EUROBLOG: Two Men and a Bear: Already leaving Copenhagen???

It seems as if we just arrived here in Denmark (and in many ways we really have). Yesterday and today were chock full of walking around and experiencing this city.

Before I had arrived, the only things I knew about the city were that my cousin Gabby studied abroad here, and it gets really cold in the winter. When we met Christian, our danish friend who we met back in Brussels, we learned a bit about the city which was truly reinforced while we were here.

First of all, Denmark was rated (by somebody) as the "happiest country on earth" a year or two ago. We were "warned" before we arrived that if we stood on the street corner studying a map, trying to find our way, a local Dane would almost certainly come and offer to help out. This we found to be true within about 5 minutes of arriving on the train, hen a local guy jumped off of his bike to ask if we needed help finding our way.

Copenhagen is in many ways the most similar to Amsterdam; people are friendly, bikes are everywhere. It is much more spread out, though and is, unfortunately for travelers like us, verrrrry expensive. Yesterday we spent the day walking around the city. From our hostel west of the city center, we walked into the middle of Copenhagen, walking along what we learned was Europe's first all-pedestrian street. It was typical Europe, nice designer shops, stylish people walking to and fro. We made our way east all the way to the harbor, and specifically to the picturesque Nyhavn (Danish for "new harbor") where multi-colored pastel houses and restaurants surround the city's oldest working harbor. It was, as my cousin described it, the picture you see when you get a postcard from Copenhagen.

We took a great boat trip that lasted about an hour and took us through all of the winding canals that come off of the main waterway through the city. In a city founded along the water, taking a boat ride to get aquainted was a great idea: we saw the royal theatre, the opera house, the famous tower over the water, the famous (and equally as unimpressive) little mermaid statue, and countless other really nice sights.

We found an amazing middle eastern restaurant last night and treated ourselves to a great meal. We had not eaten "out" really since meeting our friend Chloe's family in Paris a week or so again. To save money we constantly cook food in kitchens at our hostels. It was a nice change of pace.

Today we woke up and headed to the central train station in order to book train tickets (more on that in a minute), and then headed down to the south of the city to tour the famous Carlsberg Brewery. It was a nice, standard brewery tour- complete with two nice glasses of beer and was a nice refuge from the cold and drizzly conditions that were outside.

Afterwards, we tackled Copenhagen's public transportation system and headed to Christiania, a very interesting place. Christiania was a military installation and barracks along the river for many years. After world war II ended, the government eventually started to move the military from that outdated base to a new one further down the river. After the military moved out, on the 4th of September 1971, a couple hundred neighbors broke down the fences and became official squatters of the abandoned military post. 40 years later, this small area still enjoys autonomous control of their community, which include the legalization of marijuana and various other laws. The neighborhood, while very unique because of its hippie inhabitants, is about what you would expect from a 40-year-old autonomous hippie commune: it's a bit of a shit hole. Like I said, one of the most unique places I have seen. I am glad we went and saw it.

After christiania, we headed back to the hostel for a great shower and getting stuff ready for tomorrow. Unfortunately they are out of seat reservations for our 5-hour trip to Berlin tomorrow, so we will most likely be riding standing up the whole time. Yay! not.

I really enjoyed being here in Denmark. This is a great part of the world, with smart, successful, good looking people who enjoy (through high taxes) great healthcare and other civil programs. I really really really want to return to Scandinavia and see Norway and Sweden as well as more of Denmark.

This also marks the northernmost point of our adventure- it's all downhill from here, and I am definitely looking forward to some nice warm weather.

Our next stop is Berlin for 3 days, which I have been looking forward to immensely. Not too long ago this was a city inaccessible to a person like me, it is a city that is still in the middle of rebuilding... I am excited to see what it is truly like. The Jewish holiday of Passover begins on Monday as well, and spending it in Berlin takes on- for me- a very special significance.

Talk to you from Deutschland!!

Greg