July 8
After arriving in Copenhagen, we left the train station and decided to wander the streets for a little. We passed Tivoli, the oldest amusement park in the world, and walked to the Stroget, supposedly the longest pedestrian shopping street also in the world. It's a great location...resturants and stores everywhere! Although they were all pretty upscale....don't expect to 
make some bargain buys. One of my guide books had recommended a small, cheap place right off the Stroget, so we headed towards Domhusets Smorresbrod and found it on a small side street. Smorresbrod sandwiches are a Danish staple and an unmissable treat! Smorresbrods are basically open faced sandwiches and can have different ingriedients...I bought two (they are not that large): one potato and one fried fish. Very tasty! And extremely cheap...by far the cheapest food I've gotten in Denmark....each sandwich was about 13 kroner. After eating, we decided it would be best if we found a hostel/hotel. We saw a tourist information center and found out where all the good hostels are. With our maps in hand, we headed towards DanHostel, reportedly the largest hostel in Europe. And we did get a room! But just for one night....there are 15 stories in this hostel and it was a perfect location, very close to Tivoli. However, we didn't have a hostelling card so it was more expensive for us...get one if you plan on hitting many hostels. Still cheap, it came out to be about 275 kroner (with sheets). It was a room for 6, with two sets of bunk beds. It was an exciting experience for us, being our first hostel and all. We did not meet our traveling mates until later that night...how sweet they were!
make some bargain buys. One of my guide books had recommended a small, cheap place right off the Stroget, so we headed towards Domhusets Smorresbrod and found it on a small side street. Smorresbrod sandwiches are a Danish staple and an unmissable treat! Smorresbrods are basically open faced sandwiches and can have different ingriedients...I bought two (they are not that large): one potato and one fried fish. Very tasty! And extremely cheap...by far the cheapest food I've gotten in Denmark....each sandwich was about 13 kroner. After eating, we decided it would be best if we found a hostel/hotel. We saw a tourist information center and found out where all the good hostels are. With our maps in hand, we headed towards DanHostel, reportedly the largest hostel in Europe. And we did get a room! But just for one night....there are 15 stories in this hostel and it was a perfect location, very close to Tivoli. However, we didn't have a hostelling card so it was more expensive for us...get one if you plan on hitting many hostels. Still cheap, it came out to be about 275 kroner (with sheets). It was a room for 6, with two sets of bunk beds. It was an exciting experience for us, being our first hostel and all. We did not meet our traveling mates until later that night...how sweet they were! After getting our room, we walked along the Inderhaven in search for Nyhavn. Unfortunately, Tuesday was a day filled with pooring rain and we would find ourselves seeking shelt
er underneath the bridges, with locals and tourists alike. When it calmed a bit, we continued on our way and finally arrived at the Nyhavn Canal (it's the third picture on the side...similar to Bryggen in Bergen). The canal connects Kongens Nytorv to the harbour and is basically now just a row of beautiful buildings which are now expensive restuarants. Then we walked to Stroget again to find a restuarant called RizRaz which specializes in Mediteranean food but is buffet style. It seemed to be a very popular place with the locals and my stomach was easily satisfied with couscous, falafel, and the like. It was about 80 kroner (with water) for each of us.
er underneath the bridges, with locals and tourists alike. When it calmed a bit, we continued on our way and finally arrived at the Nyhavn Canal (it's the third picture on the side...similar to Bryggen in Bergen). The canal connects Kongens Nytorv to the harbour and is basically now just a row of beautiful buildings which are now expensive restuarants. Then we walked to Stroget again to find a restuarant called RizRaz which specializes in Mediteranean food but is buffet style. It seemed to be a very popular place with the locals and my stomach was easily satisfied with couscous, falafel, and the like. It was about 80 kroner (with water) for each of us. As we were walking back in the direction of our hostel, we ran into the very people we had been trying to call! Nevertheless, we ended up going in separate ways....Momoko, Helena and I wanted to go to Tivo
li for the night because we were planning to go to Sweden on Thursday (today!). After dropping some things off at the room, we headed to Tivoli around 9 and stayed there for a couple of hours. The entrance fee was about 80 kroner BUT each ride would have costed about $10 each...so, unbelievably expensive. I was totally bummed...I wanted to do the rides but we weren't able to because of the costs. So instead we just walked around the park (which was smaller than I thought) and took pictures of the sites. Tivoli is very quaint and sweet...intimate and very pretty at times. It's the most popular tourist destination in Copenhagen but I don't think I would go again. Perhaps if it was cheaper.......
li for the night because we were planning to go to Sweden on Thursday (today!). After dropping some things off at the room, we headed to Tivoli around 9 and stayed there for a couple of hours. The entrance fee was about 80 kroner BUT each ride would have costed about $10 each...so, unbelievably expensive. I was totally bummed...I wanted to do the rides but we weren't able to because of the costs. So instead we just walked around the park (which was smaller than I thought) and took pictures of the sites. Tivoli is very quaint and sweet...intimate and very pretty at times. It's the most popular tourist destination in Copenhagen but I don't think I would go again. Perhaps if it was cheaper.......When we were done we headed back to the hostel and soon met the other people staying in our room. There was a mother daughter team traveling throughout Scandanavia...the mother was from Cologne, Germany but they had lived in Toronto for as long as the girl had been alive (she was 25ish?). We had some wonderful conversations with them but we were all pretty exhuasted. When I was getting into bed, our other roommate came and we didn't get to talk so much...I think she was from Canada....nice enough.....
July 9
I woke up quite early yesterday and went downstairs to use the internet. When I was done, the other girls were almost ready to leave. We checked out and decided to get a head start to our day by crossing the Langebro bridge and entering the neighborhood of Christianshavn, where Christiania is! For those
who are not familiar, Christiania is a self proclaimed free state/utopia that is basically separate from Copenhagen (even though its in the city). In the early 70s, a bunch of hippies took over the area, which used to be 19th century military barracks. I was happy to see the area in the morning, when the residents were starting their days themselves. We were only able to take pictures on the outskirts...there were signs in the best parts saying no photography was allowed. There was not many women living there...many older men and lots of dogs running loose (but they were clearly all cared for..they were just running around). It was pretty great...I had never seen anything like this, and I'm not really sure how to explain it. There were vendors selling various things and the colors were really great....lots of grafitti....it definitely wasn't a "clean" place...and taking the kids might not be the best thing. Not that they would be in any danger...but there were some questionable types. Still very cool!
who are not familiar, Christiania is a self proclaimed free state/utopia that is basically separate from Copenhagen (even though its in the city). In the early 70s, a bunch of hippies took over the area, which used to be 19th century military barracks. I was happy to see the area in the morning, when the residents were starting their days themselves. We were only able to take pictures on the outskirts...there were signs in the best parts saying no photography was allowed. There was not many women living there...many older men and lots of dogs running loose (but they were clearly all cared for..they were just running around). It was pretty great...I had never seen anything like this, and I'm not really sure how to explain it. There were vendors selling various things and the colors were really great....lots of grafitti....it definitely wasn't a "clean" place...and taking the kids might not be the best thing. Not that they would be in any danger...but there were some questionable types. Still very cool! After seeing Christiania, we walked to meet some friends outside of the NY Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum and then headed to the Cab Inn to make accomodations for last night. Afterwards, we went in search of a post office and then to find city bikes. Being unsuccesful, we spent the day hitting the following sites:
-Christia
nsborg
nsborg-Amalienborg
-Kastellet
-Little Mermaid
-King's Gardens
-Rosenborg Castle
-Denmark's National Gallery
Christiansborg, Amalienborg, and Rosenborg were all royal residences and we only were able to see the outside (I think some had tours?). If I remember correctly, Christiansborg is used for the Parliament now, and Rosenborg has a museum inside. Honestly, they were just sites to pass and take a couple pictures of...not very spectacular, but then again, I'm thinking of the palaces of Russia. The Little Mermaid was a long ways away and tourists were surrounding the poor statue. Truly, you can skip this. But the King's Gardens, next to Rosenborg, are lovely! The annual Jazz Festival has been going on during our stay and there seemed to be a concert going on while we were walking the park. So lovely! We wished we had a blanket and food for a picnic. Instead, we went to the Statens Museum for Kunst, or the National Gallery of Denmark (it was free on wednesday!). It was really great...there was so much I haven't seen....definitely go there!
After a full day, we were so very tired, and decided to stay in for the night...which was the best thing to do! We're about to head to the train station to go to Sweden...should be interesting!
Denmark pictures:
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