Copenhagen, Denmark (Part II)

Speaking about my studying abroad visitors in Prague in my last post, I can't forget about my turn as the visitor in Denmark. After visiting Scott in Copenhagen in February, I knew I was going to visit again. Not only did I have a ton of fun and loved the city, but I knew that just 3 days wasn't enough to get a true glimpse into Scott's "study abroad home." Although I felt like I had gotten the major sight seeing done, there was still a ton of things I was looking forward to doing in the warmer weather. My second weekend trip to Copenhagen was the second week of May--also known as the weekend before finals. I was a little stressed going into it because I had a ton of papers and finals that week, but it was a great decision. I would have been bummed if I missed out on a weekend trip to see Scott, and I got all my work done without too much stress. Anyway, what's the point of taking all your classes pass/fail if you don't fly to Denmark the weekend of finals?

Since I had a Czech final that morning, I had an evening flight and didn't arrive until a little after 7. The flight went by really quickly though because I sat next to some super friendly old Danish ladies who wanted to talk the whole time. Once Scott picked me up, we picked up some food at the grocery store, made dinner, and caught up on some TV shows/I attempted to get work done.

The next morning we ate breakfast, and then took the train to Scott's flag football game. He had two 1 hour games with an hour break in between. While he did his thing I watched and worked on my essay. It was a flashback to all the high school and Redland football games I watched over the past few years. The games took awhile, but it was the perfect Saturday activity because I also got to meet all of Scott's Danish team, and get 6 pages of my 12 page paper that was due Monday done (I had already written 4 earlier so it drastically reduced my stress). Seeing the games made me wish I had some activity like that where I could have become friends and hung out regularly with a group of Czechs. It also reinforced how happy I was to have volunteering once a week in Prague because that was the a great cultural experience.

After the game we grabbed some sandwiches at one of Scott's favorite lunch places and headed back to the apartment. I don't remember what was exactly in the sub, but it was stuffed with everything you could think of and was delicious. We relaxed before getting ready to head back out for the night to Tivoli.

Tivoli was the first amusement park in the world, and it was much different than I expected. It was beautiful with its lights, gardens, and vintage rides. In typical Danish fashion, it was very expensive (to go on one ride it was $15) but just walking around was fun on its own. There was live music and weird wooden circles we tried to master.

Eventually, we bought some tickets to play some of the carnival games. We played the archery game, and while my first two times left a lot to be desired, the third time was the charm. Since Scott and I split the 5 arrows, it was my turn when it came to the last arrow. The woman told us we needed this shot to hit the center of the target in order to get the prize. It was definitely one of my prouder and more surprising moments of the trip when I hit the bulls eye (just call me Katniss). That little move won me my new best friend/squirrel--which was promptly named Loki. After Tivoli, we stopped by a little bar by Scott's place for a beer, and just hung out. It was a super fun and a great date night.

On Sunday, we grabbed a pastry at the bakery I was obsessed with in February and ate them in the sun. Once we walked to the center, we decided to grab lunch at the Dublin Bar since it has burgers that Scott could not stop talking about. After hearing about it for the past two weeks, there was no way I was ordering anything else. I thought it was delicious, but Scott was convinced the first one he had was better. With food no longer on our mind, we started our final activities in Copenhagen. The last time I was there we went to the Church of our Savior, but the look out view was closed until spring. This time we climbed the rickety stairs in the tower to get to the balcony and climbed to the top of the spiral staircase. There were some great views and the church itself was really pretty. But the destination point at the top was just small stairs that ended abruptly and only had the railing as protection. It may have all been in my head but the stairs felt a little slippery, so I made a point to never let go of the wall or railing.

From the church you could see our next stop--Christiana. Christiana is a "no rules" community, and a place I heard was really fun to look around. Although we didn't partake in the usual activities there, it was entertaining looking at all the little stands selling everything from weed to jewelry lined on the street. There was also a huge lake with tons of walking paths so we walked around for a little bit before eventually heading back to Scott's place. It was getting late so I slowly packed up and headed to the airport to catch my flight. Once I was there I picked up one last Danish pastry for "dinner" and worked on some homework.

I am so happy that I made it to Copenhagen again in the spring. Spending one last trip in Europe with Scott was great, and it was nice to visit Copenhagen and "live" there for one weekend instead of spending 8 hours sight seeing in one day (which was great too). It was an amazing last, true "weekend trip" of my study abroad semester.

Copenhagen!

I'm having a hard time keeping up with the blog when I have a million other things to do, but seeing as how I'm leaving for Krakow at midnight I started to stress about how I haven't written a blog post about my Copenhagen trip. My Copenhagen trip was AMAZING. I wanted to put all the pictures onto this blog post, but had to refrain (Facebook got the full wrath of my camera frenzy). My trip started off with me taking public transportation to get to the plane, checking in, and finding my gate. The fact that I made it without any hiccups and completely by myself still shocks me now. I felt very adult and responsible. I ended up finding another CIEE student on the flight so we boarded together. The plane was the smallest plane I have ever flown on, and we were both a little shocked when we pulled up next to it.

 Scott picked me up from the airport, and we headed back to central Copenhagen. We spent the rest of Friday afternoon relaxing, catching up on TV shows, and getting dinner before getting ready to head out. We went to a bar called Billy's Booze in downtown Copenhagen. It was much more expensive than Prague (but a lot less smokey), and a cute guy bought me a drink ;).

 Saturday was our big sight seeing day. We started early and started our walk to the center of Copenhagen. Typically to get to central Copenhagen, you need to cross a bridge. But when we got there the bridge was all blocked off by the police and no one was allowed to come close (we found out later that it had to do with political protests). Since there was only one bridge to get over a huge lake, we weren't sure what to do until we saw a line of Czech people just walking across the frozen lake. Even though every instinct told me not to (thanks Mom, Dad, and June Lake), we decided to follow the Danes. I didn't even fall crossing it (but I did have a death grip on Scott).

We finally stopped by a famous bakery to grab some pastries (there were no Danishes--ends up they aren't actually from Denmark), and then to the student center to grab coffees. I had a Cappuccino which was delicious and pretty, and then immediately attacked the pastries. The middle one below was by far my favorite pastry. It tasted like a doughy roll with cinnamon inside, but the icing on the right "Snail" pastry was unbelievable. Seriously like heaven. After caffeine and sugar, Scott and I were ready to begin our city tour out in the cold.

 Our first real stop, not counting Scott pointing out all the buildings along the way, was at Rosenborg Castle. It was the summer castle of a Danish king, and apparently when he got too drunk in the city he would hide his keys to the castle in the Lion's mouth. We bought some tickets to visit the museum and it was such a good buy--there were so many cool exhibits and rooms, not to mention the floor filled with all the crown jewels. Technically we were supposed to pay to take picture, but we were very sly and got some good ones.

These army figures definitely reminded me of Johnny and James. There wasn't a plaque or description, but I assumed they were used for planning battles.

The very modest and humble throne room.

Again all the cross bows and rifles reminded me of Johnny and James. I feel like they would have enjoyed this part of the exhibit. 

Boat figure reminded me of Dad. This room was very nostalgic apparently.

Favorite part of the museum. 

We then walked a lot around the city. We saw a lot of the city, and went on a walk along a frozen river. It was really pretty but also really cold out at this point. I was regretting not bring long underwear and my fur headband, but I had my keep warm method working for me. You take a deep breath into your scarf and then bury your face into the warm part.

Our walk along the river ended up going a little longer than we expected because we kept expecting their to be a bridge to the other side. Once we got our map out, we realized that there was no way across. After staring at how close we were and how small the river was, we finally decided to cross the ice (and take some photos of us doing it). 

 On the other side we stopped by some cannons and windmills, and we're finally on the right path towards the ocean and little mermaid.

 I FINALLY SAW THE OCEAN. It felt like home if home was absolutely rigid cold and was so windy that no amount of scarf breathing could keep you warm (I'm aware of how weird that sounds). But we finally made it to the little mermaid which was pretty exciting since it was the only landmark I actually knew about before coming to Prague.

After we saw the little mermaid, we started circling back to where we started. On our way, we walked through the government district and saw the palace square. Down the street was a beautiful church called the Marble Church. It's dome was an amazing blue color and the inside was just as pretty. After we passed by the famous street in Copenhagen on the river--I can't remember it's name, but it was what I pictured when I heard Copenhagen and it was on all the postcards. We also walked past some sequin street art that changed colors while the wind blew them (sadly the photos don't do it justice) and fast walked through the shopping district in order to get a late lunch.

One of my favorite pictures from the trip. The colors and sailboats look very Danish.

Sequin Art in Copenhagen

For lunch we had decided to go to the Glass Market and get some authentic Danish food. The glass market is like a big farmer's market, but is indoors in a glass structure so it's warm. Apparently, elaborate, open faced sandwiches or Smørrebrød are really popular. We each got one and split them. They were actually pretty good, but I still like my hamburgers better:). Our 5 hour walk around the city finally ended by crossing the now open bridge.

The next morning we had a while before I had to head to the airport and had a few more places (and TV shows) on our to do list. Since it was freezing, Scott was nice enough to lend me his really warm hat--which I refused to take off until it was time to pack--and made me a delicious breakfast.

All the adorable boyfriendness was very fitting, since our first stop was on the other side of the city at the Copenhagen Love Lock Bridge. It was a long walk along the water to reach the bridge, but it was definitely entertaining: there was a group of Danes who were jumping in the water in bikinis or speedos... while we were shivering in our multiple layers. I'm convinced they were crazy (the portable sauna did not look convincing enough to jump in that water or much less wear a bathing suit only outside).

Part of my Christmas present included 2 locks, so once we were at the top of the bridge, I broke out one of them and locked it to the wire. Scott and I took turns throwing each key into the water. One bridge down and one to go!

Our last stop included the Church of our Savior. I saw this church on tripadvisor, and knew I wanted to see it. The gold on the spiral was really beautiful, and the inside of the church was gorgeous too. Sadly they had construction and the trip to the top wasn't open until March, but I really want to go back and see the amazing views of Copenhagen later. Finally, on the walk back we finished with taking a photo opp of the Parliament building and Old Stock Exchange building.

We ended up the rest of the day, spending more time in the shopping district and a tourist shop where I got my obligatory postcard. I tried on a few outfits and dragged Scott to a few stores for Sensation outfits, but didn't end up getting anything. We grabbed some Chinese take out and headed back to the dorm to start to get ready to pack. 

Things I noticed about Copenhagen: it's so expensive compared to Prague; their are bikes everywhere; much more diverse (surprisingly) with an Arabic community; the people are SO much friendlier than at Prague. It was really exciting to go on my first European trip outside of Prague, and it was one of my favorite weekends ever.