København--The Rest of My Excellent Adventure

Day Two, continued!

As usual, go here for more pictures.

The Icelandic embassy is the loneliest embassy of all, located in one of the bleakest, most depressing little corners of Copenhagen near the harbor. I don't think I've ever seen such a neglected looking representative of a foreign nation before in my life. I sort of wanted to hug it.

Anyway, the reason why I ended up moseying my way past the Icelandic embassy in the first place is because my intrepid travel companions and I were in pursuit of that most elusive of structural entities, the Copenhagen opera house. Okay, so it wasn't exactly elusive: the thing looms like a giant eyesore opposite Frederiks Kirke on the other side of the canal. I thought it was pretty ugly in comparison to Oslo's opera house, which has lots of asymmetrical angles and disappears prettily into the waters of the fjord. Copenhagen's, in comparison, is... well, I just didn't like it as much. You can compare them and decide for yourselves: Copenhagen's, or Oslo's? To help your decision-making process, keep in mind that you get to enjoy this view of Oslofjorden from the top of Oslo's opera house. :D

Day Three

Day Three started with soft, gorgeous morning light, which made taking photographs nearly a tangible joy after we checked out of our hostel and set out into the city again. We only had half a day available to us for proper adventuring, but made the very best of it, to my reckoning. Our list of visited locations was rather short this time: the Round Tower and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek, but as far as I'm concerned, these were easily two of the best places we could have visited, and so I'm glad they both made it onto the list.

The Round Tower itself is attached to a church that still holds regular services, but has been sectioned off so that the tramping feet of many an errant tourist don't disturb the patrons as they enjoy Sunday service, or just some quiet prayer time. (Pictured at the right isn't the Round Tower, by the way; you can see that here instead. It got a bit gloomy outside by the time we got there, unfortunately.) There's no elevator or quick way up to the top of the tower, so we hoofed it up to the very top and enjoyed one pretty darn fantastic view of the whole city spread out around us.

I came to this conclusion about Copenhagen during my short stay: there is so, so, so much to see, so many friendly complete strangers willing to chat with you about the oddest things at the most absurd moments (e.g., the ferryman who seemed perfectly happy to discuss Humbolt University in California with me, nevermind the queue of passengers waiting to board the ferry behind me)--but I wouldn't want to live there. When I think of Copenhagen, I think of a really fantastic vacation destination; having breakfast in Ny Havn was a glorious indulgence, but something I wouldn't be able to do every day. The public transit system is very large and exceedingly complicated to such a degree that most of the time, we just didn't bother with it. In contrast, I don't think I would ever recommend Oslo as a vacation destination to anyone hoping to explore the finer aspects of Scandinavia--but this is a great place to live. Just enough museums to keep life fascinating, beautiful wilderness only a ten-minute walk from my front door, and an incredibly easy to navigate public transit system that only took me a few rides to sort out. I feel comfortable in Oslo; it's home to me, even if it isn't the most exciting city in Europe.

But I'm getting ahead of myself!

The Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek had many fantastic attractions, but I gravitated towards all of the ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, their collection of which was MASSIVE and EXTRAORDINARY. Yes, the capslock abuse is absolutely necessary to aid in expressing my delirious joy. When you invariably browse through my photo galleries on Facebook, you'll discover that I took the most photos of my entire trip inside this place--mostly of nude Greek and Roman dead guys, of course. ;)

Herakles, pictured to your left, was a very popular subject of course, though I was pleased to discover several other notable names in and amongst their collection. I'm not sure what I was expecting to discover inside the Ny Carlsberg Glyptothek when I decided to venture inside of it, but this collection totally blew me away by its sheer quantity of gorgeous sculptures. I nearly wept openly when I found this beautiful bust of Alexander the Great kept in almost pristine condition. Alexander the Great was one of my earliest obsessions as a history major, thanks in part to Mary Renault's historical fiction as well as her introspective analysis of his character in The Nature of Alexander. Anyway, seeing that bust had me walking on clouds for the rest of the afternoon.

But of course, all good things must come to their inevitable ends, and we did eventually have to board the bus to begin our trip home. The conclusion of our visit to Copenhagen didn't prevent me from snapping some shots of the wind turbines jutting up out of the water between Denmark and Sweden, of course.

And that, as they say, was that! :)

København--A Recap of Days One and Two

I don't even know where to begin describing this fantastic, walking-intensive three day adventure, but I do know that you should all go here, here, and here to look at the well over 600 photos I took of this extraordinary maritime city. I'll try to keep this entry from wandering all over the place by describing only a few things, and letting the photographs do the rest of the talking for me since I've labeled the majority of them fairly specifically.

Day One

We traveled to Copenhagen by bus as opposed to the ferry in order to cut costs, and that was definitely one of the more unpleasant commutes I've ever experienced seeing as the stranger I sat beside decided I was the perfect size to be used as his personal arm rest while he putzed around on his computer. But once we got to the city, I quickly forgot the awful commute because there's just something about the energy of trains rumbling into central stations the world over that fills me with anticipation. I feel it when I'm here in Oslo S. looking at all the clusters of people with their luggage ready to go on their respective adventures, however small, and in a place like Copenhagen that feeling is a certainty.

We checked our luggage at the station and spent the morning and afternoon (from about 6am 'til 2pm or so) just exploring the city in as much detail as we could; we hit up the National Museum, Rosenborg Castle and gardens, Ny Havn and the canals (pictured left), and even Christiania before Day One was even over. Not that the day ended with sight-seeing, of course. Our hostel (Danhostel Copenhagen City Downtown, for the curious) also contains a very cozy South African pub with some very comfy chairs and sofas that felt fantastic after a very, very, very long day on our feet. We drank a few rounds of beer, watched football (European, of course) on the television, and played several rounds of Presidents and Assholes, the only card game I can play at all successfully.

Day Two

Day Two started with this outstanding meal for breakfast at a cafe in Ny Havn: flavorful fried eggs, crisp bacon, juicy sausage, the best strawberry I've eaten all year, smoked salmon, and a few very thin slices of ham--and, of course, a delicious cup of tea. (I took an artsier shot of breakfast here.) The weather that morning was unbelievably fine, and the first time this year that I've felt I was truly experiencing spring; having breakfast outside with the sun on my face and the sound of seagulls in my ears put me in the best mood imaginable--but the weather on Wednesday was very erratic, and during the course of the day we soldiered on through rain showers, rumbles of thunder, and even a rather unexpected hailstorm while crossing a bridge over one of the canals. All the same, Day Two proved to be as successful as Day One, if not moreso since we now had a decent night's rest as opposed to a night spent tossing and turning on a cramped bus.

After brunch, our first stop was Frederiks Kirke, and while I got some beautiful photos of the outside, I'm very glad I decided to record video footage of the interior, since that does it much better justice than anything my poor camera can manage:

The outside, featuring the stunning copper dome and gilding work on the marble.

A detailed shot of some artwork inside the church.

The video footage, featuring a few cameos of my travel companions.

The next stop on the journey was the Museum of the Danish Resistance, a subject known to be near and dear to my heart, and I wasn't disappointed by the contents of the relatively humble-looking building. The exhibits were laid out chronologically from the start of the occupation through to its conclusion, and on display were various artifacts and documents from each year, including personal belongings of both Danish and German soldiers, letters written from frightened relatives to their imprisoned loved ones in concentration camps, and, of course, a massive collection of information and artifacts from the activities of the resistance participants themselves. I was most impressed by the collection of homemade weapons used within the city of Copenhagen itself; resistance activity didn't receive much outside support from Allied Europe during the war, so resistance members had to do a lot of improvisation--which included smuggling these peculiar weapons to each other in crates of Carlsberg beer. I wasn't a bit fan of Carlsberg beer before, but I'll certainly drink it with fondness now. :D (Pictured to the left, by the way, are the identity papers of Werner Best, a particularly vile character responsible for issuing the order to deport Denmark's Jews.)

To prevent this entry from getting any longer, I'll hold off on describing the rest of Day Two and Day Three until later. Hopefully this will keep you entertained for now!

Morgendagen reise vi til København! Jeg liker å reise. :)

But for today, I intend to keep things rather low-key and pack some of the essentials: the pillow, a blanket, a few changes of clothes, etc., and just assume that the rest will take care of itself. I think I will also do some laundry, too, and give everything plenty of time to dry this morning. What an exciting life I lead!

The second walk along Akerselva on Saturday was marginally more pleasant than our first one, which took place back in January when it was much colder and stomping over lots of snow was required. Our tour guide still has this very bizarre, unusual way of describing different features along the watercourse, and we spent an extended period of time in the old factory district talking about the awful working conditions that the women who used to work in the mills endured through as late as the 1930s and 1940s. But it is interesting to me that, rather like back home in Huntsville, these really old houses that were originally designed as residences for impoverished mill workers and their children, have now become the chic and trendy places to live. The area has been well taken care of as a historical site, with lots of little walking alleyways to slip through and do further exploring during the springtime; it reminded me of Five Points back in Huntsville, and the Merrimack Mill area. I'll definitely go back once it's a little warmer. (Note how that has been my mantra since, oh, January, and it is still not quite warm enough for all the exploring I want to do even as we enter the beginning of April.)

Yesterday, Tim and I essentially spent the entire day at our friend Damon's flat down in Sogn (pronounced "Song") student residence, where we ate delicious Norwegian waffles with sour creme and raspberry jam and watched a Norwegian film called "Kjaerlighetens kjøtere." I've always been a big fan of Stellan Skarsgård, who played the principle antagonist character in this movie, and the plot was, for me, very compelling, but it was hard for me to really enjoy the film because the depiction of the animal cruelty was pretty graphic. I can handle a lot of things in film, but I tend to draw the line when animals and children are harmed. Anyway, the violence was effective and conveyed the brutality of the characters' on-edge living in Grønland, so I suppose it was successful in that regard.

Damon also cooked a really delicious dinner for us after the movie was over ("us" being myself and Tim, plus some of Damon's friends and classmates), and then we spent the rest of the evening playing silly card games, drinking beer, and walking hilarious episodes of Dylan Moran's show "Black Books." We didn't end up walking home until close to 1am or so, and I've pretty much decided that at some point, I will prepare something nice for my friends here in the near future, either during the Easter holidays or right after. Thankfully, my mother has agreed to send me some fantastic recipes, so I cannot wait to try them out. :)

Left to right: Gerda, Nurdin, Tim, me, and Damon. :D I pilfered this picture off Damon's facebook page.

I probably won't update this blog again before I get back from Copenhagen because I won't have my computer with me--gasp! I won't even have my blackberry with me, so the only way you will be able to get in touch with me if absolutely necessary is through my Norwegian number.

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?

Norsk på en to tre!

Supposedly. Anyway, say hello to how I spent my Saturday. Hei, norskkurs! Hvordan går det?

Actually, to amend this post a bit: I did do a bit of grocery shopping up at the Meny, since they accept MasterCard and I need to go a little easy on my checking account right now. Ended the evening with both Mike and Tim, watching Fight Club and discussing our adventure into Copenhagen at the end of the month leading up to Easter. I'm super-excited for it, and you can bet I'll be taking lots of pictures!