I Love Denmark

I love love love....I will write denmark a love song!!! so you could tell that I had a great time in denmark. The ship docked in a neighboring town of Korsor, population size 20,000 with one movie theater, a few small shops, but wonderful people. In doing my planning, many of us were not aware of the distance between Korsor and Copenhagen that many people did not plan ahead for hotels, hostels, how to get there, etc...luckily I bought a rail pass for Denmark since it was the cheapest and was able to take advantage of the benefits for it. so here's a run down of my 4 days in Denmark.

Day 1 July 8th: Once we were allowed to disembark, Kat, Laura, and I headed out for Copenhagen. We walked 3km to the train station, it took us an hour and we stepped out into the central station which in many ways resembled Grand Central Station in NYC. Walking out, the initial image of the city brought me to a calming peace. After the anxiety of St. Petersburg, I was extremely thrilled to just know from the moment I stepped foot into Copenhagen that I would have a great time. We walked to drop our bags off at our hotel located in the city hall area. It was the palace hotel which was being transitioned to a Le Meredien hotel. It was a beautiful room, I got to take a nice bath and sleep in a bed with a down comforter...little things I miss from my daily routine. So we walked around, lots of canals and bridges. The buildings were a mix of old and new. You could see the history mixed with the future. Again you'll see these in my pictures. We walked into Christiania which is a micronation. It was a truly unique experience. You have a very free spirit community of individuals who were enclosed in their time and space and visitors of the area were transiting into their space and time. There was a point of entry and a point of departure, makes you think about how we live in such open space. We saw the sights, everyone was biking and happy. We were told that the Danish were the happiest people in the world and you truly saw this energy in everyone you interacted with. Lots of beautiful attractive people who didn't really care about how they looked. Again the media of the US has created and embedded these images of beauty that to others they just don't care about. The Copenhagen International Jazz Festival was taking place during this time as well, so there were over 500+ performances, it was so awesome to get some food or grab a beer (10 dollars a pint/very expensive) and just listen to great music. Laura and I ended up at a jazz restaurant and we met Mark a fashion photographer who had such a great look at life. "life without expectations and pressure other than what you want is the life worth living." I love that and wished we could do that in the US. Oh back to the environmental issues...wow is all I can say. Recycling bins throughout the streets, more bikes than cars, green space, they care and recognize they need to shrink the footprint. They are concerned about the US and our role and I'm sadden that we don't do more in the states!

Day 2 July 9th: Today was focused on sightseeing and shopping. I only had until 6pm since I was on duty and needed to return to the ship by 8pm. Ate at a chinese restaurant and was able to use my chinese to probe and ask. They had operated the restaurant for over 40 years, the decoration similar to the styles in China back in the 1940s. Over 3 generations of operation. Not only did they maintain their chinese language, they spoke Danish and English! such a multicultural place.

Day 3 July 10th: I went back to Copenhagen with a stop into Sweden going to Malmo. I'm tired of typing so i'll write about this in a little while!!!