Copenhagen, Denmark- The Happiest Place on Earth

It’s true... My Lonely Planet book states this country has been named with the happiest people in the world. I think it’s a very safe bet. These past four days have been the best yet by far. I may be saying that after every country, but Copenhagen was absolutely incredible and blew Bergen and St. Petersburg away.

Tuesday: Our boat was about an hour from Copenhagen so we all took the train to the city and booked out hotels and hostels for the week. We all looked like very American tourists with our huge backpacks and maps as we came out of the train station. The city was very compact and really easy to get around. Everything was under a twenty minute walk, very much a relief compared to Russia. Our first day we hit the sites and hung out in the Radhuspladen central square which was right in the middle of the city with live music and food carts everywhere. Copenhagen was having their annual Jazz Festival so everywhere you looked there was Jazz music going on. It was awesome; there were even a lot of the Jazz guys from Chicago there which was really neat to see.

We later went out to enjoy a night on the town. We met some great locals and we talked with them all about their lives in Copenhagen and how we loved their city compared to Russia. We really know how to win people over. In return they taught us a drinking chant which I’m sure many of us will try to bring it to the states.

Wednesday: Unfortunately for our wallets this city is known for their shopping and ice cream. I of course took complete advantage of both of these. This occupied half of our morning and then we later walked to the harbor and took a boat cruise which took us all around the city of Copenhagen for an hour. It was absolutely incredible, our weather was perfect and our tour guide was very informative about all the sites we saw. The huge Opera House and library sit out on stilts in the canals; they are huge glass and granite buildings. We also saw Slotsholmen which is where a lot of government buildings are located, Frederiksstaden which is the home of the royal family and the Marmorkirke ; an elaborate church with a huge dome inspired off a church constructed in Rome. Copenhagen is also famous for the Little Mermaid Statue; it’s similar to the Mona Lisa in Paris. You have to go see it when you’re there, but once you do you become very disappointed with the size of this historical famous piece of artwork. Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote children stories like The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, and Thumbelina, lived in Copenhagen in the 1800s so much of the city has little things in honor of him. The Little Mermaid being the most famous, it was a mermaid statue about 3 feet tall with about 500 people crowded around it trying to take their picture with it.

After the boat tour Steph and I hopped a thirty-five minute train to Malmo, Sweden for shopping and dinner. She later went on to see an old friend and then I turned around to head back to Copenhagen to meet back up with my friends. It’s hard to believe that two cities so close to each other have a completely different languages, government, and currency. Due to the close proximities much of their cultures are interchangeable.

Thursday: Since the majority of my normal travel group went to Sweden for the day I spent the next two days with my roommate, Maribel, and her normal crew. We shopped a bit and then went to Tivoli Gardens which is their famous amusement park which sits right in the city of Copenhagen and has been around since the 1840s. Most of the rides they have look like they could have been there from the 1800s. Many were old and rickety just as I expected. There were tons of cute shops and restaurants all throughout the park. They had a swing ride which took you up a few hundred feet and gave you a view of the entire city. The site was gorgeous; it was certainly the best seat in the house to see every corner of Copenhagen.

After reliving our days as kids in amusement parks we went back to our hostel to get all dolled up for our evening. Our night started with about 50 kids from SAS going to a very small bar. This bar was called the ABSOLUT ICEBAR. When you walk in the employees hand you a huge oversized coat and gloves to put on. As you walk into the bar everything is ice, the benches, your glassware, the bar itself, tables, the menu, etc. Due to the temperature and demand you are only allowed to be in there for 45 minutes. After leaving this bar we all head to other bars before we head to one of their famous clubs in the city, Luux. One of our friends was gracious enough to make a few phone calls and put down some money to reserve entrance for 100 of his closest SAS friends at this club. Since there aren’t many clubs in Bloomington I didn’t have much to compare it too, except my South Beach experience this past April. They were relatively similar, last night we had much more fog and trance music. And I’m quite certain the Americans outnumbered the Danes in the bar. Whereas in Florida, the Americans were the minority.

Friday: We had some last minute souvenir shopping and grabbed my first international McD’s for lunch. Very tasty, less greasy, but you had to pay for the ketchup.
It was very sad to depart from Copenhagen, but I know when/if I ever make it back to Europe this will certainly be one city I will be sure to hit. The whole experience was incredible and I even got to catch up with my mom and my brother, Ted on the phone.
I have a two day travel to Antwerp, Belgium where I’ll then hop on a train first thing Monday and head to Amsterdam for two days. I’m even lucky enough to be meeting up with my sister-in-law’s cousin, Sebastian, who has lived there his whole life. He’s going to show us around the city all day and we’re going to a comedy club that night. The other two days I’ll spend in Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium.

It’s just after 9pm here, I think I’m going to bed, have a great weekend. -ANM