Denmark, Ireland, US, go!

Copenhagen! Check!

Talk about a clean city! Copenhagen is sparkling—the canals were what really impressed me. You always hear about cities with canals being filthy (ahem Venice), with dirty water and smelly boat rides down oily, narrow waterways. But Copenhagen’s waterways were downright pristine—you could see clear to the seaweed growing in the bottom of them (thus proving they were healthy, and not sterile).

On Thursday I got into the city and rooted around the streets near my hostel. Some of you might already know that I got drunk on one Carlsberg while hanging out and perusing the free internet at my hostel :), but I sobered up and wandered into Assistens Kirrkegarde, which is a massive cemetery in the heart of the city. It’s treelined paths and little forresty nooks are very calming, and the Danes keep the funny habit of hanging out—even nude sunbathing—in their cemetaries, so it was definitely interesting to witness…though the likelihood of me joining in and going topless next to Hans Christen Anderson’s remains is slim to none.

Assistens Kirkegaard in the winter (limited, once again, to google image search photos)

On Friday my friend Shayna had arrived (sans luggage—all luggage gets lost at Munich airport. Remember that.) We bopped around the city and did some shopping, took a very touristy bus tour of the city. We saw, among other things, the Little Mermaid statue and the infamous hippie enclave Christiania, which were both underwhelming at best. Christiania is supposed to be this free-love compound established in an abandoned army barracks. It’s original intent was to house pot-smoking war protestors in a communal, vegan-diet and patchuli-incensed paradise, but today it’s little more than a piss-smelling disaster zone full of stray dogs and hemp-made clothing vendors.

Filthy, nonsocietal, stray-ridden wonderland.

But the rest of Copenhagen was beautiful. There are bicycles everywhere—you cannot fathom how many bike riders there are. Try, right now. Nope, you did not fathom it.

A bike parking lot for just one building.

Bikes on the move!

There are wide open squares with beautiful fountains, and 300-year old buildings with copper roofs and marble columnades. Shayna taught me how to identify triglyphs, medopes, friezes and pedaments (nice travelling with an archaeologist). Friday night we ate at an authentic Italian restaurant, which posed the challenge of translating a menu in Italian and Danish. I settled for the “pizza alla mozzerella og skinke”.

The rest of the weekend flew by. We visited Tivoli, the 160-year old “pleasure gardens” in the heart of the city. It’s awesome; an amusement park, hotels, restaurants, live shows, big bands, and even a pirate ship, which sent Shayna through the roof. We took a boat tour of the canals and the Baltic Sea. There are massive windmills in the harbour that power the whole city, and you can see Sweden from the coast. There’s also a 9km bridge (the Oresund) that connects the two countries which I travelled over to fly home.

Tivoli Gardens fountains

Oresund Bridge between Malmo and Copenhagen

The highlight of our trip—and I know Shayna would say the same—would definitely have to be coming within a hair’s breadth of being killed by Danish bicyclists. We were walking home late one night along what we thought to be the footpath. Oh how we were wrong. In the black dark of night we heard someone shout “WASH URT!” (LOL at the accent, btw) and a dozen bikes flew by out of nowhere, swerving around us. We dove off the bike path in time for the bikers to shout “BISHES!”, which Shayna swears didn’t happen but I know. I know I was called a “bish” in the streets of Copenhagen.

Good trip. And hey! This is my last post for a while, because tomorrow I FLY HOME TO MICHIGAN! I can’t wait! I’m so excited, and I’ve planned a very eurotrashy outfit for my plane ride, just for Evan to get a kick out of when he picks me up at the airport. I’m so happy I get to see everyone soon and share all these treats I’ve collected from all these fabulous cities, not to mention my hometown of dirty ol’ Dublin.

So hopefully I’ll see you soon! Otherwise check back in on Wed Aug 15^th for my return to IRE post!