Baguettes, Groceries, Club Sandwiches, Tivoli, Beds

We're back in Frankweiler and waiting for our flight time... Here's whats new:

We had a really early rise before taking the 5 am train to Hamburg with a dramatic sunrise as the rain moved in. From there we boarded our train to Copenhague which was soon stuffed onto a ferry and shipped to Denmark. That's where the first signs of cold appeared. It was freezing on that boat. We arrived in Copenhague and B-lined it to our accomodation across the water from the centre of town. Along the way we picked up 1500 Krones. We had a room with a bed and no standing space from more than any other room we had paid for up until that point (960 dkk). The roaring wind stole our "cup" which I had fashioned out of a water bottle back when we were in Greece. Our hearts sank as a car ran over it; amazing how attached we were to that piece of trash. We knew this would be an expensive leg of the trip but we had yet to figure out the magnitude of this. That evening the wind blew hard and the rain poured and the temperatures felt low enough for snow, so we decided to stay in and recover from our short night the evening before.

The next day we woke up and had our complimentary breakfast which was not bad. We then packed up and laid out a walking tour that would cover essentially ever sight in the city (free). We first headed for the hippy free state of Christiana. The buildings there as well as the people were very funky and unique but they don't allow pictures while in the town. One bar even claimed that over 1500 armed police raids had occured there since 2005. We found out that by claiming that an SUV was used for business and removing all but the front seats and putting yellow liscence plates you qualified for huge tax rebates. This rule was heavily abused. We then proceded to walk down the longest pedestrain road in europe Stroget. We had brought lots of groceries with us from germany but we needed some bread. Sadly staples like bread don't come cheap and a baguette in a backery cost us 30 dkk (6.5$). We saw more palaces, churches, gardens and statues along the way including the famous little mermaid. We purchased a small amount of groceries for diner and the next day: one loaf of bread, a pack of deli meats, a chunk of cheese, one spread (90 dkk). The weather was really chilly even with pants and jackets all morning and afternoon but cleared up just before diner.

It was at this point that I invented a new monetary system for Denmark that helped highlight the outrageousness of the prices. A days worth of groceries is worth about 3 bakery baguettes. A club sandwich in a restaurant with fries cost 1 baguette and a days worth of groceries. An entry pass for tivoli with unlimited rides cost about 2 club sandwiches. And accomodation for a night cost about two tivoli passes. We never bought club sandwiches but they were the best deal at most restaurants.

After a diner of sandwiches, our host, luckily, got us into Tivoli for free. We strolled around and looked at the sights and free music. Pretty, very small, it had it's charm but seemed much nicer when i was smaller. We decided to each pick one ride to go one but we soon narrowed it down to just one ride in total. The major rides cost 3 tickets, and one ticket is 20 dkk... Well we had gotten into Tivoli for free so the 25 dollar fee (or one club sandwich) for a roller coaster was somewhat justified. It was very fun. The light show on the lake failed that night so we went home slightly dissapointed but glad we didn't spend a penny to get in. It was after all what we came to Denmark for.

Not much to say about the next day. Woke up to sun, changed to cold and windy by the time we got out. The botanical garden was free and complete with Deadly Nighshade and Stinging Tree (which was claimed the lives of a man and a horse and many dogs); it was the highlight of Denmark along with Christiana. Tried to get to a beach, but it didnt really live up to expectations. We ended up sitting in a park watching the ducks and stretching out our groceries from the day before until our extremeties turned blue. Apparently July was beautiful...

We were more than happy to exchange our Krones back to Euros (A much better deal that using them there) and board a night train for Cologne. However that night train was nothing like the others; that cabin was full so there we no room for your legs, the seats didnt recline, and there was nothing to lean your head on if you sat in the middle (As I did). The train came to a halt in Hannover where our section of the train was to connect with another. I sat outside with music from 1 am until 4, until finally going downstairs to find out that train was over 4 hours late. We abandoned that train and A Great German ICE swept us away to Cologne at 5 am.

I know this post is very long. But this was the only this that didn't live up to it's expectation so far on this trip. That being said I wouldn't change a thing.