Copenhagen, Denmark August-2008

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After landing in Arhus airport and taking a short bus to the train station, I discovered yet again that what Ryan Air deems close proximity to a destination and what I think is close proximity vary greatly. However, my trip would definitely not have been the same without the 3 hour train journey from Arhus to the country's capital Copenhagen.

When I approached the ticket desk and asked for a one way journey to Copenhagen, a rather sour-faced woman shook her head and said, "The train is full." Having been on several train journeys in various countries before that had "fully booked" on my ticket and having to stand for part of my journey, I politely insisted that she sell me a single fare and reassured her that I didn't mind standing. As the train pulled in, I realized that "fully booked" in Denmark was much more literal than its other European counterparts.

Sitting on the stairs with another woman's dog for part of the journey, shuffling and moving this way and that to clear a path for departing passengers I eventually ended up in the baggage closet sitting on my small carry-on bracing other peoples bags to keep them from toppling over on me. The journey was more what I would have expected from trans-Asian travel than what I had experienced previously trans-European travel.
Thankfully, when we arrived in Copenhagen I easily found my hostel and decided to have a tasty beverage at the hostel before exploring the city with a former classmate. Hostels are amazing places that connect like-minded explorers but Hostels that serve beer are somehow even more amazing.
After one or two beers I set out exploring. My good friend Jonas, a Danish native who knew the city well, directed me to Nyhaven and fellow hosteler said I had to visit the "hippie island" of Christiana. When I reached the large anchor and colored buildings at Nyhaven I bought a tickets for a boat tour. Although I do like meandering and discovering things on my own, I find that organized tours are a god-send when your legs are tired but you still want to see the city and learn about its history.

The other great thing that tours do is help you become more familiar with the city and for those with no internal compass like me, that's an invaluable service. I also would not have known that the staircase to the gold spiral of Our Saviour's Church was closed or have ventured to the location of the Little Mermaid statue if it weren't for that tour.
There is only so much touring that one can do in a day so I saved the Carlsberg factory, Christiana and Elsinor Castle for the following days.
Honestly, I wasn't that excited about doing the Carlsberg Tour because having lived in Dublin and done the Guinness tour a few times, I figured if you'd seen one brewery you'd seen them all, but as my two fellow hostelers and I approached the factory we were greeted by large stone elephants and a surprising history of the famous Dutch brewing family after which the lager is named.

Apparently, one of the Carlsbergs was infatuated with Asian culture and decorated his factory with the religious symbol Sbastik or what we more commonly refer to as the Swastika. According to a plaque in the brewery, Carlsberg's use of the symbol pre-dated World War II and ceased when it became affiliated with Nazi Germany.
The Carlsberg factory tour also included a rather expansive collection of world beers. In that collection, there were a few bottles with nude female models on the labels; like a two birds, one stone answer to Jeff Foxworthy's request for a beer and to see something naked.
Christiana, on the other hand, was kind of disappointing. Although I loved the idea of the protesters-turned hippie island, the reality was much less appealing. There were "NO CAMERA" signs greeting tourists upon our arrival to the settlement and shortly after snapping my second shot, I decided that I would rather obey the signs than find out what the punishment was for ignoring them. In one of the make-shift bars the smell of marijuana wafted through the air didn't bother me, but the angry thug-looking men exhaling the smoke did. Unfortunately, the concept of lawless culture is appealing to more than those who believe in peace and free love. I could see the reason behind the Danish government's trying to re-claim the space as driven by more than pure economic gain.

On my final day in Copenhagen I took an organized bus tour to the castle Shakespeare's Hamlet supposedly hailed from. It was quite possibly the most impressive castle I've seen to date. And it was absolutely enormous, very grand and ornate.

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