København!

See you soon, Denmark!

I am ridiculously excited right now, because today Mike, Tim, Richard and I booked our bus tickets from Oslo to Copenhagen! We will depart on March 30th in the evening, enjoy a scenic drive through Sweden (or we would if it wasn't past sunset), and arrive in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the morning. I expect to sleep very well on the bus, and once we've checked into our hostel, I'll probably linger there just long enough to wash my face and look a little less like a travel-worn zombie before heading out into the city.

There are a few attractions I absolutely must visit while in Copenhagen:

• The National Museum
• Museum of the Danish Resistance
• Christiania, which Rick Steves terms "the hippie squatters' community." I really want to check it out just to see what kinds of "alternative lifestyles" feature here.

Half the joy I've derived from living in Oslo thus far has come from just wandering the streets with good company, portable food, and the promise of a beer at the pub in the evenings. It's crazy how much traveling can thoroughly wipe you out, but after a long day spent exploring fantastic sites in new places, I'm always in a great mood.

UiO essentially gives us two weeks' off for Easter holidays, which is fantastic, and once we've exhausted ourselves in Copenhagen for a week, I'd like to take advantage of the rest of our free time by exploring up and down Oslofjorden some more. My Eyewitness Travel Guide to Norway has an entire section devoted just to the area surrounding the fjord, so I figure we can probably choose a few of these places to visit as well. There is a major train route from Oslo to Halden, which is very far south along the fjord and close to the Swedish border. Halden has an old 17th-18th century fortress preserved in excellent condition in this city which lights up very brightly at night, but since it is so far away, I think we'd have to book lodging there overnight. I'm guessing it would be pricy, which means no more than likely. ): Anyway, those are my plans thus far, and even if we don't do much exploring of the fjord, I'll be glad to have gone to Copenhagen.

I forgot to mention that yesterday, in addition to watching Vålerenga's victory over Viking, I finally tried lakka! Tim, Mike and I ducked into the liquor shop at Ullevål stadion and I picked up a bottle of port, as well as the bottle of cloudberry liqueur you see pictured above. :) It tastes very much like the jam I tried while visiting my friend Beth in Vancouver... but alcoholic, of course. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a drink best enjoyed with accompanying coffee or ice cream, so when I'm next at either the Kiwi or the Meny shop, I think I'll pick up some plane vanilla or something. At any rate, it tastes very good all by itself, but a little too sweet for me to enjoy without something to dilute the flavor.

So scratch that one off my list! Now, where's the reindeer steak?