Living European with Dogs: Pier Picnics, Inspiration from Copenhagen

One of the most important things we learned from our recent trip was that it wasn't about needing  to travel far away, but finding ways to recreate our favorite aspects at home, and of course with our pooches. During our travels we were lucky enough to go to Copenhagen, a magical city of brightly painted buildings, modern design, elegant girls on bicycle outnumbering car traffic, and a classic amusement park from the 1800's located smack dab in the middle of the city. Is it a wonder Hans Christian Anderson made this his home?

 But then we realized one downfall: everything was insanely expensive. An ice-cream cone was $8, fifteen dollars for a drink at a bar, and $25 for a hamburger. While one guy at our hotel told us he rarely went out, we quickly learned how to do Copenhagen like a local. They would go to the store, grab a six-pack of beer, and sit along the pier. The pier would be packed with people hanging out and sitting along the sidewalk.

Every chance we had, I kept asking E if we could go back to sit by the water with the beautiful buildings, and I thought it would be the one thing I would miss. Until I realized Chicago has its own beautiful waterfront views:

With city skyline:

 We decided to hang out with the pooches along the waterfront having our own 'pier picnic'. It's not really legal to drink in the city parks, so we did keep it legal, and Scandinavian, with this sparkling pear drink from Ikea.

With 18 miles of lakefront path, there are plenty of opportunities for different views and bigger crowds.