Alright. I spent three and a half days in Copenhagen/ Birkerød, even though I originally planned for only two days. The issue was that because I started planning this trip so late, flights weren’t as cheap as they can be. Additionally, this week was the start of summer vacation for the Danes, so most flights out of Copenhagen were a lot worse than normal. I needed to get to the Netherlands to see a friend and because I had a flight out of Amsterdam on the 30th. The only thing was, flights from Copenhagen to the Netherlands were over $200, which is much more than I was willing to spend, especially because sometimes you can get that flight for $35.

So I waited. And I waited. And I waited. And unsurprisingly, flight prices did not drop. I eventually had to give in and buy an $80 ticket for a 12 hour night bus. Gah. At least all of my indecisiveness allowed me to decide last-minute to stay an extra day with my second family. I think I really needed that.

That being said, I’m going to try to cover my entire Denmark stay in one post. Let’s see how long it is!

When I arrived from Naples, Sara picked me up from the airport with a welcome wave of both Danish and American flags. I love that.

She had a big day planned, and our first stop was a high school graduation party for her cousin.

You see, the Danes are cray. When they graduate high school, they had a tradition where each class (20-30 kids) load up into the back of this huge truck (pictured below) early in the morning. Then they spend the entire day (like seriously, well into the night) driving to each classmate’s house. At each house, they go in, eat, drink, and party with the fam for about ten minutes, and then pile back into the truck to continue to the next house. Insane!

This house was only the fifth or sixth stop, but the truck still ended up being over an hour late because of late stays at other houses. Whenever we heard the loud music, whistles, and screaming of a graduation truck, the little neighbor boys would run around the house screaming, “They’re coming now! They’re coming now!” in Danish. So cute. The boys were even styling each other’s hair and trying to figure out if they had on the best outfit for the occasion while we waited. Sara’s cousin also just had a super cool house! With some of my favorite books in Danish! 

Finally, the actual truck we were waiting for rolled up the street. The boys went crazy, and the graduates were probably equally as crazy. They all had whistles and duck-noise makers and danced all the way into the house.

I was pretty confused because one boy came in and hugged everyone (including me), so I figured this was the cousin. But it was actually just some random boy in the class. Hahaha.

The graduates ate some snacks, took some shots, and danced around a little more before piling back into the truck again. All in all, seems like a pretty cool tradition. Kind of wish we had something like this, but maybe a little less intense. It probably also wouldn’t be as fun since we would not be allowed to get drunk all day straight out of high school. Hahaha. Not sure how Danes have such a high tolerance! I would die!

After this, Sara and I decided to indulge in some authentic Swedish meatballs at IKEA. So great. She was also very impressed that I was able to order my ten meatballs in Danish. Ha! If there’s one thing I can do in Danish, it’s order food!

We pretty much crashed right when we got home. Can’t blame us. We’d had a very busy day of traveling, partying, and eating!

Sunday, we basically woke up and went straight to the airport to pick up my HP friend, Robert, who just so happens to live and work in Amsterdam now! I was pretty psyched to see this weirdo.

Unfortunately, it would seem I have terrible luck at surprising people at airports. The first time Sara and I picked up Jackson two years ago, we thought we had plenty of time while he waited for his bags, so we wandered off to Starbucks and he ended up surprising us from behind while we searched the random strangers for his face. Turns out he didn’t have any checked bags!

This time was a similar situation. I knew Robert did, in fact, have checked bags, so I saw that they were still being delivered and thought I had time to run to the lady’s room. There was a line though, and by the time I got back up to the arrivals area, Robert was among the other waiting people, looking very confused and searching for me. Ha! I suck.

Reunions and introductions ensued. And then we were off to seek out what Sara deemed some of the best ice cream ever, in an adorable little seaside town near the airport. ‘Twas delicious, indeed. I enjoyed my ice cream the only way you can in Denmark: in a cone topped with whipped cream and strawberry jam. Seriously. Try it.

We wandered the coastline for a bit and watched some half-naked lady in the middle of a really awkward photo shoot.

Then we wandered another coastal park…

And then Sara dropped Robert and me off in Copenhagen to do a little exploring. We were given only one request: please don’t climb the Round Tower. Sara wanted to climb it with us the next day.

So of course, shortly after we arrived in the city, we did what any two sensible command-following engineers would do and we climbed that the, gosh darnit.

Bahahaha. It was an accident, I swear. I just love the Round Tower so much, and after we had wandered a bit, we stumbled across it and I basically skipped inside. It wasn’t until we had purchased our tickets and started the ascent that I realized what we had done. Robert can’t be to blame, as he didn’t really know which tower it was that we were not supposed to climb, or which tower we were climbing, for that matter. It was all my fault. But I couldn’t help it! I just got so excited! I think that was probably my fifth or sixth time up that tower, and it never gets old. It’s one of my favorite places in all of Europe.

I felt bad. I admit it. But not bad enough to not climb yet another tower! This time it was the tower in Christiansborg Slot, and I had actually never done this one before! It was pretty fancy. Elevator and all, and it was free, too!

Always nice to get a different view of one of your favorite cities.

I felt on a roll after doing something I had never done before in Copenhagen, so I thought we would try out the national history museum I had never entered. It was free, anyway, so why not?

Well. Somehow. Someway. In the last year and a half, the museum started charging admission! And so did my other favorite place in Copenhagen, the Danish National Gallery! So upsetting! Free the art! Free the culture!

But nothing could be done. I decided the only way to cheer myself up would be to explore some more, and with my favorite pastry from Lagkagehuset, to boot…

Eat a street hotdog with the works…

And hit up my favorite store, Tiger.

I didn’t get the foam finger, but I did get some adorable tiny razors and some super cool ‘soap leaves,’ like those Listerine  (sp?) breathstrips from back in the day, but the strips are soap instead! So cool!

To top it all off, we did something I haven’t done in a long time and should start doing more often: WE WENT DANCING.

I love dancing in Copenhagen. Everybody is so good. And nice. And generally older and adorable. Plus I forced the DJ to dance with me, which is one of my dancing fetishes. Bahahahaha.

We also admired Copenhagen’s new metro plan. So cool. So circular.

All in all, definitely a successful day in Copenhagen, and a good first day in Denmark for Robert, wrapped up with a quick stop into Ørstedsparken.

Then sleep. Then Copenhagen round two! With Sara this time! Our first stop was Amalienborg, the Queen’s palace. We wanted to get there by noon to see the changing of the guards, but on our way there, we actually ran into the guards themselves just as they were beginning their daily parade of the streets.

We followed them all the way through Copenhagen and to Amalienborg, enjoying watching the many other tourists chase after them at every corner. Yet another thing I’ve never done before in Copenhagen! And a first for Sara, too!

Next, some wanderings.

To the opera house…

To my mom’s favorite fountain, featuring Sara…

To The Little Mermaid…

To a French hotdog snack with The Big Mermaid (my title)…

To Nyhavn! …

And then to get lunch on Paper Island, yet another new place for me. I was seriously impressed with all the ‘news’ I had this trip.

Paper Island is essentially a giant street food extravaganza inside an old shipping storage center type thing. Everything looked and smelled positively delicious. Like you can’t even imagine. Food from all over the world, and it was all as colorful and mouthwatering as can be. I had just finished that hotdog though, so I opted for some cheesecake. (:

After lunch, we hit up Christania, an alternative community right in the center of Copenhagen that used to be some sort of military base and was taken over by squatters in the seventies. Very hippy-ish I suppose, and Lukas Graham grew up here! The man himself!

We topped off the day with another first: I finally got to jump around on this set of trampolines that are just set into the walkway along the water. I never have been able to find them before! It was liberating. But it also kinda hurt my back. Bahahaha. I guess I’m getting old.

 

That night, we indulged in some strawberry cereal. A very strange concept, but surprisingly delicious, nonetheless. Just whole, fresh strawberries, milk, cream, and sugar. Yum.

I slept pretty well that night and had a very easy schedule planned for my last day in Denmark. Oh! Before I forget. My first night here was the shortest night of the year, and when I went to bed around midnight, it still wasn’t even close to dark out! Crazy!

Anyway, for my last morning, I woke up and had some of my delicious standard Danish breakfast: yogurt, muesli, and a whole fresh apple cut into it.

I lazed around for a while, and then Sara and I went for a lovely bike ride around the lake and through the neighboring fields.

Eventually, it came time to drag my feet and pack my things. I was super sad to leave my home in Birkerød, but as Sara pointed out, I seem to come back so often that it doesn’t seem that big of a deal to leave for a while.

I met up with Robert in Copenhagen for a last meal (burgers haha)…

And then I bid him farewell as I boarded my 12 hour bus that became 13, destination: Amsterdam.

Talk soon.

 

Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa