København!

Helle, Line and I spent the last few days in Copenhagen, Denmark!  Now I have been to almost all of the Scandinavian countries!  Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark...

We left on Saturday morning to Gardemoen airport and took a plane out straight to Copenhagen.  Something special about the airports here (correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember seeing these in American airports) is that they have Tax-free/Duty free stores.  When you go to the international terminal in most airports, there is a special store that has "everything" (liquor, candy and makeup) without taxes, so they end up being a lot cheaper.  The best part about it is that you almost always HAVE to go through the Duty Free store because that's where the doors lead to the international terminal in the airport.  People load up these little carts with cheap booze and continue on to their destinations.  They also have these shops on ferries that go internationally...

We arrived in Copenhagen and took a taxi to our hotel: Kong Arthur Hotel.  When we got to our room we were very surprised because it was a suite!!  It seemed a little random because there was a TV above a desk that was facing the door to come in and a room with a sofa that looked outside as well as a lamp that was not plugged in because it wasn't near an electrical plug.. but it was fantastic anyway!

(The picutres aren't loading the way I want them to, so I'm just going to add them all at the end...)

We had a toast (skål!) with wine in plastic hotel cups and m&ms.  Soon after, Maja arrived with her roommate and we went out to see Copenhagen at night.  We went on a walk and found a restaurant and all ordered the same meal, but with different desserts.  We called it a night quite early and went back to the hotel.  Line and I had a bath and then we went to bed. 

The next morning we went down for breakfast and they had PANCAKES and MAPLE SYRUP!  I was in heaven.  From there we left to go see "The Little Mermaid" in town ("Den lille havfrue" - the little half woman).  And... it was... little!  The statue was very small and not what we imagined as the big tourist attraction in Copenhagen, but it was wonderful to see and reminded me of my mom and her mermaid collection in the kitchen at home :)

From there we walked around town and saw some more statues, churches and where Helle and Trond were married!  We also went to see where the king lived which was HUGE!  On our way to go shopping, we passed a BEN&JERRY'S ice cream shop.  I heard from Devin that Oslo is getting a Ben&Jerry's shop too!  Slowly but surely, Vermont will take over the world! (According to Julie...)  It's very neat to see some things that remind me of home, such as the pancakes or B&J's.  Another reminder of home was seeing a marching band go by while we walked to the mall.

After a bit of shopping (SCORE at ZARA and on makeup!) in the "cheap" market of Denmark, we went to get some lunch.  We found a make-your-own sandwich place and sat there.  I could understand the menu, but I thought there was an "and" instead of an "or" so when I ordered I was flustered and confused, but that's all of the experience, isn't it?  I even had my first ginger ale since I left for my exchange too. 

We went back to the hotel after shopping some more and took a short catnap.  Soon after, we left to go out for the night.  We ate tapas at a bar (the bartender didn't fail to meet my belief that all scandinavians are beautiful) and talked for a long time.  We tried to find a bar to go to afterward, but the one we ended up at had (I kid you not) naked butts and lots of dead fish and birds on the walls along with hanging lamps above the tables using beads and doll heads... So we decided it was best to call it a night. 

The next day (yesterday) we had another big breakfast, but went to the hotel SPA after.  We had massages and hung out in the steam rooms, sauna and hot tub for a while.  We took showers and went on our last walk around in Copenhagen.  The strange thing about Scandinavia is that a lot of the birds here don't migrate because (I'm assuming) the sea is always a bit warmer than the air.  Swans, ducks and pigeons were all hanging around in the water near the bridge in the unfrozen sections.  It was a special thing to see. 

We ate lunch, said goodbye to Maja and left for the airport.  We went through the taxfree store (found an American Cosmo mag and got some Starbucks!) again and arrived in Oslo when it was dark out.  We drove home and arrived around 9PM. 

Friday morning I am leaving for Oslo to meet up with Didrik and Cathrine to go to their cabin in the mountains!

For now I'm in Larvik, but the next few months are going to go by so fast because I'm going to be very busy from Lyden av Livet, to Rotary Eurotour to Russtid...