Copenhagen

Tuesday April 16

This morning we woke up and flew to Copenhagen.

Copenhagen in similar enough to Amsterdam that it will invite endless comparisons. Our hotel is outside of town, across a bridge that’s under construction. It makes a difference where the hotel is – when you’re in town everything feels closer. Copenhagen is a coastal city and has some canals and lots of bike paths and bikers, but all of the buildings are larger and more blocky – there are fewer trees and larger streets and squares. It’s not as charming as Amsterdam was.

`We couldn’t immediately check in so we walked up the street to a nearby mall. Carter wanted sushi, so we sat down and had a tasty but expensive sushi lunch – probably $100 lunch for the four of us. The exchange rate here is .15 kroner = 1 dollar, so divide everything by 6. Sounds like it should be cheap, but things are expensive here! We got the boys swimsuits as there is a pool here and I got sneakers.

After checking in and taking a nap, we walked towards the downtown. The wind is brisk and it’s chilly here, the same temperature we started out with in Amsterdam/ Hopefully it warms up here too. We walked down the streets, past cobblestone squares with foreboding turrets rising above the smaller buildings. The towers appear periodically, looming over the city streets like an angry god with a watchful eye.

We walked a while and found an Italian restaurant named Mama’s Pizzeria. They sat us upstairs in a corner and immediately forgot we were there – it was dark and warm and we could see people passing on the street and so we wereOK for a while. Finally our waiter came and we ordered pizzas and Carter ordered spaghetti and meatballs. The waiter said he has traveled to Florida to work at Disneyworld and met a girl from Michigan. He wants to go back to the states because “It’s better there”. After he left, we reminded the boys (and ourselves) that we are lucky to be living in the states.

We had to chase him down for the bill, but then set out for the colored houses along the canal. The boys only wore sweatshirts and I know they were cold. We walked until we found it and then turned back towards the Main Street and got churros and chocolate and peanuts – we each had two and that was just enough. Some guys got ice cream on there’s – looked good but it was way to cold for ice cream!

We walked back, past Tivoli Gardens all lit up with neon and colorful lights. The rides are both familiar and strange – swings that rise way up above the city and smaller rides that tumble a lot further than they would in the states. Familiar and strange.

We are back now and in the hotel. The hotel decor is reminicisent of a circus or carnival – many mirrors (luckily no smoke!) and bright red and a jester type pattern on the floor.