Copenhagen, Ten Years In The Making

Are you ready for the final stop of Eurotrip 2012?! (Here's the rest, ICYMI: Paris -> Venice -> Lausanne -> Munich -> Berlin.) And now, Copenhagen!

My journey to Copenhagen started when I was in fourth grade, when the honors program I was in assigned group projects on the various Scandinavian countries. My group got Denmark. From that moment on, I had a slightly obsessive desire to visit the country... and ten years later, I finally got my chance!

Our group of seven had splintered again (the others spent an extra day in Berlin), so Jen, Amanda and I hopped on our second and final overnight train from Berlin to Copenhagen. On this train we had "couchettes," which were basically makeshift beds that folded out of the wall and were LIGHTYEARS more comfortable than the seats we had on the last overnight train. So I actually slept on this journey! But we had barely set foot on Danish soil when one of my Achilles heels started to hurt. I hadn't done anything to it (besides wear Converse, a decision I will regret forever), but I was once again resigned to hobbling around a city. Bruised head in Paris, plantar fasciitis in Venice, bruised tailbone in Berlin, bruised Achilles heel in Copenhagen. Impressive resume, no? :P

Since we'd now been traveling for two and a half weeks straight, Copenhagen was an interesting point for us. My entire body hurt. I was exhausted. I was short-tempered. I was broke. It felt like I hadn't eaten a well-balanced meal since we left London. But at the same time, all the stress of traveling was gone. No more budgeting our money and energy to have some left for the next city! We were all pros at handling ourselves and each other, and all had our roles within the group that we effortlessly slid into. And we had a whopping four days in Copenhagen with no real agenda, so we had the luxury of sleeping a little more and leisurely making our way through the city.

Copenhagen is a fantastic city. We took a walking tour and a canal tour to see the iconic sights and learn some history, and of course visited the Little Mermaid statue before we left! We stumbled across the design center and Hans Christian Andersen, climbed the round tower, shopped on Strøget (one of the longest pedestrian-only streets in Europe), found our way to the royal residences, and toured the Carlsberg brewery.

We also happened across a marching band procession in the streets. And reunited with Cynthia, who was with Jen, Amanda and me for our first few legs of the trip, since Copenhagen was her study abroad home. And met up with one of Lorraine's friends, who lives in Copenhagen and introduced us to his restaurant-owning parents, who served us a massive, delicious, homecooked Chinese dinner free of charge (god bless those people). And we spent a good chunk of time in Christiania, an autonomous commune within the city where pot is legal and the 1970s live on (seriously, it was like a trip back in time).

And all of it was awesome.

Copenhagen, Denmark
Hans Christian Andersen statue in Copenhagen, Denmark
Design center in Copenhagen, Denmark
Design center in Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Danish flags in Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen, Denmark
Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen, Denmark
Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
City hall in Copenhagen, Denmark
City hall in Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Marching band in Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
View of Copenhagen, Denmark from the round tower
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark
The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark

We also did slightly better with our "usual" pictures, as we got TWO this time! We hadn't gotten two since Lausanne!

Copenhagen, Denmark
 Still not great at the jumping, even after six cities.

Copenhagen, Denmark
They had just found out about Endurance. So they were making a big deal out of me being "famous," haha.

Aaaaaaaand then we headed back to London, where I dragged my battered body up to my flat and hibernated (read: slept) for a week.

For my original post about Copenhagen, see here! I can't believe I'm done with Eurotrip... again. But I still have several European adventures up my sleeve, so stay tuned for some United Kingdom goodies! :)

Travel Tuesday

post signature

14 comments :

  1. Great pictures! It looks like you had a lot of fun, and Copenhagen sounds amazing! It's exciting to finally visit a place you've been dreaming about for a while.

    xo,
    Zoe | La Vie en Zoe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! :) Yeah, it was pretty awesome to finally cross it off the bucket list!

      Delete
  2. Your travel blogs make me feel as if I'm there with you - and your photos, as always, are amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It looks like you had so much fun! I love the pictures :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love your pix! (Wondering about the jeans on sticks and the chair with the coke bottles???) So happy you had the opportunity to go after all those years of obsessing about it…and glad it lived up to your dreams!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha thanks! The jeans on sticks and chair with Coke bottles are from the design center. :)

      Delete
  5. This is very cool! I've been obsessed with Denmark for a couple of years now! I don't know why but my dream is to live in a yellow house in Copenhagen...very weird I know! You really have the worst luck, that is crazy how many injuries you got in that short span of time! Lovely pictures as always, and I'm looking forward to England posts! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I totally understand your Denmark obsession, haha. And that dream to live in a yellow house sounds absolutely wonderful!

      Delete
  6. What a great end to your trip (apart from the injuries!). I visited Copenhagen in May and loved it - such a colourful, friendly, beautiful city! And I'm pleased to see you had your jumping shots just about mastered by the end of the trip :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! People ARE really friendly there! Haha. Such a great place to visit!

      Delete
  7. Copenhagen looks beautiful! I hear it has a great vibe--what do you think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do think it has a great vibe -- I wouldn't say it's a particularly bustling city, but it has a ton of character and history, and is just overall a very happy place!

      Delete