Yellow dressed Dragør charm lit up against the Danish winter sky over Øresund
Saturday in Denmark is Lørdag – pronounced luhr-da – for us it is expløre-day. For the first in our series of Saturday excursions from Copenhagen, I want to introduce you to Dragør.
Dragør Strand Hotel
I adore Dragør. Only 30 minutes or so from our house in Østerbro – just 12 km from center Copenhagen – Dragør is a fishing village not far from the airport that has origins in the 12th century. We spent American Thanksgiving here. Right on the water – the gamle (old) town is chock full of mustard yellow housed charm that you can’t help strolling through. We stayed at the Dragør Strand Hotel, which has well-appointed family apartments in the rear complete with decks and kitchens and washer/dryer in our unit. It also had American Football on the local cable – so we could watch our Eagles and Seahawks in their respective battles… LIVE. Mind you, live may have been in the middle of the night for us viewers in Denmark. But some of us (not me) stayed up to watch! The commentating was presented in Danish, but we definitely understood the game!
I can recommend the Dragør Bistro for its local charm and good smørrebrød. Looking for lovely service, good menu and nice views of the water and Øresund Bridge to Sweden – go to Café Espersen down the docks from the Strand Hotel.
Enjoy the pics and if you have extra time visiting Copenhagen – I can definitely recommend a side trip to Dragør.
Dragør HarborDragør Harbor docks looking over to Sweden
No, it’s not a fancy kind of jewelry. Its not something you do in deference to your goofy friend named Parker. (ie; “Chris – stop “Parkering” – you look ridiculous.”) It’s not a circular playground. It’s Parking. In Denmark. Seems straight-forward – right? Now that you know what it means – of course it’s PARKING. Makes sense. Right?
“Boarding and alighting allowed?” What does that mean? Am I doing it? Is it the correct hours for alighting? I feel like alighting something.
HA! Got you! (Or me rather, it got me. It did. It has. It will again I am sure.) Not straight forward. Lots of translation required. And I have failed multiple attempts at that translation.
Loading and unloading allowed apparently. What is the parenthesis for? A different day? And only in this 18m?
Where do you have to pay for parking? Just about EVERYWHERE. When do you have to pay? ALWAYS! Ok, you get Saturday night after 5pm through Sunday as a break. Find one of these machines – press the British flag button so as to understand slightly what you are paying for.
Do I have to pay for parking at the grocery store in the suburbs near the childrens’ school? No. BUT. You have to make sure you change the little dial-y clock ticker thing in your front window. (A parking disc I’m told.)
Parking disc.
Yep. Maybe you know these. Maybe you’ve been here. Maybe you live here. Maybe some other country that you have visited uses these. WE DON’T HAVE THESE in Oregon. Do other US states or American cities use these? I had never seen them before coming to Denmark. So ok. Change the dial to the time you park. You get one hour gratis at the grocery store. “Great!” I think. I saw that 1 time gratis sign. (In my head I may have said – so next time, its not free?) You might get more free time elsewhere – just make sure you figure it out and set your dial before you leave your car and return before allotted time. Else…. TICKET!
Back to the grocery store. Groceries are very expensive here and there are apparently government limitations on the grandness (or not so grandness) of grocery purveyors physical establishments – they can only be so big. So as to make the best use of space, they sell things in smaller containers. MILK. For instance. You can only buy 1 quart of milk at a time. This is challenging for a family with growing children who probably go through a quart a meal. Or more. I am constantly buying, carrying up 5 flights of stairs, lots of MILK. Thankfully it is delicious milk. As is the smør (butter), yoghurt, cheese and all other dairy. Happy cows make happy cheese. Did I hear that somewhere? ANYWAY – I digress. I had some time to wander the aisles of SuperBest – which is lovely grocer I will add. I used my currency converter and google translate apps to really strategically shop and do my best to make at least two days worth of meals out for 450 DKK (about $75.00 USD). Feeling quite pleased with myself for procuring the organic produce, good Danish pork loin, MILK (maybe some Haribo gummy treats for the kids and some adult beverages) and more, etc., etc., et al. All of this, in definitely under one hour. GRATIS, remember? I return to my vehicle to find a farging parking ticket. It is very nicely placed in a little plastic sleeve right under the windshield wiper by the dial-y thing. I quickly scan the lot for a sign I may have missed. Did I park in the handicapped spot or other specialty labeled zone?
Specialty designated parking spot
Was this the target Danish aliens zone? No. I don’t think so? I quickly head into the nearest shop and say “Unskyld. (excuse me?) Can you help me? Do you know why I received this ticket?”
“Oh.”Pause, looks at co-worker. “Did you move the parking dial on your window?”
Heavy sigh. “No.”
“So sorry, you have to do that EVERY TIME. They are very strict.”
No kidding. Boo. How much was the ticket you wonder? 650 DKK!!! ($110 USD) Just think what groceries I could have bought with THAT! Or what other piece of IKEA furniture I could have procured. I was really coveting the Vittjsö, even though I can’t pronounce it. Boo. Balloon deflated. But, bootstraps pulled up. Marching on. Remember to move your dial-y thing. Whatever that is in your life. We all have one right?
Helpful links that I maybe should have looked at that hopefully will help you!
All this leads to the fact that we should probably ditch the car and just ride our bikes like the other half of the Copenhageners! Except don’t miss these signs!
No Parking on Torsdag – someone is getting a ticket… and it’s NOT ME! Oh what’s that you say? Today is NOT Torsdag? Its Tuesday. That’s not Torsdag? Oh Thursday. Ok thanks.
I don’t like New Year’s resolutions, but can’t deny that the turn of the calendar definitively promotes fresh starts. 2014 was a year full of opportunities seized, plans made and challenges faced. Moving from Portland, Oregon to Copenhagen, Denmark was definitely one of those opportunities that has fulfilled and challenged many of our best laid plans. We left Oregon mid-November and after a brief tour of Barcelona and Madrid, spent the remainder of the year attempting to set up life in Denmark – not so easy as it turns out. (More on those comedies later).
It is a new year. Godt Nytår as they here say in Denmark. Here we are. In a semi-IKEA-furnished flat in the middle of Copenhagen. Seizing opportunities and making new plans. One of my goals for 2015 is to be creative daily. How that creativity expresses itself is up to me, the day, and what I have access to. This is supposed to be an attainable goal. Resourcefulness – using what is around me. In that vein, today I used the fruits of our family’s fishing endeavor yesterday – namely 13 frisk torsk. Fresh cod!
We woke in the wee hours and boarded Spar Shipping‘s “Skipper” skib in Østerbro Harbor yesterday. It was a 5+ hour tour of Øresund – just known as “The Sound” around here. It is the body of water between Denmark and Sweden. Cod is in season now – plentifully swimming in schools not too far from shore gorging on crabs near the bottom.
Despite the cold, it is pretty easy fishing – throw your rod and lure overboard, gently jig the line up and down and wait for the strike!
Success! We brought in thirteen nice cod. Not as big maybe as some of the others we saw, but for a first go – pretty satisfied.A quick lesson in gutting and heading your fish on board makes teenage son feel important while wielding a large, sharp knife and into a large plastic sack our fish go.
Home now with 13 friske fisk.
A bit of background, I’m not actually the fisher-person per se in my family. My dad endeared us as children to the wonders of baiting and casting and waiting and CATCHING. He was also the one who cleaned the fish. I have never actually cleaned a fish myself. Oh dear cod! So catching cod is conclusively easier than cleaning, filleting, and skinning said cod. What to do when you would like to use all the recipes that friends so charmingly forward to you for usage of the cod you advertised? Why you YouTube how to fillet a cod of course. So I watched this one “Passionate about Fish – How to Fillet a Cod” … maybe 17 times. (It is quite difficult to hit pause and rewind when you are covered in fish slime and scales.)
My first attempts were not pretty and did not afford the beautiful presentation NOR the fishmongers yield. BUT – after nearly two hours – I now have eleven (we baked two whole last night) cod all cleaned and ready! They still would not fly in any master cooking show – of which we have been watching a lot because TLC is one of the few channels in English here in Copenhagen, but they will be utilized in a myriad of ways.
Here is last night’s attempt at baked whole cod:
Rubbed with olive oil, S&P inside and out, placed with sliced lemons and rosemary sprigs into oven at 200C til separated easily from skin. Not family’s favorite application, and I see that the bones were an issue, but easy and quick whilst still slightly wobbling from Baltic boat tour.
This was deliciously easy and quick lunch fashioned today – which I can highly recommend:
Creatively using freshly caught cod for lunch
Steamed filets with S&P and dusting of ground ginger, served over baby spinach and refrigerator pickled red onions and a little bit of olive oil on top. So delicious. Fish and chips to come for littles tonight. Will let you know how it goes! Feel free to share ideas on how you are creating your new year. Skål!
