Copenhagen

Copenhagen 

When I landed in Copenhagen I went through the fastest customs line ive ever seen. No questions asked, no explanations needed, just show your passport, get your stamp, and continue. In contrast though the baggage claim took a full hour. The flight attendant luggage came out almost immediately and then there was a huge wait before the next leg of luggage-- the carriages. Finally eventually the bags came.

Bruno was waiting for me where the humans get spit out after they finish picking up their shit. Thank god. I realized I had no idea how I was gonna get to my hostel, so his help was greatly appreciated. I took out my first batch of weird Denmark dollars and then bought a metro ticket. The metro was kind of interesting. Easy ride and clean. We went through a cool tunnel. 

Once we made it to my hostel, hotel Jorgensen, I dropped off my bag and prepared to go for the day. They made me pay for linen for my bed which I thought was weird and annoying. It was about 6usd. As expected, I didn't even use it. Gross maybe but whatever. 

We wandered to find a rental bike shop and I got this cool black cruiser for the day. The rental process was super lax. 'Twas about $20 for the bike until the next morning. Everyone in Copenhagen seems to ride a bike. There are bike lanes everywhere. It's pretty cool and way less intensive than nyc biking. Most people are on cruisers. The locks are super cool too. Apparently bike theft isn't such a big worry because most bikes just have a weird contraption stuck on the back by the seat post that, when locked, sends a pin through the back wheel making it immobile. Then you just unlock the pin and ride. So convenient. 

We biked to Rosenberg slot which was super eerie from the grey day we had. The weather complemented the medieval feel of the area. Next stop was nyavn. That's like the quintessential photo you see of Copenhagen with colorful buildings by a canal. Pretty cool. I did an awkward back and forth bike ride trying to get gopro footage of the building. 

Our next journey was to see the little mermaid. When I first got to my hostel the man at the front desk circled a few spots on the local map to give me suggestions of where to go. He asked where I was from and I said usa. Then, because of that. He described the little mermaid as a tiny version of he Statue of Liberty and told me to go to Christiania first, smoke some of their legal herbs, and then go to see the mermaid so she seems just as impressive. The little mermaid statue was kind of hard to find, but once we found here after biking through a very blustery, and now (at 430) fully dark, evening. She's way closer to the shore than I had expected and it was cool to snap a shot of this silly statue. 

Copenhagen is such a small city. Twas easy to check off sites. 

After I was satisfied with the crappy photos I took we journeyed (that is a weirdly spelt word. I went back and forth a few times trying to convince my phone that 'journied ' was actually the right spelling) to the free city of Christiania. A wee commune only a few kilometers away from the center of Copenhagen, Christiania was a big draw for me to come visit. It's a hippie town that is free from Denmark and lives by its own rules. It was dope. 

Unfortunately you cannot take photos in Christiania (for legality purposes) but it was a really cool time and started our nights off with multiple beers and similar treats. 

As the coldness seemed to be getting more aggressive, heading back to Copenhagen was the move. I was reading about this bar/brewer called mikkeller and was stoked to make it to their Copenhagen location (first location). It was so crowded and small and the beers were really interesting. As the boozy cunts we are, Bruno and I each got one of two different 21% stouts. Mine had hints of grand marnier. Sooo good and such cool glasses. 

With around two hours left before Bruno was set to take a bus for some weekend travels, we went to park my bike and wander around the area my hostel was located. A food mish landed us in some falafel shop. Adequate, not amazing. Their spicy sauce was in a funny communal bowl, and they had some more of the tuborg Christmas beer that I had tried earlier, so we drank on. There aren't open container laws in Copenhagen so beers in hand, we wandered looking for a little night life to close out with. We found a Christmas market that by night was just a small bar with interesting drinks. We got hot chocolates with amaretto and rum, and whipped cream on top. 

By then it was time to make moves so we picked up Bruno's bag from my hostel and I walked with him to his bus. I retreated back to my hostel to finally catch up on some sleep. 

I planned on waking up early, but totally forgot to grab earplugs from my bag before locking my shit in the downstairs lockers and getting into my top bunk. I was up for a while Erik the noises of humans in the room, re woken up at nearly 5am from people coming back from going out. When I did go back to bed I opted to sleep in until 920 and then return my bike, check out and head to the airport. It was a bit rainy but an overall great adventure in Copenhagen. 

Also, speaking of my ear plugs being down stairs, the locers were also so weird. it was like build your own locker kinda with this big panel you stuck into the hole to make a door. so ghetto haha

A word on Danish currency: the DKK is roughly worth 1/5 of the USD so I usually just divided by half to estimate price. Also, everything was super expensive. I spent way too much money in just one day of existence. 

A word on Danish personality: they were alright. Not the friendliest people I've ever met. People weren't too keen on engaging in conversation and there were a few times where I said 'excuse me' hoping to ask someone a question to only get ignored. No one seemed interested in going out of their way to help at all and their solutions seemed lazy. Also, I found that when waiting in line, Danish people would often come next to me instead of behind me and make attempts at cutting. 

A word on Danish fashion: all these white-blonde fit humans. The man bun was the first thing I noticed to be a trend. Pyjama-like cotton pants that closed in tight around the ankles were popular under a long sweater or shirt. Pants that ended about an inch above the top part of a boot were also a thing. Night time for girls meant black sheer tights under whatever dress. Everyone looked pretty put together and very obviously European though, as an overall.