copenhagen

So now that Copenhagen is my new favorite city, Gothenburg will have to be my second favorite. Or perhaps they are tied. I will have to live in both cities now to come to an official decision.
One of the first things that Denis and I did in Copenhagen was to go have a picnic in a graveyard. Sweet. It was weird to sit down in the grass surounded by famous dead people (such as Hans Christian Anderson), but apparently that graveyard was a park equivalent in Copenhagen and there were a lot of people camping out and eating lunch. According to our guidebook, it was a destination for suntans, but it was very cold and windy, so suntans were foregone. Anyway, we stopped on the way in the falafel district for some falafels and hummus and pitas and fries. Not exactly normal picnic materials, but falafels beat coleslaw and hot dogs any day. Speaking of hot dogs, though, they were everywhere. Hot dog stands could be found on every single block and had weird combinations of stuff such as this one that we had with a pita wrap, mashed potatoes, 1 lone hot dog, coleslaw, and katchup. Actually, maybe that was in Stockholm. Either way, though, hot dogs were everywhere.
Copenhagen was beautiful. Like whoa. Not in like a cliche kind of way, but it was such a nice city. The city was centered around the city hall square (right), and we spent a lot of time there deciding which way to go in order to spend our day. Also near the city center was Tivoli (right), a huge amusement park, and home of the largest carousel (in the world? Idk. left). But it was really old and really tall. We were going to go on it, but Denis didn't want to (if you read this, Denis, I take back the last sentence and maintain that it was a joint decision). Also near the center was what I decided was the ugliest bulding in the world- the movie theater (left). But now that I have gotten used to it, I change my mind. Its very ugly, yes, and would never make it in Cary, but perhaps it is not the ugliest in the world. I think that gold domed thing in Cary might top that list.
The hostel that we stayed at, Sleep in Heaven, was really really cool. They played great music and the enviornment was really chill and laid back. Denis and I stayed in one night playing chess (I won... once.) and drinking maybe the best beer in the world- Carlsberg Special. Carlsberg is brewed in Copenhagen, but this special version was darker and really really good. I hope that I'll be able to find it somewhere, but definitely one of my favorites.
We spent the next day wandering around the city. The buildings in Copenhagen were really cool- especially all the different spires. We later took a river boat tour and learned what all the spires belonged to, but my favorite was this grayish white one that were intertwining dragons on top of a trade center (I think thats right? I can't remember. Maybe an old stock exchange building. Idk.). The palace in Copenhagen was really nice as well, but we decided to save some money and not go inside.


Instead, we took pictures of the outside and went to visit the Carlsberg brewery. Compared to the Guinness Brewery (actually I think it was technically the warehouse), the Carlsberg one was much prettier on the outside but the tour wasn't as good. It looked like a palace from the front, with huge white elephants guarding the entrance, but then once inside the tour was kind of stressed-artsy. Too much drama for what was pretty much just fermentation and bottle production. Still, though, it was cool to see how the history of Carlsberg came about, and it was definitely cool to try the beer at the end. Denis tried a fancy Tuborg (or did I? I can't remember), because Carlsberg owns Tuborg, along with like a million other ones as well. I tried a fancy Carlsberg, and then we both tried one more, this time kind of a fruity one for me and a wheat one for Denis. In all, I was glad that I went, but it was crazy to think that they made something as boring as yeast fermentation into a giant tour.
Next, we climbed up a tower. I don't really know which one it was, but it was a famous tower in Copenhagen, where we had a nice view from above. Perhaps I will wikipedia it and make this more informative, but I'd rather focus on the extremely creepy dolls that could be purchased at the top (see picture). I cannot imagine who might want one of these dolls, unless maybe one was to star in a new Chucky remake, but I think something about half bear/tiger, half awkwardly joyful baby is creepy.
The next day we took the river boat tour. I think I would definitely recommend a river boat tour wherever applicable. It was really nice to just sit on the boat in the fresh air, and have someone tell me what I was looking at (in 3 very fluent and impressive languages) as we passed by. We passed by the Little Mermaid, which was one of the most famous sights in Copenhagen. It was a bit of a walk from city center, so since we were running out of time, we decided to make do with the picutures we took from the boat. Apparently poor Little Mermaid has been decapitated before, so now her head is full of concrete in order to prevent future beheadings. After the tour, we walked to the opposite side of town, Christianhaven, home of the best bakery and very nice part of town, and also home of the free town of Christiania, which will be explained later. At the best bakery ever, we bought Danishes, due to the fact that we were in Denmark and what better place to enjoy Danish Danishes? They were super good, and so were the sandwiches we bought there as well.


Then, we headed to the free town of Christiania. There is no real way to explain it, honestly. Pictures were not allowed, in order to respect those living there, but it was like the most intense hippyville ever. We had past by the river side section of the town on the tour and I took a picture of one of their cars, and that's the only picture I have that represents it. Their symbol was 3 yellow dots on a red background, and it was pretty much a do-whatever-you-want town, with crazy graffitti and crazy stuff going on inside. Cops either weren't allowed in, or were afraid to go, but they were camped right outside the town in full attire, as if they were ready to excercise a SWAT team raid. Denis and I felt really out of place walking around inside, but we tried to blend in as much as we could (putting our tourist map and guidebooks back in our bag). I tried wikipedia-ing it, but I couldn't find it online.* Basically it is a town free of laws, to some extent, and used to be really out of control back in the day, but it has calmed down a lot since then (I can't imagine what it used to be like). We kind of peaced out of their quickly, and it was weird because the moment we walked out from underneath the town's wooden archway, it felt like we were back in civilization again. Crazzzy man.
When it was time to leave, I was a bit bummed because I really fell in love with the city. Denis decided to travel some more with me, and we decided to head to Hamburg, Germany. We got to the train with about 10 minutes to spare, so we decided it was more than enough time for D to go buy some smoothies for the ride. This was not a good idea, and I do not suggest this to anyone. When the train pulled up and with no Denis in sight, I may have experienced the most stressful 6 minutes of my life. He appeared just in time, though, and we literally jumped on the train a minute before it left the platform. Once we found our seats, I calmed back down and looked forward to what would be in store in Hamburg.

* Update. I was spelling it wrong, aparently. So, here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania
Crazy place. Then again, no good pictures are available because it appears that everyone else was as scared to take a picture as I was.**

**Turns out there are pictures. But there are no people in them so the whole sense of Christiania is missing, as crazy as it was, so keep this in mind.***
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/freetownchristiania/

***I've always wanted to do this astrick thing at the end of an essay or something. Sweet.