My Experience with Black Holes and Bright Memories in the Heart of Copenhagen

Part 3: An Upsetting Experience Afterwards that Nearly Ruined my First Day

This is Part 3 of my multi-part article series on Copenhagen when I visited there in August 2024. Click here to check out Part 1 and follow along thereafter.

An Advance Plan to Explore the Novelty of a Combination Laundromat and Restaurant in Copenhagen

When I began planning out my trip to Copenhagen, which also included brief side trips to Edinburgh, Newcastle, London, and Rochester prior to finally reaching Denmark, I did so with the intention to confine my luggage to a carry-on and a small backpack to minimize what I needed to bring with me. This is in keeping with my overall philosophy of “stress-free travel” as a major goal of mine to achieve. In so doing, however, I needed to plan out well in advance exactly when I would need to do laundry during my trip in order to have just enough clothing to be comfortable, while also reducing my overall travel weight to its bare minimum.

Since the nature of this goal would require me to set aside time for laundry while in Copenhagen, I made the effort to explore the available options at my disposal, their locations, times of operation, and their ease of accessibility with respect to the city’s public transit system. In so doing, I came across an unusual option that was very compelling in terms of its novelty, that being a combination laundromat and restaurant that had been in successful operation over the past several years.

By this, I’m referring to The Laundromat Café, located at 38 Ǻrhusgade, Copenhagen 2100 in the northeast part of the city. The basic premise of the concept is simple enough. Someone with a load of laundry can simply drop by the laundromat-restaurant to get it washed and dried over the course of an hour or two, while also enjoying a sit-down meal in a family-friendly social environment at the same time.

When I did some further investigation of this possibility also that included reading several on-line reviews, the feedback was mostly positive, particularly where it concerned the overall food quality and friendliness of its staff. At the same time, there were some warnings given by past customers indicating deep dissatisfaction with their own experiences, but on balance the reviews favoured the laundromat-restaurant concept.

As someone with a curious mind who likes to experience “outside-of-the-box” situations, the possibility of having a relaxing break from the stress of arriving to a new destination to enjoy a brunch and also get my laundry done was certainly very appealing to me. Therefore, in the interests of testing out the full range of this laundromat-restaurant’s services, I planned out my trip with the intention to get both tasks done, having also chosen not to eat breakfast in London beforehand in anticipation of sampling its cuisine to write about later. For what I was about to encounter later on, this proved to be a major mistake on multiple levels.

How is it Even Possible to Have a Bad Experience in Copenhagen?

Given that my arrival to Copenhagen from London on Sunday was very smooth and satisfying, it just seemed natural to expect this trend to continue on through to the rest of my first day in Denmark. After all, based on my past experiences in Sweden I didn’t expect anything less than perfection in this regard. Unfortunately, that was not to be for my first scheduled venue to experience after leaving the airport and reaching my metro destination.

Although I make a point of claiming that my overall experience at The Laundromat Café was a catastrophic failure from start to finish, the start of this disastrous experience began pleasantly enough. I took the metro from the airport to the Nordhavn stop in the northeastern sector of Copenhagen and then walked with my carry-on in tow for about 10-15 minutes westbound along a single street to reach the laundromat-restaurant. In so doing, I acquired a good snapshot impression of how a typical suburban Copenhagen setting would appear to a local resident living there.

A view from the main street roughly half-way between the Nordhavn metro stop and my intended first destination in Copenhagen. (August 25, 2024)

The Devil is Always in the Details!

To be fair, when I finally reached The Laundromat Café not long after opening hours, it was already packed with people, so it was very plain to see that it’s a popular venue for both locals and outsiders to enjoy a Sunday brunch. Therefore, I was clearly very excited about the possibility of enjoying a high-quality breakfast to justify the wait, especially since I purposely didn’t have anything to eat while I was in London for the morning of my flight.

Author’s Note: This multi-part series on Copenhagen continues with Part 4: My Enchanting First-Time Experience at Tivoli Gardens and How This Theme Park Inspired Walt Disney to Create Disneyland Several Decades Ago!