Kobenhavn, Kroners, and Logistics Issues.

I just returned from watching my first European football game. My home team, FC Utrecht, stomped Willem II 3-0 in a late-season Dutch Eredivisie game in Utrecht. There was a good crowd; extremely loud and there was no question about who was in favor of which colors. The game was pretty fast-paced and more than a little dirty. We sat three rows up and just shy west of midfield. If I wasn't going to be in Belgium, I'd definitely try to land tickets for next week's match against PSV Eindhoven, Holland's Champion's League rep. Just youtube that team. People hate them.
Earlier this morning, around 5am to be exact, I returned via bus from a few days in Copenhagen with Tim, whose visit comes to an end early tomorrow morning. Tim was not on the bus with me, as he misplaced his return ticket at some point. He fortunately found a flight and will be back in Holland later tonight.
The trek to Copenhagen started out a little shaky. Riding with us on the bus was a good example of a complete asshole. This guy claimed to have two wives and two sets of kids, in Amsterdam and Hamburg. He also got piss drunk before and during the bus ride, called Tim a redneck because he's from the States, and physically threatened a few other people. He capped it off by lighting up a cig on the bus and telling some girl that is she didn't like she could take it up with driver. It was kind of nice to see that personality exists in most cultures.
It was a thirteen hour drive to Copenhagen, which included a late night ferry from Germany to Denmark. We arrived around 5:30 and found the central station. After enjoying some breakfast and changing some euros for danish kroners, we found our bearings and headed toward our hostel. We eventually found the place around 7:30. It's a nice hostel, located in the diverse neighborhood of Norrebro. Nearby there's an old graveyard/park called Assistens Kirkegard. We had to sneak in where some fence was pulled back (not sure why) and found HC Andersen's grave among others.
We then headed back to the inner city for a self-led, walking tour. The architecture in Copenhagen is amazing, mostly because the Nazis never bombed the shit out of it. Along the way we saw the City Hall, the Rundetaarn, the Cathedral of Copenhagen, Rosenborg Castle, the King's Gardens, to name a few. We extended the tour out to see the oft-hailed Little Mermaid statue, which was pretty difficult to get to, as it was on the harbour edge and canals crossed the path toward it. By the time we got back to the City Hall we were famished, and enjoyed the house specialty at the Shawarma Grill House. I caught a 2nd wind, and Tim headed back to the hostel for a nap. I checked out the Danish National Museum, which housed some ancient Rune Stones, artefacts detailing Danish history, an Egyptian exhibit, and a Tycho Brahe exhibit. On the walk back I picked up the fixings for dinner at Aldi and crashed for two hours. Our hostel served up half-litre Carlsberg at a reasonable 25 kroners, which comes out to slightly less than $5 American. Yeah, Scandnavia is pricy. After a few of those we headed out to the city's favorite blues bar, Mojo. There was no cover, and a packed house. We sipped Tulborg and enjoyed about two hours of some great blues before stopping next door for a nightcap at the Southern Cross, an Aussie pub.
The next morning we had breakfast at the hostel and hit the road by 10:30. Our first stop was the Danish National Gallery, also called Statens Museum for Kunst. It featured some great international art, including some Picasso and Rembrandt. There was also a slightly disturbing sculpture exhibit. Next, we shuffled and stepped to the top of the Rundetaarn, which offered a magnificent view of the city. You could even see the bridge to Sweden. After another bagged lunch aided by the neighborhood 7-11 we took a walk through the city hall courtyard, than caught a cheap canal tour. The tour was a great value at an hour in length, and we got to see much of the harbour close-up. Christianshavn and the Freetown of Christiana were next on the list. Christianshavn is a beautiful, quiet area of the city with cheap shopping and eats. Christiana is a social experiment started in the 70's that lives up to its name. It basically looks like a carnival slum that lines either side of a calm river. The residents govern themselves, but there is a Danish military presence due to a history of hash and hard drug use. During the day it was quite harmless and very interesting. I would've like to spend more time there but it was around this time that Tim realized he didn't have his return bus ticket and I made it clear that was not a good thing.
Tim eventually bought his plane ticket back to Amsterdam, solving his self-inflicted transportation woes. I wrote a few postcards and relaxed while he straightened that out with the nearly inaudible Emily R, who happened to be at the same hostel, taking the same flight. We enjoyed a Carl's Special while a three Aussie girls sipped vodka. We walked south to Vega, a dance club. The club was trendy and slightly over-priced, but a good time and we spent about three hours there before heading back to the hostel.
After a less-than refreshing shower I packed up and checked out of the hostel. We then spent the next hour searching for a luggage storage spot that wasn't open. A long walk to the massive Carlsberg complex also brought bad news. Contrary to its posted sign, which indicated the place was only closed on Mondays and holidays, of which yesterday was neither, the doors were locked. Fortunately, it was a nice day and the walk was tolerable. We enjoyed the signature Danish hotdogs and met up with my friend Brandon, who's studying in Copenhagen. We had a few beers, one in the Norrebro area and another on the Nyhavn, before it was time for me to catch the bus back to Holland. I picked up a sixer of Tulborg's Easter brew and then almost missed my bus, which left ten minutes before my ticket indicated. Needless to say, I'm safely back in Utrecht, and looking forward to a few days of clarity and some academic finality. Barry, Mike and I leave for Brussels on Thursdays, with side trips planned to Antwerp and Ghent. Just can't get enough of that Belgian beer and chocolate.