During our Viking Sun cruise to Scandinavia last month, we spent a sun-splashed morning and afternoon in Copenhagen, Denmark. (See Cruiseable's travel guide to Copenhagen.)

We wound up sightseeing in the popular Nyhavn neighborhood, site of all those iconic photos of colorful buildings strung along canal waterfronts. And while we originally planned to visit Tivoli Gardens, we decided instead to head across the bridge to Christianshavn, known for its hip cafe culture and canals lined with charming houseboats. 

If you find the wall-to-wall tourist frenzy of Nyhavn to be too much, you should know that you can find a much more restful, uncrowded side to Copenhagen within an easy walk. In Christianshavn we sat down with locals at a cafe and had a relaxing lunch.

The only downside to our visit was that I was pickpocketed for the first time in my life. It happened in Nyhavn, though I didn't notice it at the time — my wallet was in the front pocket of my shorts. While it was a pain to replace my driver's license and credit cards (and painless to replace my lost cruise keycard), it proved to be a good life lesson about securing your wallet in a safe place.