Denmark Days part 2

My second full day in Denmark was another lovely one. Milla technically had to check out of the hostel at 10am, so she handed in her key and just left her stuff near my bed. Our plan for the morning was to tick Christiania and the Little Mermaid off our collective to-see lists, and we succeeded.

The first thing we did was navigate our way across a big bridge over to the man-made island of Christianshavn. We ended up in a nice little park on what I've been calling "the coast", but was really just the other side of the island. Milla's mum came and met us there and we had a nice stroll with the crisp autumn colours as our backdrop.

a crisp morning in Christianshavn

Eventually, we entered the free-state of Christiania, a community forged in the 1970s when a bunch of hippies took over some abandoned army barracks. More than a big group of long term squatters, Christiania has evolved into an entirely self-sustainable community, with their own schools, health centers, and even their own garbage an recycling programs.

I didn't feel scared of or intimidated by the community members at all. While they are clearly a group of people who hold privacy with high regard, they also seemed happy to share their community with the public. The whole area was brightly coloured and artsy, and you could tell many creative minds must live there. I found the "you are now entering the EU" signs at the exits quite funny. Being from BC, the "green light district" of "pusher street" didn't phase me much.

me and Milla and the entrance to Christiania

Milla's mum went elsewhere after our wander through Christiania, and Milla and I moved on to our next goal for the day. After a quick stop for tea, we started for the coast, eventually making our way to the fortification of Kastellet. This little star-shaped island was possibly my favourite part of Copenhagen. At the entrance to the area, there was a beautiful old stone Anglican Church that I quickly fell in love with. Also an epic fountain with an incredibly dynamic use of water.

The Gefion Fountain

Anglican Church in Kastellet

As we walked along Langeline it seemed there was a statue every few steps, along with a lot of natural beauty. We put our tourist caps on for pictures with the "Lille Havfrue", but also went further along the coast to visit her uglier, and much lonelier sister, the "mutant mermaid".

The Little Mermaid

The Mutant Mermaid

Having seen those sights, we made our way back to the hostel, and before Milla had to catch her flight back to Finland, had lunch together at a place called zoo bar. I brought the salad count to 4 there, but we also split some delicious parmesan/citrus fries that were amaaaaazing.

After Milla disappeared down the metro at Kongen's Nytorv I finished the part of Strøget we hadn't done the day before, being able to afford, and therefore buying, nothing.

As the evening went on and the skies got dark and cold I found a place that sold broccoli soup to go, smuggled it into my hostel with the prowess of a secret agent, and ended up spending the rest of my evening hanging out with Jan, a political science prof from Thailand, in Denmark to present a paper. Sweet.

Mine and Milla's walking route.  11.5 km!

Denmark Days part 1

Copenhagen!

Last Tuesday, I left the Netherlands for the Danish leg of my European adventure. I was staying at The Generator hostel in Copenhagen, and although I have literally no other hosteling experience to compare it to, I found it quite great (thanks Birte, for the recommendation!).

I was staying in an all female dorm with 3 bunk beds, a nice vanity, an ensuite bathroom, and lots of pink. When I first arrived, it was just me and two British highschool girls in the dorm, but later that evening we were joined by an older Greek lady named Anastacia, a young Japanese girl named Yuki who seemed to just sleep all the time, and Milla, from Helsinki, who ended up being my buddy for the next couple days.

Milla and I enjoyed some Tuborg beer in our hostel bar that night, and got to know each other a bit. She is working on her Math Masters in Finland, hoping to become a high school teacher, living with her Dutch bf who she met while traveling in New Zealand. There was supposed to be karaoke in the bar the bar that night, but it didn't end up happening. Too bad, but it was still a nice night.

After a really great sleep (I was super impressed with the comfy mattresses and fluffy duvets at the hostel), Milla and I got up and headed downstairs to meet the "free walking tour" that picks up at our hostel each morning. With a few fellow hostelers we wound our way down Strøget (Europe's longest pedestrianized shopping street. Weeeee!) and met more tourists taking the tour on the steps in front of town hall.

At about 11am our tour guide Igor (originally from Prague [holla], but 3 years in Copenhagen) began what would be a comprehensive tour of the city highlights that gave a really great overview of what it was all about. He started with some facts about the buildings around us. The Town Hall was modeled after a similar one in Sienna, Spain. The statue of Bishop Absalon above the entrance shows the important Danish figure holding a bishop's crook in one hand and a sword in the other. No ordinary man of the cloth, he was also a bad-ass warrior, whom we learned more about later. We also gazed upon the entrance to Tivoli, the world's second-oldest theme park and inspiration to one Walt Disney.

Next we took a walk past the home in which Carlsburg Brewery founder J.V Jacobsen was born, and looked across the canal at the former royal residence, Christianborg Slot, which has burnt down so many times its almost funny. But not funny. Obviously. Because fires aren't funny.

Bad Ass Bishop Absalon

Next up, we visited another Bishop Absalon statue. In this one, he was wearing chain mail and a helmet and riding into battle on a rearing horse. Igor told us the story of how the B.A bishop was the guy who finally rid Denmark of their pesky pirate problem, and started the country off on a lengthy success period of ruling the seas and nearby trade routes.

"New Harbour"

We wandered back to the area of Nyhavn. I feel as if this is the picture of Denmark everyone gets in their heads. Colorful houses and wooden sailboats, picture-perfect. At the front of the harbor is a large anchor in memory of the 2000 sailors who lost their lives in WWII. Denmark's navy valiantly sank all their ships rather than turn them over for Nazi use. Way to go, Denmark.

Next we saw a giant department store and hotel, the building on the spot where Hans Christian Andersen originally moved in to when he first came to Copenhagen, across from the royal theatre. We heard some cute stories about good old Hans C., including a tale revolving around his friendship with my homie Charles Dickens.

We took a quick coffee break at Baresso (I gather its the Starbucks of Denmark), and then continued on the tour. Our next stop was Amalienborg, the royal palace complex, consisting of 4 palaces. One for Queen Margrete and her hubby Henrik, one for crown prince Frederick, his Tasmanian wifey Mary and their four kids, one gallery-type palace open to the public, and one more where the royal family receives other royal families and dignitaries etc.

Igor told us some cool facts about the Queen, the dopest being the fact that she speaks 7 languages, which facilitated her being the person responsible for the Danish translation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. What a cool lady!

After our walking tour (which took about 3 and a 1/2 hours), Milla and I stopped at a teeny tiny Italian restaurant for lunch. Then we took on the Strøget. We didn't finish the whole thing (it's huge), but tackled a good chunk of it. I got a cute dress for a steal at 199kroner.

Posing by a lovely fountain

After shopping, Milla led the way to a bar she'd discovered earlier in the week. It was called "Mikkeller", and. little bit off the beaten tourist path. I loved the atmosphere to bits. Very chill, with mismatched chairs and tables and isolated drawers hanging off the walls. They have a rotation of 20 craft beers on tap at any one time, and a super knowledgable bar staff. Milla works at an English pub at home, so she knew what she wanted (hoppy hoppy hoppy!), and the bartender was able to recommend to me a couple beers for "a non beer drinker who doesn't like anything bitter". Milla and I each bought a round. I tried a beer with a hint of lemon that I really enjoyed, and another that was almost sweet, but also really refreshing. One of Milla's choices was a port with chili overtones that was super interesting.

Me and Milla at Mikkeller

After a great time at the bar, Milla ad I stopped at an all-you-can-eat sushi place on the way back to our hostel for dinner. I was pretty impressed, sushi snob that I am. We took a bus back to the Generator and soon after our arrival there, went to bed.

The next day was another one with lots of walking. Stay tuned to read all about it!

Last night in Amsterdam

My last day in Amsterdam (for the first bit anyways), was a grand one, and deserving of its own blog post.

In the morning, Jenny and Lisa went off to campus to study, and I decided to stay home for a little bit to get some laundry done. The world's sneakiest pair of pink underwear somehow found their way into my mostly white wash...so that was great. My white teeshirt and blouse are no longer so white, but a strange pinky hue. Just ecstatic with that discovery, I set off to buy replacements, and also to get my hands on some Dutch toothpaste. I ended up finding some nice and relatively cheap teeshirts at the Hema, so I bought a white replacement tee and a black one as well. No luck on the blouse yet.

I took a good stroll through Amsterdam, with no goal in particular. It's such a beautiful city, aimlessly wandering is a perfectly acceptable activity. I met Lisa and Jenny, and Jenny's Scottish friend Becky back near Rembrant's House for lunch. We wanted to eat at this little black canal house place that we'd had our eye on for a while.

It turned out to be more a bar than a restaurant, but the view from their canalside patio made everything ok. I ate many cheese cubes, essentially their only g-free option. Lisa and Jenny split some Bitterballen, and since they're so authentically Dutch, I tried one despite the breading. If I could eat handfuls of them without the consequences, I totally would. Yum.

After our snack, I accompanied Lisa and Jenny back to their campus cafeteria where they were studying with Frank. About an hour later, Jenny graciously lent me her bike, and Lisa and I started what would be a most splendid of evenings.

Our bike ride across town to the Heineken Experience was a lovely one. We cycled along tree lined paths and across beautiful bridges, the canals glowing underneath in the setting sun. We managed to get some sweet action shots along the ride as well.

me and the bestie!

We first made the mistake of walking into the actual Heineken headquarters, and then arrived next door at the "experience" (they're very adamant it's not a museum).

It was neat to see how the family brewing business started, and to get a hands on look at how beer is brewed. We got to taste the malted barley and smell the hops pre-brewing, and then also tasted the weird sweet watery drink produced before hops is added in the process.

After walking through the brewing room (at the site of Heineken's first real brewery) we gathered round a bar with our fellow tourists and had a taste of the final result. Prost! We learned why the head on the beer is important, and how to properly slam it back. On our mostly empty stomachs, it was here that Lisa and I already began to feel slightly tipsy.

The next room was a chill lounge were you could sit back and watch Heineken commercials from a few different countries. The museum- sorry, "experience" was starting to shut down by then, so we were rushed through the final exhibits, but Lisa did get to fulfill her life long dream of DJing.

In the "international bar" we had about 5-10 minutes to finish the two free beers we each got with our ticket. We accomplished this with a very strategic round of "never have I ever". Then we rushed out of the building and across the bridge to catch the last canal ride going to the brand store.

On the Heineken Cruise

On this drunken cruise of ours, Lis and I kept the Heineken flowing in their new weird black light bottles. The ride took us as far as Lisa's place, where we were told there was no return trip. This would have been ok, except that our bikes were on the other end. No matter, we decided, and walked to the grocery store to buy a six pack of Heineken (why not, right?).

Back at Lisa's dorm, we "iced" Jenny (a strange ritual where you hide a Smirnoff Ice in someone's bag and upon finding it, they're made to get down on one knee and chug it) and convinced her to walk back to the HE with us to fetch the bikes, and then go out for dinner.

We polished off the 6 pack on the walk, again with the backwards version of never have I ever. The Heineken Headquarters received some sweet street art that night. At the bikes, Lisa and I confirmed that despite the fact we can't do it sober, we are excellent drunken double-bike-riders. Off we went in that fashion, and settled on having dinner at the Hardrock Café, cause Jenny had never been.

After more drinking, and eating, and splitting a delicious dessert, we three got back on the bikes and ended up heading into Museumplein. I got to take pictures with the famed "I Amsterdam" sign, so...check!

On the bike ride back home, I unfortunately started feeling queasy, so we had to postpone the rest of our plans for the evening, which involved a variation on our intoxication at a strange treehouse. I'm sure that moment will occur eventually.

I got quite sick that night- enough to consider rescheduling my flight to Copenhagen, which it was of course too late to do. Lisa shot up like a bolt at about 5AM with my same symptoms, so we've come to the conclusion that perhaps a contaminated grill at the Hardrock gave us a touch of food poisoning.

It wasn't easy to get up and head to the airport at 7:45 that morning, but somehow I managed. It ended off kind of brutally, but on the whole, t'was a night to remember.

Peach Basket Catch-Me-Up

For anyone who didn't catch the reference in tonight's post title, I urge you to watch/rewatch "New Girl" episode "The Normal" from season 1 (it's the one with True American, and therefore worth your while).

Tonight's post title also has practicality in it. It's time for a massive catchup! I'm a week behind!

Last Thursday, I finished my Jewish Quarter walk in the morning by visiting the Jewish Historical Museum. The JHM was housed in a former synagogue, and the first floor exhibit detailed the history of Jews in Holland from 1900-present. Each section of the exhibit included a brief summary inscribed on the outside wall of the floor, a display of pertinent artifacts and sometimes art in the middle of the room, and in the corridor created between the two, each section had its own little touchscreen where you could watch interviews with people whose lives had been effected by the given section of history. It was sweet.

After the JHM I was supposed to meet Lisa outside her class so we could explore the flower market together. I suppose you could say I did this. But it sure didn't happen in a timely manner. After assuring Lisa in the morning that I knew where I was going that morning, I went and got myself epically lost among the streets, canals and bridges of Amsterdam. Every corner looks the same!!! And of course without wifi, I couldn't let Lisa know I was lost/late. It sucked big time. I was so mad at myself.

The great thing about being in the same city as your bestie is that she can make days like this better, and quite make you forget what a fool you felt like mere moments earlier. We bought Gerber daisies to brighten our collective day from a cute Dutch man named Bean. Across from the floor market were several cheese shops from which we pilfered many samples of cheese. The ladies who work in the cheese shops wear funny hats. That also made my day better. There was a "Christmas Palace" store. That also made my day better.

Bloemenbar

That night, Lisa, Jenny and I went out for dinner together at a swanky place in Rembrantplein and then met Lisa's classmates at "Bloemenbar" for drinks. It was a cool little place, with hipster vintagey decor. The night ended with my tragic discovery of carbonated iced tea. Ew.

Friday was a very chill day, as I was sadly feeling somewhat fluey. Lisa and I did hit up the flea market though, and I nabbed some good deals on jewels. That evening, Lisa and I headed into Utrecht for a girly night with Carmen and her roommate Alicija. We watched trashy shows like "Dr. Phil" and "16 and Pregnant", and ate chips and chocolate. It was awesome.

Utrecht

The next day, Saturday, we saw the highlights of Utrecht, which included a sweet old church split in two parts due to a olden times hurricane. I was also introduced to the magic that is Sascha. The Dutch shoe store that has single handedly convinced me I need to buy another suitcase to bring home. I died.

That night we headed back to Lisa's dorm for pre drinking before the ADE show. Jenny introduced us to Irish Poker, and I brought the "Captain Asshole" rule into play for King's Cup (imagine that. ME contributing something new and fun to a drinking game!).

ADE at Melkweg

Me, Lis and Carmen caught a cab to Leidseplein around 1:30, and met up at Melkweg with Jenny and Frank who had biked. The "Amsterdam Dance Event" taking place there that night was something else. Quintessentially Amsterdam, I think it's fair to say. Sweaty, drunk, dirty and dancing til 5am pretty much sums up the night. Oh. And Beatz. Sweaty, drunk, dirty, dancing beatz.

Sunday morning we made an amazing brunch. Hashbrowns, scrambles eggs, pancakes, croissants, fried tomatoes, baked beans, bacon. Cheese and maple syrup on everything. Killer.

That's it for now folks. Stay tuned for tales of my last day in Amsterdam (round one) and of my days in Denmark!

One Week

It's Thursday afternoon, 2:43 Amsterdam time, meaning I've officially completed one week of my seven week adventure in Europe. In some ways, I can't believe it's been a week already, but in others, it feels like I've been here for a while and home feels really far away. The last couple days I've squeezed in a lot of what I wanted to see in Amsterdam, and I'm looking forward to heading off to Denmark and experiencing something new.

Yesterday Lisa had class, so when she headed out to do some learning, I headed out to do some exploring. I walked through the market and made my way to Museum Het Rembranthuis- the Rembrant house museum.

I find it so neat that the city has preserved so many original historical buildings- the home of famous painter Rembrant being one of them. It was really neat to walk around in the rooms where he did his paintings, and where he sold them. The museum offered a free audio guide, and I really enjoyed going through the house with it. It wasn't too stuffy or verbose, just interesting and informative. It pointed out things I never would have noticed on my own...like that people used to paint wooden door frames and mantles in a style called "marbling" to make their rooms look more stately. I could've sworn those parts of Rembrant's bedroom were the real deal, but when you get up close, you can see its just paint! Similarly, Rembrant's box bed had little gems strewn about the wood work- just painted black to look like ebony.

In the room where Rembrant did his etchings, there was a young girl, hands covered in ink, doing a demonstration. It was all in Dutch, but with loads of visual aids, so I think I caught the gist. It was very cool seeing all the various tools artists would use to etch into the copper- to see the different kinds of lines produced. At the end of the demo, the girl covered a copper sheet in ink, placed a piece of vellum paper over it, and rolled it through an old school printing press. So cool to see a beautifully constructed drawing come out on the other end.

The rest of the house was interesting as well, particularly a room where Rembrant kept his "natural collections". Things like seashells, corral and various stones. Weird. But cool, and apparently a thing back then. Meant you were worldly I suppose.

My plan had been to do the "Jewish Quarter" walk from my Frommer's book that day, but I was meeting Lisa for lunch and knew I wouldn't have enough time at the next stop on the walk- another museum. Instead, I walked in the general direction of her campus, admiring canals and cute storefront displays along the way.

When I reached our meeting place - a "Coffee Company" on a corner, I hunkered down and did some journaling while gazing out the window. Everything here is so pretty.

I hung out with Lisa and her classmates for a couple hours, enjoying a super yummy (and super cheap!) bowl of tomato soup from the school caf.

When Lis went back to class, I finished up the end of the Jewish Quarter walk. This involved visiting the Dock Worker's memorial and the Auschwitz Memorial.

When the deportation of Dutch Jews began in February of 1941, the dock workers went on strike in protest. It was the only protest of its kind in all of occupied Europe and was quickly and heftily crushed. In Jonas Daniël Meijerplein, very close to Lisa's place, a bronze statue stands in memory of this rare act of resistance against the Nazi regime.

Nearby, just a few blocks away really is a teeny-tiny little park that houses the memorial for Dutch Jews who lost their lives in Auschwitz. It's a very unassuming thing. You may not even notice it's there if you weren't looking for it. But boy. What a powerful statement the artist Jan Wolkers made in designing this memorial.

In my last year of uni, I took a contemporary lit class on Holocaust literature. It was understandably an incredibly heavy class, but also one f my favourites out of my whole degree. For my final paper in that class, I did a pretty overarching thing, looking at sky imagery as it relates to the Shoah in practically my whole syllabus, which included novels, poetry and a collection of short stories. I looked at a few different ways the sky is represented in this challenging and emotional genre. I'm not going to argue my thesis on a blog spot post, but I basically looked at how the sky could be viewed as a symbol for humanity, and how the fact that the sky remained the same as always during the Holocaust is problematic.

Maybe Wolkers read my paper. No, obviously he didn't. But he seemed to be working with the same idea. An explanatory note alongside the memorial discusses how the sky remained expansive and beautiful "as if over a field of flowers", which atrocities were being committed below. To dispute this, Wolkers covered the ground where urns of ashes from Auschwitz lie in Dutch soil with six panels of broken mirrors. In this space, never again will the sky appear unbroken, unblemished. Instead, it will reflect the pain and destruction it impossibly should have in WWII. "Nooit Meer Auschwitz" reads the inscription. Never again Auschwitz.

Lisa and I made gnocchi for dinner last night, and watched a couple movies with Frank and Jenny. Today is a gross rainy day. I've spent almost all of it inside. This post is already really long, so I'll keep you in suspense and tell you about my day later.

Anne Frankhuis

Last night, after meeting back up with Lisa, we walked into the Prinsegracht area to visit the Anne Frank museum.

We grabbed frites with saus on the way. So Dutch. We had to stand outside a bit when we got to the museum, but it wasn't raining, and the line wasn't long, so it was ok.

It's pretty incredible how they transformed the original hiding place of the Frank family into an accessible museum. You start off in a room that gives you some background info and then you legit walk across a hall into Otto Frank's jam factory.

It's hard to put into words quite what the experience was like. It's one thing to read Holocaust literature, watch movies and visit memorials, but it's entirely anther to stand literally in the same spot that symbolizes such terrible atrocities. To be in a room where 8 people lived for 2 years, in hiding from persecution in their own countries, and in the place where these 8 people learned they had been betrayed and were sent, essentially (all but one) to their deaths.

It felt strange. It felt surreal. I felt a bit nauseous.

I'm so glad to have seen it though. So glad that when he returned from Auschwitz and learned all his family had perished in the holocaust, Otto Frank decided to turn the annex into a museum. It's so, so important that people go there and through the story of one family-one girl really- remember. Just remember.

The museum is very tasteful and simplistic. On some walls, there are inscriptions from Anne's diary. There are a couple displays, but for the most part the rooms are completely empty. The guide book explains how after the Franks and their friends were deported to concentration camps, the home was raided of all furniture. Upon returning and developing plans for the museum, Otto Frank insisted the rooms remain empty, to symbolize the emptiness left by those who would never return.

You know, Anne Frank wasn't just a girl whose diary happened to get published and who happened to live through a terrible terrible thing. She was a real writer. A good one. It doesn't do justice to say it was such an enormous tragedy what happened to so many Jewish people in Europe in the Shoah. Definitely a solemn and thoughtful experience.

A day at the Dam

I'm sitting in the square, gazing at the national monument and quite enjoying the playful wind. Time to chronicle.

When you're gluten-free, finding a place that will make you a version of something you usually can't eat, your day is made.

Today was such a day.

For the first time in 2 years, I started my day off with a bagel and cream cheese. Best.

Breakfast at Bagels & Beans

Feast your eyes upon that g-free bagel!

After our breakfast at Bagel&Beans, Lisa headed to Coffee Company to study, and I wandered off aimlessly in the somewhat general direction of the Dam, for a day of exploring and hitting up museums.

I walked along a couple different canals before stumbling across an ikea-like store called "Hema" where I was able to buy both soap for Denmark and a glue-stick for journaling. Score. When I paid for my stuff, I had my first entirely Dutch transaction. The cashier must've thought I was either incredibly quiet or incredibly stupid, but I managed to chirp out a "dank u wel" without suffering a heart attack, so go me.

There was an H&M in the mall too and I bought a cute pink corduroy skirt. The bathrooms cost 50cents to use, so with an "aww heeeelll no", I set off in the direction of the Amsterdam museum where I knew they had free bathrooms, and where I wanted to revisit anyways.

After sticking it to the colloquial toilet-man I headed to the upstairs "Amsterdam DNA" exhibit to check out what I hadn't had a chance to see on the weekend. When I scanned my personal code to get my - oh shit. A little blonde Dutch boy just caught a pigeon and gave it a big ol' hug. Who does that!?

Anyways. Your DNA options are "civil mindedness", "creativity" and some others I can't remember, but the computer spat me out as being comprised of 100% "freedom of thought". Amsterdam is getting to me. Watch out also for a dorky shot of me wearing a 17th century "civil guard" uniform soon gracing the inter webs.

After that quick fix of history, I headed back down kalverstraat and ducked into a jewelry shop called "six" and bought a pair of cute earrings and a collapsible umbrella that I'm sure will come in handy in the following weeks.

At the palace

Eventually I emerged back in the Dam, and took a stroll around the Royal Palace. The Dutch royal family used to live there, but now they have a different pad, so the old one is pretty open to the public. It was opulent and big and nice, but once you've seen Versailles I feel as if you've seen it all, so I can't say I was overly impressed.

The palace only took me about 15 mins and then I went to the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) where there was kinda an Andy Warhol exhibit on, but it was really just one painting and the some books on a table. The church itself was nice though, with a pretty massive organ and some nice stonework etc.

I got out of the church at about 4:45, and now I'm waiting to meet up with my little bookworm so we can continue our day together. Later days!

Pigeons in the Dam