I've been in the hostel only 2.5 hours and I don't like it already. Sometimes I don't like a place at first because it is new and different, but then I get used to it and I grow to enjoy it. Maybe I'll feel better about it tomorrow.
It started pouring after Shri and I got here but it has stopped now, so we may walk to the the metro station (about half a mile) to see if we can find a phone there that will take a phone card. We ended up taking quite a long walk and we did find a phone, and Shari was able to call her mother to wish her a happy birthday, but we couldn't get our calls through to the next 2 hostels to make reservations. It was a nice night for walking, so we ended up walking for about 1.5 hours.
7/27: Today was an interesting day.We started out thinking we would do laundry and then go out, but we never checked the laundry room hours - no luck. It is open only from 1PM to midnight. We did have better luck with the phone at the metro though. We tried including the country code along with the phone numbers and it worked, so we were able to make reservations for Odense and Aeroskobing. You just never know what works for phone numbers in the various countries.
It started out looking pretty grey today so we weren't sure what we would do if it rained. We took the metro to the city and went to Use It and used the internet for a while. We had talked about seeing Tivoli Gardens, taking a canal tour, doing a walk in Christianshavn, or going for a tour of the Danish Resistance Museum, but it was raining when we came out of Use It so we decided to go to the Erotica Museum, which wasn't too far from Use It. "Sex, Love and Pornography - What's the Difference?" the brochure says - find the answer in Museum Erotica.
Well, it was quite a place - not exactly the Museum of Fine Arts, but boy was it interesting. We were there for just under 2.5 hours and they had quite a variety of exhibits from erotica art in pottery, plantings and sculptures, to stories on famous people's sex lives, to displays of sexual paraphanalia, to a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, to the Shock Room (I won't describe what was there but it was very garphic videos and pictures). A unique Danish experience!
We left the museum just after 2:30 and walked very quickly over to Christianshavn for the 3PM tour of Christiania. In 1917, an abandoned military camp was taken over by squatters who proclaimed it the "free state" of Christiania. About 1,000 people settled there and started their own collective businesses and schools. It's most famous for Pushorstreet where hashish is openly (though not legally) smoked and sold. It was a great tour by a man who has lived there many years. It's a fascinating place and it was so interesting to hear how life has evolved there over the past 30 years from someone who is a "native." It was also amazing to see the booths of hash lining the sides of Pusherstreet.
Our guide explained the laws of Christinaia. The main ones are no hard rugs are allowed to be sold (cocaine, heroin, amphetimines or ecstacy), no violence against people for money, no guns (although he said people do have them). About 900 people live there now (650 adults and 250 children) and 300 dogs. Another law is the dogs can run free during the day but must be kept indoors after dusk. Mostly artists and tradespeople live there and they seem to be pretty peaceful people.
The tour was listed as only 1.5 hours, but our guide loved to talk and it actually lasted a little over 2 hours. I know if we had stayed he would have kept talking. He had a very interesting life - was born in New York, was abandoned by his mother, grew up in orphanages, went to Hunter College (also attended university in Denmark), taught school in the States, 5 months in Nepal, and at a University in Copenhagen. A fascinating person and a goodstory teller. He makes his living as a tour guide and a rap singer.
We got back to the hostel about 7PM and I said to Shari it's amazing how comfortable you can get with a place in just 24 hours. We know how the phone works, the metro, the railroad, the ins and outs of the hostel and where things are located in Copenhagen. I'm definitely feeling better about this place tonight than I did last night.
7/28: We had to hang around the hostel until after 10AM to get the key to our new room. Everyone is supposed to check out by 10, but the people in our new room hadn't checked out by 10:15 and we needed to get the key so we could leave our big packs in their room. The man from reception went to the room and came back and told us it was a family in the room, and we could go there and leave our packs. Well, I was kind of annoyed, but when we went to the room this charming older Polish man was there with his 3 grandsons. He talked to us for about 10 minutes, about his vacation with his grandkids (17 hours on a ferry for part of it) and how he had relatives in Quincy, Massachusetts (where I grew up) and how he lived in Boston for 6 months. He was so nice and interesting that I forgot all about being annoyed or having to leave the hostel later than I wanted.
Our first stop today was a canal boat tour and once again we had a terrific guide. It was an hour tour and we got great views of Copenhagen from the water. It realy is a lovely city - different colored buildings attached to each other, lots of waterways, and some beautiful old churches and buildings.
Next we went to the Royal Library to use the computer to get some airline information, and then we walked to the Church of Our Savior that we had seen during the canal tour. It took 13.5 years to build - 1682 to 1696 - and it is truly a work of art; the font, the altar. the organ and the pulpit are magnificent. Best of all, it has a very unique spire which consists of an external staircase that twists around four times. On the way to the top protection is provided in the form of a guilded iron railing. There are 400 steps to the top of the spire, 150 of which are outside, and we walked to the top. Interesting to see the inside construction on the way up, and wonderful views from the outside staircase. It was worth getting up high for a panorama view of Copenhagen.
Our final sightseeing for the day was Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli is a 160 year old amusement park right in the heart of Copenhagen. It is a mishmash of gardens, food pavillions, amusement rides and stage shows. We checked out the schedule of shows when we entered the park about 4PM, because we only bought an entrance ticket that didn't include the amusement rides. We first saw a half hour performance by the Tivoli Orchestra, then a show at the Pantomime Theatre which was fun to watch. Next was a combination show - trapeze artists from Germany, a magic show and a juggler. Each of these acts was accompanied by the Tivoli Big Band and the music definetly added to the show. Last was a half hour peformance by the Tivoli Big Band.
We bought frozen pizza at a store in the train station and cooked it for dinner when we got back to the hostel about 10PM. All in all, a very good day.
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