2012 Europe Trip - Day 14: Smørrebrød and a Hippie Commune

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Thursday, September 13, 2012

2012 Europe Trip - Day 14: Smørrebrød and a Hippie Commune

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

Saturday was a less-eventful, more relaxing day. That morning, I had to check out of my hostel. For the last two of my nights in Copenhagen, I'd be staying in sort of a B & B/guesthouse. I think splitting my accommodations into two places was partly a way of hedging my bets: if the hostel was too crowded or noisy or something, I'd be able to look forward to the B & B, and if the B & B was not an ideal situation, at least it would only be two nights. Also, trying both kinds of housing would be a learning experience. Looking back, switching in the middle added a lot of coordination work and general hassle, so I'm not sure I'd do it again. That said, I don't know if I'd say I regret it.

So anyway, I checked out of the hostel around 10 and walked over to the Strøget, where there was supposed to be some kind of parade for the "Copenhagen Carnival." What I found wasn't really a parade, but I suppose it was parade-esque. Maybe my timing was wrong. There were a few groups of drumlines, and lots of girls dressed up in outfits like you'd expect in Rio for Carneval. But nothing super-special.

After that, I was feeling a little sleep-deprived and "out of it." (10am is an early check-out when you're "on vacation.") I walked over to the royal gardens (basically a giant park) and emulated some others I saw who were sprawling out and sleeping/resting without looking too sketchy. It was a nice little power nap.

Next up was my only "fancy" Copenhagen meal. One of the most Danish meals is a lunch of smørrebrød. It's a series of open-faced sandwiches with a variety of ingredients. Luckily, the café I chose, Aamand's, had a pre-selected flight of them. I think the first was mackerel-based, followed by chicken-salad-based, then roast-pork-based. Of course, there were plenty of other fresh vegetables and ingredients as well. Along with a local Danish microbrew, it made for a delicious lunch. Quite a bit pricier than shawarma or hot dogs, though.

After lunch, it was time to switch hotels. I picked up my luggage at the hostel and lugged it over to Christianshavn, a different, quieter part of Copenhagen.

The "B & B" was not quite what I expected. Really, it was just a family who had an extra bedroom in their condo. Sort of like a much shorter version of studying abroad and having a host family. The place was nice, and the hosts, Thorkill and Donna, were very generous, but I knew I'd feel rude if I had any more 3:30am bedtimes. Maybe that was a good thing. In the end, though, it was a neat experience. I got a glimpse, however short, of some family life in Copenhagen. I wouldn't have had that with a hotel or hostel.

After I had settled in and rested a bit more, I set out for nearby Christiania. It's Copenhagen's own hippie commune. The people there consider themselves to live outside Denmark and outside the EU. In fact, there's a sign when you leave that says, "You are now entering the EU." The government has a pendulum-like back-and-forth relationship with Christiania, but they seem to be on OK terms right now. I didn't take many photos there, because they discourage it in certain areas, and I wanted to make sure I didn't accidentally photograph the wrong thing. Christiania is known for different things, and while I won't go into detail here, it's not too difficult to find the info on the web. It was a pretty peaceful place. There were several musicians playing at cafés and on street corners; it kind of reminded me of Austin for some reason. I enjoyed a Danish soft drink called Faxe Kondi while watching a band play some rock/blues/jazz-type music at an outdoor café, then had a chicken panini from a little bakery. (Chicken = "kylling" in Danish, which sounds more like "gooling.") After that, I was still not feeling very energetic, so I spent most of the rest of the evening back at the "B & B", relaxing and reading.

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