Saturday, January 14, 2012

denmark, my solo summer trip

While i lived in the netherlands i had a couple weeks off in the summer. this seemed like a great time to explore europe. Denmark had always been one of my favorite countries and being part danish myself...i wanted to see where some of my family came from. I booked a plane ticket and hostel for 4 days in the city of copenhagen. This would be my first vacation traveling alone. I arrived in copenhagen pretty early so i had enough time to get to my hostel and spend the day in the city. I found it pretty convienient that there is a train leaving from the airport that takes you all over copenhagen. I boarded and headed to Nyhavn Canal, it was the one place i was dying to see.

nyhavn canal
unfortunately it was raining like i've never seen it rain before, when i left the metro station.  I didnt let this stop me and i walked the entire street next to the canal. It was such a great feeling to finally be in the place i had simply wished to see a few years ago. Finally that wish had become real and i was in denmark. The rain didnt let up so it seemed like a good time to find my hostel. After a bit of confusion and alittle help from a friendly woman working in a hat shop i found it.  Danhostel Downtown Copenhagen was a decent place, cant really expect much..it was extremely cheap and id be sharing a room with 10 other people possibly. I ended up sharing with 2 guys from israel, 2 german girls and 2 guys from texas. there were also 3 spanish people who came in around 2 am but they thankfully didnt stay long. I ended up having a chat with this guy from sweden who spent one night in my room. he was in copenhagen  picking up a stash of marijuana to take back to sweden. apparently its way easier to get your weed in denmark than sweden...or so he told me. Other than that i didnt really see much of my roommates  The two guys from texas were backpacking europe. They never knew where they were going next, theyd just check a map and basically say "hey lets go there"..and they went. The two german girls wouldnt talk to me, it might have been because i had a dutch soccer jersey hanging from my bed....but ill never know.

 dorm room  at the copenhagen downtown hostel
I didnt want to spend much time sitting in a dorm room anyway. after the rain stopped i went back into the city. I must have walked half of copenhagen. I promised myself one dinner out while i was there...it was all i could afford. there was a decent place right next door to the hostel so i ordered a sandwich and my first danish beer. The cafe was called Chili and although ive read some terrible reviews about the place and service ,i thought it was fine. the tuna sandwich wasnt anything special but it was reasonably priced. It had a bar atmosphere but it was far from a dive. Anyway i went back to the hostel to sleep. the weather sucked and tomorrow it was supposed to be better. I woke up early and went back into the city. I decided to take a canal tour. Its the best way to see the city. it cost me 70 krone. about 12 dollars u.s. I didnt feel that much of a tourist because most people on the tour were danish and many city locals themselves. it felt to me like a boat tour was something people did after meeting for lunch or something. it was a time to relax and chat or just enjoy the view.It got pretty crowded fast and we left the harbor. They really showed you a great deal of the tourist attractions as well as lesser known places that actually were interesting to see. i was lucky to catch the english tour so i heard all about the history of the city. it surprisingly wasnt too boring . the tour was maybe an hour and after that i tried finding a supermarket. i found an aldi and bought some bread and salami, i was basically broke.this is why i love aldi... it fits anyones budget. I returned to my room and laid in bed awhile. The next two days were good. i walked some nature trails in a park. all around me was city but there it was completely isolated. I went to the infamous free town or Christiania. its basically a hippie commune where artists went wild and you can get some good marijuana. The people living there tried making a political statement back in the 70's and try keeping their freedom from the rest of the city...country too ...til this day. just dont take pictures, they will take your camera.
building in christiania



the only downside to this place was all the police. ofcourse anyplace where drugs are served , the police are gonna want to know whats happening. it just seemed to ruin the atmosphere. I stayed there awhile anyway and walked around.  when i left, i really wanted to get some good fotos in copenhagen so i went back to nyhavn and started snapping. during the summer most people sit on the side of the canal and have a beer.  I wanted to do as the locals do so i also relaxed by the water. i was pretty tired by now. While my roommates were out drinking and clubbing.. i slept. didnt seem like a good idea to spent my night out partying alone in a city i barely knew, plus i was exhausted . the next morning i woke up knowing i had to catch a plane in 6 hours. I made a sandwich with my aldi salami and caught the metro. i had a few hours to kill and Amager Strand  was on my way to the airport. it was such a nice day that i couldnt waste it. so i laid on the beach for a few hours. the water was alittle cold but it was just cool to be there.... eventually i had to go catch my plane but i left copenhagen feeling really relaxed. I had a new sense of freedom as well.


4 comments:

  1. Interesting story, wasn't it hard to navigate around having not been there before? Sounds like you had a great time anyway! =)

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  2. I always wanted to go to Denmark.. And you really had me hooked here, good stuff.

    +1 follower

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  3. Denmark is such an awesome country!

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