Day 63. Copenhagen today! I arrived in Copenhagen without a cloud in the sky (Thank you Mother Nature!). I got my Stockholm ticket all figured out and away I went. I got a free bus ride towards my hostel (which was great as my pack is gaining wait. Damn you new clothes and souvenirs for all my friends and family) and found my hostel without problems. I couldn’t check in yet so I settled down, stored my luggage, and sent some messages/worked on my blog. After about an hour or so I was off to a free walking tour to see the city and get my bearings. I only had about 15 minutes to get there, and it’s about a 20ish minute walk that I had never made before, but I walked back towards the city center and made it to the tour in no time at all. In fact, with time to spare (I walk pretty darn fast). The tour was only alright and I found my mind wandering quite a bit with all the information I was receiving. So many dates and names and history that for some reason I was not getting into (maybe because Copenhagen doesn’t have that huge historic vibe or feel to it that so many of the other destinations have had). Some of it was ok, but the best part was during the tour I made some friends! Emily, Zach, and Dallas from the States and Jon from New Zealand. The tour took us mainly through the old town and we didn’t really do a lot of walking, more start/stop and talk for forever. But at the end of the tour we passed these five trampolines in the ground… and you know me! I see trampolines in the ground and you know I am going to have to jump, haha. It was fun jumping between them (you really got a lot of momentum!) and seeing how high we could go. Copenhagen is also one of the only places I have seen with electric cars, and electric car charges at parking spots. So cool!! After the tour we went to a floating dock covered in sand and right next to a really cool bar. We relaxed in the sun and enjoyed each other’s company before we decided to explore the alternative and different town of Christiania. Christiania is a suburb of Copenhagen, but they have their own laws, don’t pay taxes, and pretty much do what they want. They have three rules in Christiania. Have fun, Don’t run; it causes panic, and Don’t take pictures. The area itself is pretty run down, but it’s very much its own community and they just build wherever they like, however they like. I can see it being nice during the spring and summer months, but looking a little down trodden and slum-ish in the winter months. The green light district was cool to see, and it was a nice place to walk around. After Christiania we bought some snacks and took them to Kings Park for a picnic as the sun went down. When it started to get darker and colder than we would have liked we moved our get together to Jon’s nearby hostel bar, where we got a couple drinks and continued chatting and enjoying the evening. We walked Emily back to her hostel and then onto our hostel around midnight thirty where I finally got checked in and settled for the night. I am always so tired!
Day 64. Today I woke up early and got to Skype with Anthony. I had to check out of my hostel, as I am catching a train into Sweden today, but I took my time getting ready. The showers were a little sketchy, nothing too bad and it was in its own room, but they could have been cleaner and have an actual shower head. The showerhead was one where you had to hold it or it wouldn’t even go up to my waist, and I accidently sprayed my clothes in the process of showering… my bad. As I was showering I saw a spider on the wall in front of me and we had a little staring showdown as I didn’t really want to let it get out of my sight… but I needed to clean my face and such. I won in the end and finished my shower. After getting ready, Zach, Dallas and I walked to the train station to store my stuff and then were off to explore Copenhagen. We walked to the castle in Kings Park which we didn’t even see or realize it was there yesterday because we were so tired from walking and just wanted to sit and eat our picnic. But we saw it today and it was very cool, very much a renaissance style castle. After the castle, Dallas wanted to take a nap in the sun in the park, so Zach and I walked to the little mermaid statue. I had been warned it was underwhelming… which was very true, but I wouldn’t have felt right about coming to Copenhagen and NOT seeing the statue. We walked all the way across town to the bay and through what we soon discovered to be some sort of soldier town. I was shirtless in my bright blue pants, my Lego necklace, backpack, sunglasses, and to top it all off I had just picked a flower and was in the process of smelling it when we crossed the entrance and were face to face with soldiers in line at attention… can you say out of place?? Haha, I felt ridiculous and could feel every single pair of eyes judging me. So I just walked fast since I knew they couldn’t turn their heads, haha. The little mermaid statue was just a small statue of a mermaid on a rock in the water, but still cool to see and it was a beautiful day so I didn’t mind walking out here at all. (Although I will say that I quite literally walked the entire length of Copenhagen three times today). On the way back to get Dallas we found some amazing Danish pastries (although since we are in Copenhagen, they are just called pastries, but I made sure they were typical Danish)! I said goodbye to Zach and Dallas and headed for the train station, I was just about there and thought I had better double check the time and get my ticket and such, so I pulled out my ticket and realized that I TRICKED MYSELF! Haha, I had told myself that I was leaving at 4pm so many times, and even remembered seeing 16:00 on my ticket, but I was really leaving at 16:30! I had told myself a half hour early so that I wouldn’t be rushed, lol. Oh me. Copenhagen is a very nice quaint smaller town that feels like it’s trying hard to be a bigger city (probably because of its once thriving ports). I enjoyed the small town feel and was happy about only choosing to stay for 2 days as I got to see everything I wanted and got a good feel for the city. It’s also a really great city for bikers, similar to Amsterdam, but doesn’t quite have the Amsterdam vibe of bikes EVERYWHERE. I waited at the station and enjoyed my pastries before I got on the train to SWEEEEDEN!! The train ride over the Baltic Sea was very nice, and I saw windmills in the water which was awesome. As we crossed into Sweden I was greeted by dense forests, fields and farmlands. I made it into the main Stockholm train station and was worried at how late it was getting that I would be finding my way around to where I was staying at night... but then I realized it doesn’t ever get dark in Stockholm during the summer, haha, so that works out nicely. I hadn’t heard back from Chris so I went to Mackers to use their free internet and check my messages. Hen set me up to stay at her friend Chris’s place here in Stockholm, but as he was busy tonight, he set me up to stay at his friend Josephs. So off to Josephs I went! He lived outside of town in the University district and it was a little bit of a challenge trying to figure out how to get there, and then find my way from the subway stop to his place, which was over a mile away, and I was a little nervous, but I made it there safe and just had to borrow a cell phone from the window of the ground floor of his building once I got there. I got in and slept on the couch in the common area, which reminded me of fraternity life it was so dirty, haha. But I was grateful to have a couch and Joseph was very nice and so welcoming. Goodnight Sweden!
