2012 Europe Trip - Day 11: København

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Monday, August 13, 2012

2012 Europe Trip - Day 11: København

Travel journal entries from my trip to Europe from May 12-28, 2012. Maybe subscribe to the RSS feed.

Come Wednesday, it was time for some more travel. Before work, John dropped me off at the Luxembourg airport, where I caught a flight on a small SAS plane to Copenhagen. When I arrived at my hostel, it was still morning, so I dropped off my stuff and began to wander around town.

First stop was a canal tour by boat. It was a pretty relaxing and refreshing way to spend an hour and quickly see some of the big sights in the beautiful weather of Copenhagen. After that, I grabbed a traditional Danish hot dog, with "everything." Not quite a Chicago-style dog, but closer than most American hot dogs. Then it was time for wandering along Copenhagen's main pedestrianized shopping street, the Strøget. I don't know if I ever heard that word pronounced consistently, but it's not pronounced how you'd expect. My primary destination was the flagship Lego store. Lego was founded in Denmark, and the factory and original Legoland are there. Unfortunately, they're across the country from Copenhagen, and the entry fee for Legoland is pricey. Plus, I've heard it's mostly kid-focused. Too bad. Anyway, I managed to find myself a souvenir magnet from the store, so that was good. The store itself was impressive, too. An entire store of just Legos and some Lego apparel. They had a bunch of containers of different parts, and you could make your own assortment by the pound, kind of like at Jelly Belly stores. They also had a bunch of different Lego sculptures set up, of things around Copenhagen and the like. Definitely worth the visit.

For dinner, I acted like the locals and bought a "picnic" of Shawarma and took it down to Nyhavn to eat outside. Nyhavn ended up being one of my favorite places in town. It's kind of like Pike Place Market, in that it's a tourist attraction without being so touristy that locals stay away. It's a small canal built into the middle of town, lined with restaurants, cafés, and bars. There are also usually several musicians, and, when the weather is nice, lots of people like me sitting on the edge, having a picnic. Thanks to the weather during the week I was in Copenhagen, Nyhavn was usually very busy and full of life.

After dinner, I went back to the hostel for some quick planning, Internet, and resting, followed by drinks at the hostel bar. There was a group of teenagers from elsewhere in Denmark watching a soccer match between Copenhagen and another Danish team. Toward the end of the match, the bar started a 2 for 1 happy hour, and it wasn't long before I became a big fan of Carlsberg beer. Sitting at the bar, I met a few interesting people. First was a guy named Chris who normally worked on merchant ships based in Alaska. When he had time off, it usually came in big blocks like this, and he'd use it to travel. He had just spent a week or two in Helsinki for the world hockey championships. Later, there was a couple of film students from NYU. They had been studying in Prague and were making some side trips before heading back to the US. Interestingly, they said they had a rough time in Prague, partly because of some racism they experienced toward Asians. I never really had a problem when I was in Prague, but then again, I'm a white guy. A little after that point in the deep, Carlsberg-fueled discussion, it was time for me to hit the hay, so I went upstairs to my room for the night.

[Note: You can click on any of the photos below to zoom in.]