charismatic megafauna since 1985

Kobenhavn (Copenhagen)

My destination after the night train. First things first, I reserved my train out to Berlin. After that, I wandered over to the tourist info building to grab a city map and find a hostel. I ended up at a place called “Sleep-in Heaven” (although I’m not sure how anyone would sleep in here). To be perfectly honest, I picked it out of all the other hostels because it had free Wifi. I’m such a nerd.

After I checked into the hostel, I wandered back into downtown Copenhagen. Unlike the other places I’ll be during this trip, I didn’t have copies from a Rick Steves’ book about where to go. That left me with 1.5 days and a map of the sights.

Stops: * Round tower (beautiful 360 degree view of Old Copenhagen) * City Hall (they had this weird thing in the square with thousands of small orange plastic people) * Danish National Museum (I learned about Danish history, from prehistory to the modern day, as well as a bit about children’s toys) * Ripley’s Believe it or Not! (interesting, but I left a bit disappointed because few of the things were real. Mostly they were replicas) * Christiania (old military base turned barely-tolerated hippie commune. Lots of amazing murals.) * Royal Library / Black Diamond (big library! what’s not to like!) * Stroget (“one of Europe’s longest shopping streets”) * Kongens Nytorv (“a majestic square surrounded by stately mansions.”) * the Royal Theatre * the Royal Danish Playhouse (big on royalty, I guess) * Opera House (very cool looking, kind of like a globe) * Amalienborg Palace (and guards, just like Buckingham Palace or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) * Marble Church (which was always closed last time I visited, but it’s pretty imposing from the inside) * Gefion Fountain (one of the gods driving some oxen through the water; the fountain sprays water out the back as if the chariot was actually moving through a river) * The Little Mermaid (classic Danish monument) * The Citadel (star-shaped fortress, still used as a military base) * The King’s Gardens (a giant park; like the Mall except it’s got trees and stuff on the inside instead of just grass)

just before the King’s Garden, my knee started tweaking out, so I took the bus back to the hostel. I had a bunch of kroner left (which are only good in Denmark :() so I bought a bunch of fruit/vegetables/cheese and am currently spending the rest on beer here at the hostel.

In the morning, I leave for Berlin. It’s a 7 hour ride, but at least i don’t have to change trains 5 times (like I will to get from Bacharach, on the Rhine river, to Munich). Like Jerry Springer used to say, “Take care of yourself, and each other.”