Day 5-10: Copenhagen
We arrived in Copenhagen late and were relieved to see our big Danish friend Niklas at the arrivals terminal with that ruggedly handsome smile of his, and more importantly, a pair of car keys. We had quick stops at McDonalds and a corner store to sample the delights of Danish chocolate and chocolate milk, noting the rise in prices after cheap Berlin.
Niklas' apartment was a great introduction to life in Europe. The apartment is designed for 1, and felt very cosy with 3 or 4, mostly because his shower is inside his bedroom.
We had some pancakes, reminiscing on old times before a long sleep.
With 5 days here in total, we'd made only vague plans to do a few touristy things and catch up with another friend Anders. This was lucky, as we woke up very late and didn't really get moving until heading out to check out the inner city and Niklas' dad's bar (Retro) and restaurant (Souls), both in the same building.
We ate some massive burgers at "Cows and Cocks" and prepared for our first of many nights out in the city.
It was a quiet night around, most of the locals must have still been hungover from new years. But we saw a good portion of the nightlife scene and still managed to drink enough to ruin our planned early wake up the next day. The big thing we noticed was that everybody smokes, and everybody smokes inside, so you come home stinking of smoke with sore eyes at the end of the night. You must get used to it.
The next day, we only made it out at 2pm, meeting up with Umar and Claire in the city who were in a hostel together.
Coppo had succumbed to a very sick stomach overnight and only lasted a pained half an hour, heading back to the apartment to sleep. "Poor bugger".
We followed a suggested tourist trail, walking over 8km in total between various churches, castles and other landmarks.
A statue of the little mermaid was one of our main goals, erected as a tribute to some Danish guy who wrote fairytales. It's mostly described by locals as something you have to see, but 'you won't enjoy it'. Too bloody right.
The city is tidy, well designed and features some amazing architecture. Everything is either modern, classic or a well executed mix of the two. Luckily for our legs it is also very flat, which is why the city has more bikes than people (560 thousand).
The various km's of walking malls through the city centre made it a delight for walking tourists like us, and we headed home late with sore legs satisfied with our sightseeing.
Coppo came back from the dead just in time for dinner at Niklas' dad's restaurant with Niklas, his friend Nicklas and girlfriend Ann-Sophie, her friend Caroline, and Maddo (who had just arrived). The food is a gourmet twist on Jamaican soul food and absolutely delicious.
Very full, it was straight downstairs for a night at Retro with the dinner crowd plus Umar, Claire and two questies from '11- yet another Niklas and Chris.
Needless to say we drank far too much, and once again had no chance of waking up early enough to get anything done the next day. Grand plans to sightsee, visit rooftop bars and be outside in general made way for a lazy day at the apartment, followed by watching Ann-Sophie's team play some European handball.
So in the end, all that could get us out of the house was scandinavian girls running around in short shorts. Go figure.
We visited the "green light district" Christiana after that, unfortunately very strict on photography but it was easy to see why, with hundreds of different types of weed laid out like a Sunday market stall. It's bizarre that it exists at all within a fairly strict city.
Despite our bodies' desperate pleas, it was Saturday night and we had to go out and make the most of it. It was another blooter of a night spent at nursing beers and being dominated by locals in foosball.
We'd made plans to get up at 9am and head across to Malmo, a neighbouring Swedish city. Can you guess what happened? For some reason our body clocks had rolled with 2pm again, but that was fine, as we made it across late enough to see the town under lights as the sun went down. It was pretty much a smaller Copenhagen, with lots of walking malls and mixed architecture.
One of the highlights was the park - a little bit sad to see it quite empty with the cold weather. It must be a lovely place in the warmer months, with flowers blooming and girls in summer dresses walking beau chiens under the sun.
We took some quick night snaps before headingback to Copenhagen for a well overdue quiet night, preparing for an early flight to Norway in the morning.
Another fantastic city, experienced (mostly at night) with the host and help of our quest friends. Yet another rise in price tags awaits us further north, but hopefully so does more fun and some snow as well!
We arrived in Copenhagen late and were relieved to see our big Danish friend Niklas at the arrivals terminal with that ruggedly handsome smile of his, and more importantly, a pair of car keys. We had quick stops at McDonalds and a corner store to sample the delights of Danish chocolate and chocolate milk, noting the rise in prices after cheap Berlin.
Niklas' apartment was a great introduction to life in Europe. The apartment is designed for 1, and felt very cosy with 3 or 4, mostly because his shower is inside his bedroom.
 |
| We didn't take a photo, but it's like this! |
We had some pancakes, reminiscing on old times before a long sleep.
With 5 days here in total, we'd made only vague plans to do a few touristy things and catch up with another friend Anders. This was lucky, as we woke up very late and didn't really get moving until heading out to check out the inner city and Niklas' dad's bar (Retro) and restaurant (Souls), both in the same building.
We ate some massive burgers at "Cows and Cocks" and prepared for our first of many nights out in the city.
It was a quiet night around, most of the locals must have still been hungover from new years. But we saw a good portion of the nightlife scene and still managed to drink enough to ruin our planned early wake up the next day. The big thing we noticed was that everybody smokes, and everybody smokes inside, so you come home stinking of smoke with sore eyes at the end of the night. You must get used to it.
The next day, we only made it out at 2pm, meeting up with Umar and Claire in the city who were in a hostel together.
 |
| Kill... me... |
We followed a suggested tourist trail, walking over 8km in total between various churches, castles and other landmarks.
A statue of the little mermaid was one of our main goals, erected as a tribute to some Danish guy who wrote fairytales. It's mostly described by locals as something you have to see, but 'you won't enjoy it'. Too bloody right.
 |
| "This sucks" |
The various km's of walking malls through the city centre made it a delight for walking tourists like us, and we headed home late with sore legs satisfied with our sightseeing.
Coppo came back from the dead just in time for dinner at Niklas' dad's restaurant with Niklas, his friend Nicklas and girlfriend Ann-Sophie, her friend Caroline, and Maddo (who had just arrived). The food is a gourmet twist on Jamaican soul food and absolutely delicious.
Very full, it was straight downstairs for a night at Retro with the dinner crowd plus Umar, Claire and two questies from '11- yet another Niklas and Chris.
Needless to say we drank far too much, and once again had no chance of waking up early enough to get anything done the next day. Grand plans to sightsee, visit rooftop bars and be outside in general made way for a lazy day at the apartment, followed by watching Ann-Sophie's team play some European handball.
 |
So in the end, all that could get us out of the house was scandinavian girls running around in short shorts. Go figure.
We visited the "green light district" Christiana after that, unfortunately very strict on photography but it was easy to see why, with hundreds of different types of weed laid out like a Sunday market stall. It's bizarre that it exists at all within a fairly strict city.
Despite our bodies' desperate pleas, it was Saturday night and we had to go out and make the most of it. It was another blooter of a night spent at nursing beers and being dominated by locals in foosball.
 |
| The only acceptable photo from the night |
We'd made plans to get up at 9am and head across to Malmo, a neighbouring Swedish city. Can you guess what happened? For some reason our body clocks had rolled with 2pm again, but that was fine, as we made it across late enough to see the town under lights as the sun went down. It was pretty much a smaller Copenhagen, with lots of walking malls and mixed architecture.
One of the highlights was the park - a little bit sad to see it quite empty with the cold weather. It must be a lovely place in the warmer months, with flowers blooming and girls in summer dresses walking beau chiens under the sun.
We took some quick night snaps before headingback to Copenhagen for a well overdue quiet night, preparing for an early flight to Norway in the morning.
Another fantastic city, experienced (mostly at night) with the host and help of our quest friends. Yet another rise in price tags awaits us further north, but hopefully so does more fun and some snow as well!
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