the last day Tivoli was open for the season. And even better, we planned to meet up with another blogger to spend the day together!

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Our first stop of the day was at the tiny little coffee shop Kafferiet.

We passed by this place as it was closing the first day we got into Copenhagen and knew we had to try it out. It’s right by the King’s Garden so we knew it would be our first stop of the day. It’s adorable!

The barista was very friendly and chatted with us about where we were from and our time in the city. She also made me a very yummy mocha and gave me a coffee licorice candy.

Next we ventured out for breakfast and decided to go to Coffee First for their breakfast plate option.

Coffee First serves Estate Coffee and it’s easy to see why it’s a popular brand. This was a great cup to go with our meal.

The breakfast plate, which consisted of hearty bread, egg, meat, cheese and yogurt was a perfect sampling. It was filling and tasty and a great companion to our misty morning weather. We took our time a breakfast so we could watch the clouds clear before heading out.

We had some time to kill before we were supposed to meet at Tivoli so we consulted our map to see what else was around the area. We decided to jump into the Andersen Bakery to try a pastry and some hot dog recommendations. Oh and coffee.

For “starters” we shared a little cinnamon roll or snegl. What happened next was the most unexpected part of our trip.

I had jotted down in my notes to try the “Grand Danois” dog while here so we thought we’d give it a go. Behold its beauty.

It’s the best hot dog I have ever eaten. I was so mad that I was still so full from breakfast because I could have eaten a few of these. Jason and I shared this delightful dog and highly recommend it.

After sufficiently stuffing ourselves it was time to meet at Tivoli. Out in front of the park we met Mette – a writer on my other blog French Toast Sunday and podcaster for the Across the Universe / Chicks with Accents podcast. Mette is from Germany but just started school in Copenhagen – how serendipitous! I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have had the chance to hang out with Mette. For starters she lives on another continent across an ocean. But also, because Mette is about 1000 times cooler than I am.

Together the three of us embarked on a day of thrills and chats through the lovely park.

Here’s Jason and I on the Ferris Wheel.

After hitting up a few rides we stopped to get soft serve at this cute Ice Cream shop Ismejeriet.

I couldn’t resist snapping some shots of the little cupcake wall.

I added a few chocolate covered coffee beans to my ice cream. 🙂

I loved all of the different themes throughout the park and found this pond with paddle boats particularly nice.

You could check out a lot of big, ugly fish as well.

After we rode all of the major rides once through we were ready for dinner. The park has a lot of great restaurants so it was a little hard to choose. Thankfully Mette is more decisive than Jason and I. We headed over to Mazzolis Caffe & Trattoria Caffe.

One thing I really loved about Copenhagen is that everywhere caters to the chill in the air. Every cafe and restaurant has hot beverages, heat lamps and blankets ready to make you cozy and comfortable.

After our meal we continued with a big hot chocolate and more conversation. We talked a lot about cultural differences in Denmark vs the US vs Germany, what we liked and didn’t like and how moving between countries always has unique challenges and excitement.

After dinner we revisited a few of our favorite rides. We stayed at the park til dark and then decided to pack it in. It was a very fun day.

Spending the day at Tivoli with Mette was a really special way to start off our three weeks and I think it’s a big reason that Copenhagen was one of our favorite legs of the trip. I’m still in slight disbelief that I’ve lived this day.