Copenhagen. Beautiful city. So freaking expensive.
Ryan and I flew to Copenhagen for a weekend in August. Generally, we have been trying to do driving trips while we have the rental car, but this was an exception for my friend, Suzie. Suzie is on a six month rotation with her company in Copenhagen. Her rotation ends at the end of September, so we had to seize the opportunity to visit her while she was still there. She picked us up at the subway stop near her house and was ready to play tour guide and host!
Guess who also decided to join us in Copenhagen? Our new nemesis, Rain.
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| Suzie, me, and about 50 other people huddled under a grove of trees for protection. Why not enjoy some Danish beers in the meantime, from 7-11 no less. |
Our first evening in Copenhagen had some big potential. We were invited by a group of university students dressed in western gear to join them for a public dance of some sort. This sounded wildly entertaining and fun to me. But alas, as the rain came down harder, they canceled the event and we were left to normal tourist activities such as eating fish and chips, drinking beer, and trying to stay warm. Two beers and two orders of fish and chips later, Ryan and I were already out $75. Ouch.
When the rain let up, we did some city walking and explored the grounds of a castle. At least with rain comes rainbows!
We ended the day with some good old fashioned drinking games in Suzie's living room with a deck of cards and a 6-pack of Tuborg tall boys.
Saturday, Suzie really showed us her city. We took a great canal boat tour, and got to see the MOST overrated European tourist attraction, The Little Mermaid.
As you can see, there is a throng of people crowded around the tiny statue perched on a rock. We could only really see the mermaid from the back, but it wasn't worth our time to make a separate trip out to the rock to see the front. Other sights from the boat included the library which reflected the water and sparkled like a diamond, which prompted our boat guide to play Rhianna's "Shine Bright Like a Diamond." Plus, we passed under some cool bridges!
After the boat tour ended, we began our own private walking tour of the city with Suzie as our guide. We literally walked 7.5 miles that day, and luckily were fueled by the most amazing bagel sandwich I've had in my life (which probably cost us $15 each). We explored this area of the city called Christiania, which transported me back to my Eugene hippy roots. It is essentially a commune, governed under different law than the rest of Copenhagen, where they freely sell marijuana in little tents. They don't allow pictures, but I snapped a few during our entrance into the neighborhood.
After our walking tour concluded, we grabbed a couple beers at a really cool Pike Place-esque fish market (only $8 each, deal!), and then we headed back to Suzie's apartment to rest our feet and decide on dinner plans, i.e., is there any place in this city to eat for under $25 per person. We ended up grabbing pizza and beer, which was the most reasonable price we'd found all trip, and watched SNL clips for hours (like this
gem).
The last stops of our trip included the Carlsberg brewery (Prague and Bavaria - you win) and grabbing $25 burgers. Despite the lightened load of our wallets and the excessive rainstorms, Copenhagen is a beautiful city and Suzie was the best of hosts and tour guides.
Until the next post!
xoxo
L & R
