MAR-GOES

Sorry for the late post, time has gotten away from me this week. The weather has finally been good to us in Prague, of course when this happens, I left for the north’s cold last weekend. I haven’t really ever heard much about Copenhagen, so I went into the trip with no expectations. The only preconceived thought I had was that everyone up in the Denmark, Sweden, Norway area is nice. After my visit to Denmark, I now know why it is literally ranked as the #1 happiest country in the world. (Seriously Google it, it’s always the first on the list.) These people were unbelievably nice. I can’t really even say a specific time where someone way nicer then anyone else, they were just all friendly and happy to help whenever needed. The worst part of Copenhagen? The cost of living. It is ridiculously expensive in Denmark, like $25 for just a burger expensive. Once we got to Copenhagen, we swore we would figure out getting to the hotel through the cheapest option. After an expensive weekend of Uber in Madrid, we refused to Uber unless completely necessary (go us, it never ended up being necessary). We were extremely proud of ourselves by walking around and figuring out public transportation. Our hotel was right on the water and right next to a shopping mall… we were off to a good start. Bundled up, we immediately headed towards the city center. Copenhagen is kind of hard to describe. I’d compare it to Boston, even though I’ve never been to Boston, it gave me Boston vibes. It was also cool because everyone rode bikes, seriously everyone. I bet they don’t have smog like Prague does. We saw the famous canal (picture below) and headed towards Christiana.

Like I said, we headed for Christiana. Now, I’m not totally sure how to describe Christiana. Basically, it is considered a “Freetown” and its inhabitants don’t consider the town to be apart Denmark. (Even though it is.) Anyways this place is crazy!! I unfortunately do not have pictures because you can’t take pictures in there. (I have a picture of the sign stating “no photos”.) It is basically a hippy street, appropriately called the Green Light District, filled with huts selling various things, graffiti, interesting people, and weed. Lots and lots of weed. If I was into weed or if you are, this is the place to be. The street is lined with sellers with their stashes just out in the open for you to check out. It’s totally a free living and open place. It’s not somewhere you would want to be at alone and at night, but during the day it is super cool. At the end of the street there was a blacksmith shop run completely by females! I went in and got some cool knickknacks and we decided we saw what we needed to see in Christiana. I know I didn’t do the best job at describing this place, so google images might give you a better idea. I did some googling when we got back to the hotel on Christiana and apparently a lot of sketchy stuff goes down there, I wasn’t really surprised looking back at it, also happy I didn’t know any of it prior to my visit there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to find dinner after leaving hippy-ville. We did what we do best and found a burger place. I’m not sure how much people make in Denmark to keep up with the prices but it is definitely not America’s $8 minimum wage. The burgers we got were actually very good, of course the fries, ketchup, and water were extra.

Once we got back to the hotel, we walked next door to the mall to food shop a little. We bought Nutella, peanut butter, rolls, and a cheap bottle of wine. We told ourselves we’d just make sandwiches for the rest of the trip in order to save money. I’ll take guesses from you guys as to how long you think that lasted.

If you guessed not even a night.. ding ding we have a winner! First thing in the morning we headed out to meet some friends for brunch. We ended up waiting about an hour to get into the restaurant, but it was worth the wait.

The couple we met up with had plans to take a 40 minute train north to an art museum that day and invited us to join. Having seen mostly all of the city the day before and having no plans for the day, we decided to join them. Now, I was hesitant because the last time Greg and I thought it would be a good idea to go to an art museum we spaced out for the whole thing and realized we weren’t the art buffs we thought we could be. I was pleasantly surprised by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Don’t ask me why the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art was in the middle of Denmark but it’s always cool to see a familiar name #merica. (I’m probably being ignorant to the fact Europe was relevant first and probably had the name Louisiana for something far before it was a state but whatever.) It was a rainy day so I was happy to be inside appreciating some art. The coolest part of the museum was called the “Gleaming Lights of the Souls” by Yayoi Kusama. You walk into the room alone or with another person and the door is shut behind you. You stand on a platform surrounded by water and lights are all around you. The walls are mirrored and it appears as if you are in a room of lights that go on forever. Lucky for us the exhibit is being shut down for remodeling from February 27th through Spring, we went on February 26. If you have time, please look into Yayoi Kusama. She’s a 90 year old artist with a fascinating story and really amazing exhibits and works.

We went back to Copenhagen in the search for dinner. We ended up at another burger place. IT’S FINE. Why not be in Europe and eat the most American meals all the time? This time, all of the toppings were an extra charge!!!! Lettuce? Tomato? Cheese? Yep, that’s going to cost you. I got one of my favorite combos on a burger: cheese, bacon, and a fried egg. It was delicious.

We headed back to Prague for another week of school, I enjoyed myself in Copenhagen but it is a great feeling coming back to Prague. As much as I complained in the beginning of my stay, I am falling in love with Prague. No where I have been so far is as special as Prague is. (Madrid did come close though.) I wish I could bring everyone to Prague and show them all my favorite places that I’ve collected so far. My parents and cousin, Andrea, are coming in exactly 4 weeks! I am so excited for that. I already have a list of everything I want to show them.

Tomorrow I have a day in Prague and then I’m off to Berlin for a short weekend trip. I’m excited to see 25% of my heritage’s homeland. It’s the only homeland I’m seeing on this trip.. given Armenia isn’t the easiest place to get to and Ireland and England didn’t make the list unfortunately. (I know I’ll make it to Ireland someday and am hoping for a family trip to Armenia as well).

To all my peeps at home, if you have spring break next week, enjoy it. If you are going to Mexico, please be safe and don’t take the beach for granted. If you don’t have spring break, sorry bout it.

I think I just heard the oven beep. Brownie time.

xx