koebenhavn

hoooooray we've made it to copenhagan now! i really loved copenhagan but that was also in part to the great company of my friend Becky from York. Yes from York University CRAZINESS!!! i had been planning to visit Becky all year and i finally did. She met me at the train station when my train arrived. oh and did i mention this train went onto a ferry? YES THE TRAIN WENT ONTO A FERRY! i think that's crazy. i was not too happy to be on a ferry again but it was alright. there were some interesting characters on this train ride too specfically a big huge british/swedish woman who was very opinionated and her gay american friend across from her who sounded very naieve. they took off frequently to smoke and then the people i was sitting with and i would be like 'hooray they are gone now!'
anyway becky met me at the train station and we went to her house which was in the district of norrebro not really close to the city centre. the metro is all run electornically - that means no driver. i thought that was pretty cool but she said it sucked because it constantly was breaking down. we went for coffee at a cafe called robert's that was really nice. except for the girl who served us who was a knobend. That evening we met Caroline (who i had met in Prague) and her friend for dinner. we went for thai buffet i think but it was a little rough but fairly cheap, as far as scandinavia goes anyway.
in the morning we made PANCAKES! my ultimate favourite! and then went to explore the city.
here is Becky on her cool danish bike! oh and bikes... everyone rides a bike in copenhagan. they even have proper (really real proper) bike lanes. and they have 'city bikes' that you can borrow for 20 kroners! how cool!


we went our seperate ways at this plaza as becky had to go to the airport


it was lovely! the church bells were ringing the sun was shining and i saw a magpie i love magpies!

here is blasgaard square

i almost got hit by a football here! (not an american football!)

cute danish street


the river


a really nice park to picnic in


we met by the university and walked around the city
here is Becky at a famous old cake shop

mmmmmmmmmmm cakes!!!!

then we went to newhavn which is the big port that gave copenhagan it's name


here is me and becky enjoying the sunshine (this rarely happens in copenhagan!)




random statue in the centre

they have things like this all over! they are so cool!!

here is a view from becky's window


and becky's kitchen


the next day we went out despite the dreary weather. we had danishe's from the bager (ie baker in danish!) which were AMAZING! i guess obviously since we were in denmark! oh and the day before we had another danish specialty which was hotdogs in buns... apparently they all love them!

here i am at tivoli a famous but expensive amusement park


this is a museum


here is becky walking away from a house... i wanted her to pretend it was her house but then she said someone was coming!


we were walking to the danish jewish museum which was also designed by daniel libeskind but not nearly as interesting as the one in berlin when we saw this little boy helping his dad wash the windows on their boat! it was really sweet!


then we saw a lady who had very obviously just had a face lift. that was creepy!
this is outside the museum


i decided to take a swim


randomness


bikes!!!! loads of bikes! this is by norreport a main metro station


after the museum we went to christiania. this is a district that was designed as its own city sort of commune for people who were homeless i think and a safe place for drug addicts to hang out...? i can't really remember but it's all hippie and a little sketch. but we had a beer there anyway. it was interesting to see and a little strange. sorry no pictures of it... it was too weird to photograph!
then we went home and had a smorgosborge of bager goods!






that night we went to buffet at riz raz a greek restaurant. i won't tell you here what happened at the end DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!
and then played in becky's clothes while she packed!




we also had amazing icecream at some point but i can't remember when. but it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD! so amazing. so so amazing! and we had some rough wine and good cake from the supermarkt with a funny name i wish i could remember. oh and copenhagan is covered in netto's! gotta love netto! i've never even been! but the chocalate raisin's there are even cheaper than at morrisons!


so this is the day i'm leaving... on the subway


and at the train station


hej hej koebenhavn

and then i took berlin

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (any leonard cohen fans?) yes bad joke. anyway my mom used it on me and i can't seem to find any good subject title things so bad joke it is. on the way to berlin it was chaos for real when the train arrived. it was one of those trains with the corridor and then booths to sit in... not good for a conglomeration of people with suitcases to all get on at once and then not find anywhere to sit... that was the other problem most of the seats were reserved. anyway i stepped into a cabin where a girl asked me something and she ended up to be going to berlin as well and she was staying in the same hostel as me! (how weird!) coincidence or what! so we bonded on the train and decided to tour berlin together the next day. she also had a giant map. hooray!
so the first thing i wanted to do was go to a market. we made it to one and found a bank but the market was crappy. here is a photo of it anyway


then we found a place called tim's canadian diner so she took a photo of me with it!


we were very close to the jewish museum designed by daniel libeskind which i had learned about in the holocaust module! that was really really cool and sad but amazing and there was a whacky freud exhibition on too which was cool and strange. it was in celebration of what would have been his 150th birthday if he was alive (6 May 1856).
here is the outside of the museum


this is one of the museum displays called the garden of exile


there are a lot of symbolic elements to it that i had learned about and i think it might be built on the lines of the wall... i'm not sure though. anyway we ended up at one point in the turkish quarter where we had lunch at a place where the menu was only in turkish and german... that was a challenge. but i managed to order a pizza that had mushrooms on it. THANK GOD IT WAS A PIZZA!


and then we went to checkpoint charlie too.
after checkpoint charlie we went to a park who's name i can't remember but it was SO COOL!


they had row boats so we went rowing. and i had to park the boat and did it perfectly! then i did a dance and tripped... damn!
here is my friend (gannan) rowing


oh how i love to row boats!


then we saw these birds nesting


and swans nesting and we saw a heron fly in. it was so cool!
after that we went back to the centre sort of this big plaza where we saw the TV tower which is not really that cool


marx and engles


a big giant world clock


and the berliner dome








plus we saw bunnies in the middle of the city! how bizarre!


then we went to a famous beirgarten for dinner which was great! and then went home totally exhausted. but before we got to the biergarten we got lost of course... and managed to find a bus driver who spoke no enlgish but told us how to get there. that was not so great (the lost part).
here's gannan on the subway looking at photos


the metro system in berlin is incredibly intense. there are like 20 MILLION different lines and two different systems S and U bahn's. the S bahn is really cool though because it goes outside and you can see all the major parts of the city on it! also make sure that you buy a ticket on the metro because they have plain clothes people randomly stop you and ask for your ticket SCARY! we had accidentally bought a day child's ticket so when that happened they weren't too impressed with us. i think the name of our station was rosenthalerplatz.

anyway the next day we went our seperate ways. i went to go shopping on the longest shoppign street EVER but decided first to go the wrong way and passed the zoo. in the background is a famous and bombed church


shopping was fun i bought new jeans on sale (woo) and earrings! woo woo! then i found the big gate that is the gate between east and west berlin


yes the name escapes me now. and the holocaust memorial. unfortunately at this point i was feeling really ill so i didn't make it to the duetsch guggenheim where they had a hanne darboven exhibition on! DAMNIT i'm not impressed with myself. but i thought i might pass out in a museum so i went home instead and passed out.
well this is the holocaust memorial






i met gannan and we went to dinner near by at an italian place where we had the most amazing pesto! and then we had chocalate cake at a cafe which was also amazing! and then we said goodbye :( but she was fun!

so that was berlin. the next day i had a train to catch really early that changed randomly and annoyingly. but can you guess the next destination?
KOBENHAVN!!! (that's pronounced coobenhoun) COPENHAGAN YES THAT'S RIGHT! this is a place i've wanted to go for soooooooooooooooooooo long and i finally made it and i and i had a friend there to visit! hooray!!!

so till tomorrow and copenhagan