After arriving early in the morning by plane to Copenhagen, Denmark, the three of us met up and checked into our hostel. The weather was significantly colder than in Prague, and it was actually snowing when we arrived! We started to the day at the Carlsberg factory museum, the largest and most famous Danish beer. They have the largest collection of unopened beer bottles in the world. At the end of the tour, we were entitled to two free beers, which we selected after deciding our personalized taste preferences from smelling samples. In order to avoid the terrible weather, we spent most of the day inside between the Carlsberg Brewery and seeing the latest installment of Harry Potter at a Copenhagen movie theatre. It was very interesting that we were able to just walk up and order tickets right before the show, seeing as that would never happen in the US.
Saturday, the weather was much better in Copenhagen, although it was still cold. So we spent the whole day seeing all the different tourist sights of the Danish capital. We began at Christiana, an anarchist commune within the city walls. This strange place is a free, self-governing territory based on 1970s flower-power type of principles, where weed and freedom run free. You can see by the picture that the residents consider themselves non-EU citizens.
We walked almost the entirety of the city, through historic and modern shopping districts. Pictured above is a typical Danish architecture sampling, from the Nyhaven canal area.
The Little Mermaid, written by Hans Christian Andersen, is one of the most famous works of Danish literature. This statue picture above is a tribute to the author and story. Strangely enough, we happened to arrive to see the statue on the very day it returned to Denmark after a year-long absence at the Danish exhibit at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. There were news crews and even a crane to lift her back into place, what a good luck!
Above is the world-renowned Tivoli Gardens, a more than 100-year old amusement park in the center of Copenhagen. It is known for its Christmas display, and we paid to enter just to see them without riding any of the rides. The displays were incredible, and it was nice to see Europe from a Christmas-time perspective.
Here are some fun observations of my experience in Denmark. It was great that English is spoken almost universally, so it was easy to maneuver in a otherwise difficult Germanic language of Danish. There are 7Elevens on every corner, a strange American chain to arrive in Europe. The city very much reminded me of Amsterdam, with the architecture and friendly people. Also, Copenhagen is one of the WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES. Meals ran $12 minimum for fast food, a Coca-Cola was at least $3 in a can, and we won't even talk about the cost of going out at night.
On our final day, Sunday, we took a short train ride to Sweden. Malmo, the 3rd largest city, is located just across the waterway from Denmark. It was cool to see a new country, use some Swedish currency, and experience what truly is the land of tall, beautiful, blonde people. We strolled around the city center, while grabbing lunch and coffee on a relaxing day.
Also, H&M is a Swedish chain originally!
We had such a great time in Scandinavia, and I managed not to spend TOO much money. Finals are coming up here in Prague, so I've been hard at work on my final papers (4) already. Next weekend, I will travel to Istanbul, Turkey, then back to PARIS the following weekend.
Last note, I just found out that I received a paid spring internship with the Department of the Interior in Washington. It's going to be tough to manage a busy schedule with that and classes next semester after being abroad for so long, but I am ready for the challenge. I'll czech in later!
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