Weekend in Copenhagen

Admittedly, once again, neither the inspiration nor the focus of this post is my week in the office, which can be easily summarized: planning Lars' upcoming trip to Egypt to check on a project there via attempting to contact potential people of interest and set up meetings (difficult in cultures less typically timely and orderly than the Danes); becoming more familiar both with my excellent coworkers and with the art of making an acceptable version of smørrebrød (previously discussed); and avoiding rain deluges by ducking into my favorite Italian pizzeria on the way home (favorite mainly because they smile and strike up conversations in broken English).


That said, on to Copenhagen.

For fear that I'd go crazy if I spent another day in Hillerød doing little but walking to and from work, with the occasional alteration to wander around the castle gardens or bike to the grocery store, I hopped a train late Saturday morning and spend the day exploring a bit of the city on my own.... admittedly, I think it did me good just to know I could do it- and without appealing to my map in the middle of it, which I considered real success when compared to floral-shirt-wearing,-faces-hidden-in-maps groups of tourists. Of course, my Danish phone was thieved within two minutes of getting into the central train station (and the woman disappeared too quickly for me to nab her), but I contacted Lars with my remaining American phone and he had the number blocked right away. ...So I continued on my merry way to the nearby National Museum, which, naturally, happened to be closed just for that day due to technical problems. ...So I took myself off to where the rest of Denmark's rejects go- Christianshavn and Christiania. 

For the sake of time, interest, etc, briefly put, Christiania is somewhat notorious (depends on who you're talking to) for being a commune of... well... marijuana smoking/selling hippies, if we're being terribly stereotypical- which many Danes likely will be when explaining Christiania. Do check this youtube video for more info, though, because it's a colorful and interesting story and place. Honestly, didn't wander all the way into the commune (next time!)- but I did wander through Christiansborg Slot, around the island of Christianshavn, around the Opera House, hop a boat taxi back to the main part of the city and Nyhavn, meet an Egyptian fellow while listening to a street musician, break for a mini lunch in Kongens Have (King's Garden) in front of the Rosenborg Castle, then was surprised to run into the Egyptian fellow once again as we'd stumbled upon Cope n' Waken, a wakeboard competition in the middle of the city. ...Spread that run-on sentence over a few hours, and it really was more relaxed and meandering than it might sound. Back to Hillerød in time for a late dinner, as I'm a typically poor college student/intern unwilling to sell my organs, as would be required to consistently eat out in Copenhagen.

Sunday/day 2 of Copenhagen adventures: more full and entertaining, but also more on-the-go... and more painful for my now-blistered feet. Met up with Casper (recall from the week at summer school) outside of the main train station, and talk about fantastic people-watching, especially as the station is directly across the street from Tivoli amusement park. In several hours of walking, we hit Copenhagen's main pedestrian shopping street, the Little Mermaid statue (not surprisingly, slightly overrated, and in the midst of tourist gropings), the Royal Library/"Black Diamond," Christianshavn, the Rundetaarn/Round Tower (and the view from this, one of the oldest buildings in the city and originally an observatory), past the Amalienborg Palace and the Kastellet fortress... oy, it makes me tired just listing the amount of walking we accomplished. Finished off the day with the successful discovery of an Indian restaurant for dinner and agreeing that a second meet up should be arranged before I leave the country.


Getting late here and must be at work in the morning, so my apologies for the less-than-embellished run through and what is about to be a somewhat speedy conclusion and throwing in of photos (do comment with any thoughts or questions). More soon, I'm sure, as I have plans to head towards Helsingør and Kronborg Castle (think Hamlet/Elsinore) tomorrow evening, and a friend from home is flying in on Saturday to spend a few days in the land of Kierkegaard before her return to the States.