The street name alone should have tipped me off to the wonderland magic that was about to spread before me in Tivoli Gardens. The amusement park in Copenhagen is located on H.C. Andersen Boulevard, as in THE Hans Christian Andersen, writer of "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," and so many other classics. Still, when I found the main entrance, paid the entrance fee (95 DKK), and started wandering the paths, I gasped in delight more times than a child in a room full of small, furry animals would.
Tivoli Gardens is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world (the first is Bakken, another park in Denmark), and one of the best I have seen.
The lanterns hanging along the main walkway initially make you feel as though you are entering Willy Wonka’s inner sanctum. Then you notice peacocks strutting through gardens behind a parade of children dressed as royal soldiers, and you think that maybe you're actually in Neverland. Around the next corner, when you find gondola rides in a little lake next to a roller coaster next to an H.C. Andersen ride that resembles “It’s a Small World,” you decide, “ah yes, it must be Disneyland.” It is not until you are seated inside a white- and pastel-colored cottage-style café eating Æbleskivers with soft ice cream that you finally accept it: you are in Denmark, a land that inspired fairy tales through its sense of magic.
The buildings in Tivoli Garden are absolutely inspired by the colors and architecture of the centuries-old homes lining the canals in Copenhagen. The pirate ship-turned-restaurant in Tivoli’s lake is almost as impressive as the sailboats and larger ships in the city’s actual harbors. The longer I spent in Copenhagen, the more I wanted to start writing my own fairy tales. As if the scenery wasn’t enough, the people were so kind, well dressed, and generally attractive that I was almost sad to come back France. And I live on the Riviera, so that's saying something.