Seeing the sights and hearing the sounds

• Dinovagabond's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Copenhagen

Trip Start Apr 21, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Apr 20, 2009 Next
Entry

  Copenhagen, Denmark
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The room in my hostel has been attacked by the Killer Snorer so I couldn't sleep and decided to write my second Copenhagen entry. Given that the use of Internet is free in my hostel, I should take advantage.

Day 2 was actually my first day of sightseeing. Copenhagen is a big city and it's easy to get around. There is no doubt that I will lose weight on this trip if today is any indication of the amount of walking I will be doing. I spent about 9 hrs checking out the sights. I won't bore you with the details but I went to the Frihedsmuseet which has interesting things about the history of the Danish Resistance against Nazi occupation; walked along Stroget which apparently has been branded as the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe (I can go home now that I have seen this); saw the statue of the Little Mermaid made famous by Denmark's Hans Christian Anderson; Amalienberg Palace which is where the Royal family lives; saw the changing of the guard at the palace which is interesting as I've never seen the changing of the guard in Ottawa; and finally checked out some of the trendier neighborhoods in Copenhagen

Copenhagen1

. Since my memory cards were in my lost luggage, I didn't go the the sights I really wanted to see. I'll save those for tomorrow so I could take pictures. Those sights are Christiana and the Carlsberg Brewery Tour. I don't know what it says about me that I am more excited about the Carlsberg Brewery Tour than the sights I saw today. Anyhow, it will be my 4th brewery tour and I've always enjoyed the previous ones. I still don't really know how they make beer.  My mind is normally on the tasting sessions at the end of the tour. Maybe this time I'll pay more attention.

By the way, you mayhave guessed by now that I received my backpack tonight from the airlines. That was good news.

What else? I did see a Danish protest in action. I was walking by city hall today and noticed hundreds of Danish women wearing the same T-shirt chanting in Danish. Not knowing what drew me to this protest, I observed it for a while and once I noticed there wasn't going to be anything more than your typical chanting, I took off. I never found out what they were protesting about.

Everyone bikes here. Young, old, girl, guy, rich, not so rich - everyone seems to bike

Copenhagen2

. You see men in their suits going to work and women in their design sunglasses, designer purses (and short skirts believe it or not) just strolling through the city on their bikes. It's really great. I guess that's why everyone here is so slim. It would be fantastic if our Canadian cities were like the Danish cities from that perspective.

I also noticed windmills in the city, those that were built to generate energy. Another thing we should also do  more of in Canada.

There is a huge cemetery right by my hostel. Apparently it is a place of interest on the tourist trail here. So I did check it out and the one thing I found interesting is that the locals use it as some kind of a park. People were sun tanning, reading and picnicking by the tombstones. I didn't think it was strange though as the city did a great job with the layout of the cemetery. It was really pleasant to walk through.

Another thing I noticed is that very few people jaywalk here. People respect the traffic lights. Coming from Montreal where everyone jaywalks, this takes time getting used to. I remember while doing my research that some European cities really frown upon jaywalking

Copenhagen3

. Not sure if Copenhagen is one of them but I decided to just be patient and wait for the Walking Man image on the traffic pole to turn green each time.

Another surprising thing is the amount of Shawarma places here. I thought Ottawa was the Shawarma capital (Shawarma places per capita) of the world but I think Copenhagen has it beat by a mile.

Besides seeing the sights, nothing more to report. There is the Killer Snorer though. You can hear everyone groaning last night with the endless snores. Because he sleeps right above me (he has the top bunk), I felt pressure from the room to poke the guy and say something since I was the closest. Not knowing if the guy was 100 lbs of skin and bones or 250 pounds of muscle, I decided to "accidentally" hit the bottom of his bunk bed while I was re-adjusting my sleeping position. It startled him for half a second but the snoring really never ended. I think my attempt was recognized by a few though.  So I decided to go to bed early tonight to see if I could get into a deep sleep before the Killer Snorer dozed off but he was actually already in bed before me. I tried sleeping for 1.5 hr and decided to give up and write this update instead. I did bond with the other people who were trying to sleep. We were joking about it and then our conversations changed to our travels

Copenhagen4

. My room is filled with people from New Zealand, Spain, Slovenia, Romania and Canada. All seem to be really nice. I was left quite impressed with the Slovenian. If they are all as nice as her, I will enjoy my time in Slovenia when I arrive there in July. When I told her that I was budgeting 10 days to see Slovenia, she was so surprised as though I could be the Minister of Tourism after my tour there is over. She said it would be more than enough time to see the best of Slovenia.

I think that's about it. I am enjoying Copenhagen. It really is a nice city. People are very friendly too. I saw on 60 Minutes months ago a segment where the Danes were selected the happiest people in the world. From what I have noticed so far, they can probably make the Friendly List as well.

I am going to see if the Killer Snorer has turned over. I guess I can't complain. This is "hostel" territory. Get it? :)

Dino

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Copenhagen5

Slideshow Print this entry Share Copenhagen hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry