All of this occurred, at least to me, over the course of Curt, Kelley and my weekend trip to Copenhagen. These are the types of trips that I think would be really fun to continue over the course of the semester, but this one specifically definitely took a physical toll. The first point by any standard was our 5:15 train departure. This lasted 10+ hours, and though it involved a lot of sleeping it still seemed like an eternity. Then. Then we saw the hostel. It was a bit sketchy, I guess, but it was cheap. Maybe a picture here:
I mean, it wasn't as bad as that picture makes it look. But it wasn't the Radisson. Or the Motel 6 for that matter. Nonetheless, that night we had kind of a lame moment where we realized that the one place we wanted to eat at more than any other place was the Hard Rock Cafe. I'm not exactly sure why; I guess maybe it's part missing that fantastic American culture and part missing burgers. Normally, I would absolutely scoff at the Hard Rock but this meal was one of the greatest things in my life. Sad. But I promise I won't start frequenting McDonald's or anything. The rest of that evening was taken up with exploring Copenhagen by the evening light. We caught our first glimpse of Tivoli, where we would spend the next night, and we got to see a guy pee right in front of City Hall. Somewhat of a strange night when I put it that way. We went back to the hostel relatively early that night to retire to our blanketless beds and my 10 kroner pillow. It had 36 beds, I think, and an atmosphere that could best be described by "graffiti". Once again, I'm exaggerating, but not much. The next day was the most walking without rest I've ever done in my life, and I've done a lot of walking in my life. We visited a botanical garden first thing in the morning. Well, first thing after delicious cheap chocolate croissants from a nearby bakery. I'm in a picture-like mood, so here's another:
Following this exhilirating expedition, we paid a visit to the palace which I know only as the fairy-tale palace. I'm guessing that's not Danish, and it didn't really look like it was from fairy tales at all, so I don't know what that was about. The King's Gardens surrounded this fairy taleish building, and they featured some pleasantly weird sculptures. Like this one:
Then it was back to the botanical garden to visit the inconveniently open from 10 AM Palm House. It was worth the wait, if for nothing else than to get out of the rain. It was somewhat wet outside, as the pictures don't accurately portray. I was kind of soaked. Then the hourlong walk to the Carlsberg Brewery. It was an hour long, and then we went and learned about beer making. Then we drank some for free. I feel that poetic language would be misused on such an experience. We then traveled something like 4 km to the northeast to visit the Marble Church, the royal residences, a huge epic fountain, and the Little Mermaid statue. These made good tourist stops, and the Queen was in so we were more or less in the presence of royalty. Times like this, it's kind of fun to just walk and experience the city. Of course I liked Copenhagen. I'm not picky after all, but the city felt different enough from Norway and the places I've visited in Europe that it was a way different experience for me. The easy way to put it is that it's the bridge culturally between Norway and Europe, but I get the feeling it's really it's own separate entity too. There were bikes EVERYWHERE, there was a great deal of water, and there was a great deal of history. Those are the first 3 things that popped out to me, but eclecticism was something that became apparent later. So many different kinds of restaurants and stores. This separates it from Norway in that it seemed to value consumerism or whatever. I can't really make a judgment based on one full day, but it was a lot of fun to be there. Oh, and the Little Mermaid statue was small. I think that's something that one returning from Copenhagen. So I said it. That night, as previously foreshadowed, we visited Tivoli where we yet again spent an exorbitant amount of money on dinner and enjoyed what was basically an amusement park. I say that it was an amusement park, but it was way classier than your Disneylands, Magic Mountains, Knott's Berry Farms etc. It was nicely lit, there were fancy restaurants everywhere,
and then there were rollercoasters. And crazy ones, too. We rode one rollercoaster that was definitely world-class. I'll just say I didn't expect that to be something I could say upon returning from Scandinavia, but I will.
Yay Tivoli! It even sounds fantastic. Much more so than Magic Mountain. Tivoli is much more magical. So that's it, except the 10 hr. train ride back, of course. P.S. please forgive the highlighting at the beginning of this entry. I don't know how it happened and I can't get rid of it.
I mean, it wasn't as bad as that picture makes it look. But it wasn't the Radisson. Or the Motel 6 for that matter. Nonetheless, that night we had kind of a lame moment where we realized that the one place we wanted to eat at more than any other place was the Hard Rock Cafe. I'm not exactly sure why; I guess maybe it's part missing that fantastic American culture and part missing burgers. Normally, I would absolutely scoff at the Hard Rock but this meal was one of the greatest things in my life. Sad. But I promise I won't start frequenting McDonald's or anything. The rest of that evening was taken up with exploring Copenhagen by the evening light. We caught our first glimpse of Tivoli, where we would spend the next night, and we got to see a guy pee right in front of City Hall. Somewhat of a strange night when I put it that way. We went back to the hostel relatively early that night to retire to our blanketless beds and my 10 kroner pillow. It had 36 beds, I think, and an atmosphere that could best be described by "graffiti". Once again, I'm exaggerating, but not much. The next day was the most walking without rest I've ever done in my life, and I've done a lot of walking in my life. We visited a botanical garden first thing in the morning. Well, first thing after delicious cheap chocolate croissants from a nearby bakery. I'm in a picture-like mood, so here's another:
Following this exhilirating expedition, we paid a visit to the palace which I know only as the fairy-tale palace. I'm guessing that's not Danish, and it didn't really look like it was from fairy tales at all, so I don't know what that was about. The King's Gardens surrounded this fairy taleish building, and they featured some pleasantly weird sculptures. Like this one:
Then it was back to the botanical garden to visit the inconveniently open from 10 AM Palm House. It was worth the wait, if for nothing else than to get out of the rain. It was somewhat wet outside, as the pictures don't accurately portray. I was kind of soaked. Then the hourlong walk to the Carlsberg Brewery. It was an hour long, and then we went and learned about beer making. Then we drank some for free. I feel that poetic language would be misused on such an experience. We then traveled something like 4 km to the northeast to visit the Marble Church, the royal residences, a huge epic fountain, and the Little Mermaid statue. These made good tourist stops, and the Queen was in so we were more or less in the presence of royalty. Times like this, it's kind of fun to just walk and experience the city. Of course I liked Copenhagen. I'm not picky after all, but the city felt different enough from Norway and the places I've visited in Europe that it was a way different experience for me. The easy way to put it is that it's the bridge culturally between Norway and Europe, but I get the feeling it's really it's own separate entity too. There were bikes EVERYWHERE, there was a great deal of water, and there was a great deal of history. Those are the first 3 things that popped out to me, but eclecticism was something that became apparent later. So many different kinds of restaurants and stores. This separates it from Norway in that it seemed to value consumerism or whatever. I can't really make a judgment based on one full day, but it was a lot of fun to be there. Oh, and the Little Mermaid statue was small. I think that's something that one returning from Copenhagen. So I said it. That night, as previously foreshadowed, we visited Tivoli where we yet again spent an exorbitant amount of money on dinner and enjoyed what was basically an amusement park. I say that it was an amusement park, but it was way classier than your Disneylands, Magic Mountains, Knott's Berry Farms etc. It was nicely lit, there were fancy restaurants everywhere,
and then there were rollercoasters. And crazy ones, too. We rode one rollercoaster that was definitely world-class. I'll just say I didn't expect that to be something I could say upon returning from Scandinavia, but I will.
Yay Tivoli! It even sounds fantastic. Much more so than Magic Mountain. Tivoli is much more magical. So that's it, except the 10 hr. train ride back, of course. P.S. please forgive the highlighting at the beginning of this entry. I don't know how it happened and I can't get rid of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment