So I’m writing this now, a few days after my day trip because this has been the only time I’ve had to recap and post (due to internet issues). The best way to sum up my day in
Copenhagen is by just touching on the many things I did and letting pictures tell the rest of the story (I did a lot)! After a 10-hour overnight bus ride (which was not all that bad… I managed to wake up when we crossed the ocean/canal/whatever it is called right outside of Malmo, Sweden on a really cool bridge), I arrived in Copenhagen at 8:00 am, way before anything opened and we didn’t even arrive at Central Station… we arrived at some random street a few blocks away.
Fortunately, I was able to find my way to the station and had a slow breakfast there until things started to open. Around 9:00, I walked past City Hall (and saw the Hans Christian Anderson statue that is pretty popular there) and towards Stroget Street, the major shopping street through the city.
Since nothing was really open, I figured I would walk to the university area and check out a few sights that my guidebook said would be worthwhile. After turning down a side street, I ran into 2 guys from Australia who asked for directions (surprisingly, I knew where they were trying to go!) and we talked for a few minutes about how they were living in Britain but just kind of wandering around Europe for a bit. After that, I walked too far down the street and ended up at a park where I got to see some drunken people passed out on the grass. I turned around and went to a church that looked more like something you would see in the movie Gladiator (Roman columns, lots of details, etc.) and then made my way back to Stroget.
I passed a lot of stores and a couple of town squares. When I got to the biggest square, I decided since it was still early, I would hop on a boat tour through the canals to get an idea of where everything was in the city. I jumped on a boat at Nyhavn, a popular harbor and trendy restaurant area.
While waiting for the boat to depart, I was lucky enough to witness a drunk guy fall into the canal which was pretty funny (trust me, he wasn’t in danger and all his drunk friends were a little confused… later, when I walked by, they were still there probably sleeping off their hangovers).
We saw a ton of sites on the boat: the new opera house, The Royal Theater, some $2 million lofts on the water, old battleships, some old buildings that are known for things that I cannot remember, Amalienborg Palace, the little mermaid statue (made famous by the story from H.C. Anderson), a cool church with an external spiral staircase you can climb up, the Black Diamond (city library which was painted with little diamonds in the paint for it would reflect on the water and it would reflect back onto the building), the National Museum, the old stock exchange building, Christainsborg Palace, and the most well known home of H.C. Anderson. Once we got off (after an hour), I decided to visit most of those places on foot as well as some museums. The first thing I did was catch the changing of the guard at Amalienborg Palace. Aside from getting yelled at by a guard because I was sitting in the middle of where the changing was going to take place, it wasn’t that eventful because the queen was not in residence so it isn’t as exciting.
Then I walked up to the Danish Resistance Museum which was actually pretty good. It displayed a lot of information and items from the underground sabotage army that Denmark had during WWII.
Then I walked up a little further to the Little Mermaid and surprisingly got a picture with no one else in it (I think it is like the most over-taken photo in Denmark).
I walked back down along the harbor and went to the Danish Jewish Museum which was a huge letdown. The building is shaped like the word Mitzvah which is cool but there was very little information in the museum. I thought there would be a lot more on Denmark’s role in WWII and how the Jewish population increased then but it was mostly just a summary of what Judaism is. I was done in like 10 minutes.
After that, I walked to the National Museum and briefly looked around. I especially like the coin collection from like the past 500 years or so. After lying in the grass for awhile, I decided to head across the water to Christhavn, a trendy section of town. I went to the best bakery ever (Lagkagehuset) and got an incredible fruit tart and blueberry muffin.
Then I made my way over to a church where you can walk up the 400 stairs in the external staircase of the tower and see great views.
Unfortunately, the whole building was closed for construction and I didn’t get to climb it. I walked one block over and found the entrance to Christiania, which is a famous commune known as the free society within society.
To be honest, I was absolutely terrified walking through there and didn’t stay for long. Read more about it here: http://www.easyjetinflight.com/features/2004/aug/christiania.html It is a neat concept but I did not feel safe or like I belonged. After that, I didn’t have much else to do and it was approaching closing time for most things. Since I saw in my guidebook that the National Gallery was free (for the main exhibit), I headed that way on the metro (my feet hurt by this point and I didn’t feel like walking all the way there). I passed the Rosenborg Castle and Treasury but didn’t feel like paying the $10 entrance fee so I just took a few pictures from the road and kept on walking.
I walked into the National Gallery 20 minutes before it closed and everything was free.
I walked around pretty quickly, wasn’t that interested, and then went back out and down the street to the Botanic Gardens. After killing some time there, I headed back into the main part of town and sat in the square by City Hall for about 30 minutes to try to waste some more time. I got to witness a group of gypsies steal money from a guy (he knew it and chased them down) and try to con others (I had read about this happening and was just amazed to actually see it occur). Then I waited outside in the cold about 1.5 hours for the bus and headed back to Stockholm. I got in around 6:00 am and made it home around 7:00. I slept until 9:00 and then Brandy and I checked out, locked our bags in the lockers at Central Station and did a bit of shopping down the popular Drottinggatan street again. We ate lunch at a great place (free salad buffet and coffee included for like $15, which is good there) and then we headed to the harbor to take a tour of the archipelago. After sitting there for about 30 minutes (and after I enjoyed my marzipan and chocolate ice cream), we decided not to do the tour since we wouldn’t have long on the island and she had already done something similar the day before with everyone else while I was in Copenhagen. We did a bit more shopping and then picked our bags up, headed to the airport on the train, and got picked up by our hotel shuttle (we were staying close to the airport the last night). We had a nice dinner in the hotel and then crashed. Brandy got up early for a different flight and then I headed out around 8:00 for my 10:15 flight. Everything went well and I made my connection in Chicago (didn’t have much time though) but my bag didn’t make it. And as I write this at 5:30 am Wednesday morning (I didn’t sleep much due to the time change… I’m wide awake), I still don’t have my suitcase even though they told me it would be on the next flight out last night. So, we’ll see what happens today with it.
I hope you have enjoyed all my stories and adventures and don't forget to see the pictures at
http://picasaweb.google.com/JELeventhal Some of the folders have been updated (like the random pictures taken by others) and I know there are still a ton from the other girls that are great that I need to get!
No comments:
Post a Comment