Copenhagen (Day 2)
First off, apologies for the chaotic writing in my last post. I was exhausted from lack of sleep, in a rush to complete it and I'm thrown off by this keyboard and its æ's and ø's and å's where real letters should be.
I've just been watching the soccer match on the telly here at the hostel. Don't have the energy for much more than that right now after my day in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen is a beautiful city, but the sun only came out at about 5pm here. I was originally thinking of taking the day to explore some of the countryside, because lots of things are apparently free in Copenhagen on Wednesdays, but they're just some minor museums, nothing I'm rushing to get to. So after a night of real sleep (Good sleep, too)I eat the hostel's buffet breakfast, which I peg at about $9,50 Canadian for some cheese and cold cuts to make sandwiches, some Orange Juice and some Muesli with yoghurt. I don't want too much of it (Cold cuts could be risky), so I set off to the city centre and I'm about to buy a 24 hour transit pass, when I decide that I don't really know where I'll be going yet, so I forgo the pass and start off by doing a walking tour that was in one of my guides, through the Strøget, which is basically a long pedestrian street full of trendy shops, restaurants, bakeries, fast food outlets, etc. Along the way I have a danish, which would have made a good breakfast by itself. Walking the length of the street I start to understand the city's construction much better, get an understanding of where things sit in relation to the center of the city.
In the tail end of the walk I arrive at Nyhavn, a harbour area that use to cater to sailors with brothels, dives and gambling dens, and now has one lonely strip club sitting among the high priced restaurants and cafes that have sprung up since the 80s. And the Sailors have been replaced by cruise ship passengers. So I see that DFDS (The same boat company that's taking me from Copenhagen to Oslo) is doing canal tours out of Nyhavn. Oh good, I think, I read about this in my guide. This is a way for me to see the city without all that walking around! I pay my 60 Kroner (about $11C) and get on the boat, open my guidebooks, and find out that another group called Netto gives the exact same tour for half the price! I turn my head, and sure enough, there's the Netto boat with the posted rate at half of what I paid! (Hey kids at home, here a fun drinking game. Each time Steven gets taken for a rube, everyone take a shot. And you're already one behind for the overpriced hostel breakfast, so have two) Still, the tour is interesting, the boat takes us out on the water to see the stunning new opera house, the Amalienborg palace where Queen Margarethe lives, the Little Mermaid statue (We can only see here back, but it's underwhelming and I'm not motivated to see what she looks like from shore)and the pretty, canal-lined Christianhavn Neighbourhood. It spits rain a bit, but it's actually no more than a mist. After that I have lunch at one of the brothel-turned restaurants in Nyhavn, Cap Horn, which Lonely planet recommends for its 69kr 3-smorrebrod sampler (Smorrebrod is an open-faced sandwich) It's delicious, but Lonely Planet has it wrong, the meal is 159kr. With my beer, it's over 200kr. (Time for another shot kids! Although I knew the real price and decide to stay, so it probably doesn't count)
After Lunch, I took my waitress' advice and checked out Rosenborg castle, which is a Danish Royal Museum, the Crown Jewels of Denmark are kept there, and it's a museum to Christian IV (It was his home). Some of the pieces are hilarious and speak volumes about Christian's ribald sense of humour. I was chatting with a middle-aged couple from California who are on a very similar route to my own, they had some good insights into the pieces, and were holding the same guidebook I was. Nice to meet them, but a bit scary. Are these the people I share common interests with? I decided to head to Christiania, a hippie-squatter community within Copenhagen which has created its own mini-culture and lifestyle, building ramshackle housing on an abandoned military base. On the way I stop into the city's Cinematheque, which is beautifully designed with a gourmet restaurant and wide open spaces for people to lounge, read magazines, and order up copies of videos they want to see. I know Toronto has one, I just don't remember it being this nice. They have a Roger Corman retrospctive on now, which is pretty cool. So I head back to the main circle at the end of Strøget, near Nyhavn, and catch the subway (Very modern, on the honor system, I bought a ticket out of respect) to Christianshavn, which is the suburb south of the Inderhavnen river. I enter Christiania, and the first thing I think about is the main drag in the series, "Deadwood". Everyone seems to be in the street, it's dirty, there's loud saloons left and right and a general lack of law and order. I get some trouble for trying to take a photo of a street sign (Some stoner thinks I'm trying to take his picture) I walk around to the river where I see the houses that have been built there from parts of other houses. Places have a kind of hobbit vibe, except not so green, since the land is poisoned from years as an army base. I'm not overly excited by it, so I grab a beer at Nemoland cafe, where young kids are watching the World cup match between Brazil and Ghana, like everyone else. On the way out I snack on a Shwarma pita and check out the high-end restaurant there, Spieseloppen (Too high priced). As I leave the Christiania sign says, "You are now entering the EU".
I actually walk into town, and while looking for a place to eat, I stumble across one of the city's many free bike racks. Copenhagen has a program where they offer free bikes to anyone who wants them, for a 20 kroner deposit. You put 20 kroner in the bike to release it from its chain, then you drive it around until you want your money back (Or the bike gets stolen for the 20kr, or it breaks, or both). The fact is all the bikes I find either don't work or are locked to other bikes. I walk a long way east before I give up, and on the way back to the hostel, I pass a Turkish buffet restaurant suggested by the guide (Only 69kr for dinner). But the coke I order is another 29kr! (Take another shot here). So I am watching the France-Spain game and chatting with some people (Not making any real connections though, everyone's talking about smoking up...), and crap, France wins! Oh well, I'll probably read a bit and head to bed.
I've just been watching the soccer match on the telly here at the hostel. Don't have the energy for much more than that right now after my day in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen is a beautiful city, but the sun only came out at about 5pm here. I was originally thinking of taking the day to explore some of the countryside, because lots of things are apparently free in Copenhagen on Wednesdays, but they're just some minor museums, nothing I'm rushing to get to. So after a night of real sleep (Good sleep, too)I eat the hostel's buffet breakfast, which I peg at about $9,50 Canadian for some cheese and cold cuts to make sandwiches, some Orange Juice and some Muesli with yoghurt. I don't want too much of it (Cold cuts could be risky), so I set off to the city centre and I'm about to buy a 24 hour transit pass, when I decide that I don't really know where I'll be going yet, so I forgo the pass and start off by doing a walking tour that was in one of my guides, through the Strøget, which is basically a long pedestrian street full of trendy shops, restaurants, bakeries, fast food outlets, etc. Along the way I have a danish, which would have made a good breakfast by itself. Walking the length of the street I start to understand the city's construction much better, get an understanding of where things sit in relation to the center of the city.
In the tail end of the walk I arrive at Nyhavn, a harbour area that use to cater to sailors with brothels, dives and gambling dens, and now has one lonely strip club sitting among the high priced restaurants and cafes that have sprung up since the 80s. And the Sailors have been replaced by cruise ship passengers. So I see that DFDS (The same boat company that's taking me from Copenhagen to Oslo) is doing canal tours out of Nyhavn. Oh good, I think, I read about this in my guide. This is a way for me to see the city without all that walking around! I pay my 60 Kroner (about $11C) and get on the boat, open my guidebooks, and find out that another group called Netto gives the exact same tour for half the price! I turn my head, and sure enough, there's the Netto boat with the posted rate at half of what I paid! (Hey kids at home, here a fun drinking game. Each time Steven gets taken for a rube, everyone take a shot. And you're already one behind for the overpriced hostel breakfast, so have two) Still, the tour is interesting, the boat takes us out on the water to see the stunning new opera house, the Amalienborg palace where Queen Margarethe lives, the Little Mermaid statue (We can only see here back, but it's underwhelming and I'm not motivated to see what she looks like from shore)and the pretty, canal-lined Christianhavn Neighbourhood. It spits rain a bit, but it's actually no more than a mist. After that I have lunch at one of the brothel-turned restaurants in Nyhavn, Cap Horn, which Lonely planet recommends for its 69kr 3-smorrebrod sampler (Smorrebrod is an open-faced sandwich) It's delicious, but Lonely Planet has it wrong, the meal is 159kr. With my beer, it's over 200kr. (Time for another shot kids! Although I knew the real price and decide to stay, so it probably doesn't count)
After Lunch, I took my waitress' advice and checked out Rosenborg castle, which is a Danish Royal Museum, the Crown Jewels of Denmark are kept there, and it's a museum to Christian IV (It was his home). Some of the pieces are hilarious and speak volumes about Christian's ribald sense of humour. I was chatting with a middle-aged couple from California who are on a very similar route to my own, they had some good insights into the pieces, and were holding the same guidebook I was. Nice to meet them, but a bit scary. Are these the people I share common interests with? I decided to head to Christiania, a hippie-squatter community within Copenhagen which has created its own mini-culture and lifestyle, building ramshackle housing on an abandoned military base. On the way I stop into the city's Cinematheque, which is beautifully designed with a gourmet restaurant and wide open spaces for people to lounge, read magazines, and order up copies of videos they want to see. I know Toronto has one, I just don't remember it being this nice. They have a Roger Corman retrospctive on now, which is pretty cool. So I head back to the main circle at the end of Strøget, near Nyhavn, and catch the subway (Very modern, on the honor system, I bought a ticket out of respect) to Christianshavn, which is the suburb south of the Inderhavnen river. I enter Christiania, and the first thing I think about is the main drag in the series, "Deadwood". Everyone seems to be in the street, it's dirty, there's loud saloons left and right and a general lack of law and order. I get some trouble for trying to take a photo of a street sign (Some stoner thinks I'm trying to take his picture) I walk around to the river where I see the houses that have been built there from parts of other houses. Places have a kind of hobbit vibe, except not so green, since the land is poisoned from years as an army base. I'm not overly excited by it, so I grab a beer at Nemoland cafe, where young kids are watching the World cup match between Brazil and Ghana, like everyone else. On the way out I snack on a Shwarma pita and check out the high-end restaurant there, Spieseloppen (Too high priced). As I leave the Christiania sign says, "You are now entering the EU".
I actually walk into town, and while looking for a place to eat, I stumble across one of the city's many free bike racks. Copenhagen has a program where they offer free bikes to anyone who wants them, for a 20 kroner deposit. You put 20 kroner in the bike to release it from its chain, then you drive it around until you want your money back (Or the bike gets stolen for the 20kr, or it breaks, or both). The fact is all the bikes I find either don't work or are locked to other bikes. I walk a long way east before I give up, and on the way back to the hostel, I pass a Turkish buffet restaurant suggested by the guide (Only 69kr for dinner). But the coke I order is another 29kr! (Take another shot here). So I am watching the France-Spain game and chatting with some people (Not making any real connections though, everyone's talking about smoking up...), and crap, France wins! Oh well, I'll probably read a bit and head to bed.
posted by Steven at 5:18 PM
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