As you now know eventually I made it to Copenhagen and got into the train to the city. As soon as I was walking to the Hotel I got a first sense of the typical rain showers in Copenhagen – short but heavy! Nearly wet to my bones I made it to the Hotel. I remembered now an newspaper article I had read a couple of month ago with the headline “How I learned to love the rain!” written by Christoph Höhtker. Waiting to check in I must say I didnt love the rain! But let´s see if I will find the hygge mood and would love the rain at the end of my visit. 🙂
In preparation of my trip I did some research and read quite a lot as always to get a sense of the City, the culture and vibe. What I noticed is the “Hygge” is the talk of the town everywhere. Did you also make that observation? Lot´s of books, hygge music playlists on spotify, and so on and so on …. Hygge seams to be a top lifestyle topic! But what is hygge and hyggelig? Christoph Höhtker wrote in his article: hygge is the reduction to the essentials, it is simplicity and it has to be earned.
If you look at Wikipedia you can find the following: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygge
Hygge (/ˈhjuːɡə/ HEW-gə or /ˈhuːɡə/ HOO-gə) is a Norwegian and Danish word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. Since the late 20th century it has been described as a defining characteristic of Danish culture; while the word is just as widely used in Norwegian, it doesn’t enjoy any particular cultural status similar to the recent Danish phenomenon.
So let´s see if I can find or even earn that mood during my visit! After I dropped my luggage and started to explore my surroundings in Vesterbro – the new upcoming area of the city. I strolled around, took some photos, found even some restaurants promising a Hyggestund and Mikkeller looking really cosy ….
… before the next rain shower came down. This time I jumped into a bakery, ordered a Cappuchino and a Cinnamon Bun and took a seat. Whilst sitting in my cosy corner I watch the heavy rain and saw the localpeople stoic walking through the rain. I leave it to you to decide if that is hygge or not. I wished that the rain would stop if I am honest so that I could enjoy the city a bit more!
My wish didnt come true! So I finished my tour through Vesterbro and walked over to the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek thinking a museum would at least be warm and dry. And what a surprise it was open till 10pm so lots of time to explore the different wings and floors and no need for a rush. The Glyptotek is such a nice building! And so calm and relaxed. I really enjoyed the views on the sculptures and how they are organized and set up. So I really can recommend going there. At the end I went to the great coffee shop there, was sitting in green surroundings like in a botanical garden and finally some sun spells cam through the roof. I enjoyed my soup and my freshmade lemonade and felt hyggelig!
On the way back I passed the Tivoli. The party there was in full swing. I had enough for today and walked back to the Hotel in Vesterbro. Before I went to bed I found that great blog. The Hygge House Blog http://hyggehouse.com/hygge with lot´s of decriptions and practical explanations about the Hygge mysterium.
Before I slept in I decided to find out more the next day about the Hygge mood and see if I could get into the mood!
By for now, will continue the story very soon
Ina T.
Ina Thinking 