I had a hard time falling asleep the night before. The couch was comfy, and I had my eye mask and ear plugs, so the fact that I left the windows open did not matter (otherwise the street lamp was very bright and the traffic was noisy). But I had gone to bed around 11 pm and I know I didn't fall asleep until after 2 am.
My alarm woke me up at 7. I got showered. Lindsay had toasted some rolls and made coffee, so I ate breakfast while Viggo finished his cereal.
This is the view of the courtyard from the bathroom. Or maybe the kitchen. I can't remember now.
Lindsay took Viggo to school (or daycare, or summer camp,...I can't remember exactly) around 8:15. I wasn't scheduled to pick up the car at the airport till noon. So I decided to walk around and see a bit of Copenhagen before taking the train back to the airport. Lindsay offered me a key so that I could leave my bag at their flat and then come back to get my bag when I was ready for the airport. Perfect!
It would have been a drag to take my bag all over Copenhagen. Get it? Did you see what I did there?
In consulting google maps, I noticed that Lindsay's flat was only 2 km from the little mermaid statue. That's the one thing I knew was a "thing to see" in Copenhagen. When I mentioned it to Lindsay, she sort of groaned and told me it was overrated. She said the parks and gardens were the prettiest things to see in Copenhagen. But I had walked through the botanical gardens the day before, so I thought I'd do the mermaid just to mark that one off my list.
On the way to the little mermaid, I photographed something you don't usually see in Denmark. A jaywalker! Now that I look closer at the photo, though, there is a break in the median where the girl is heading, so she's probably legit. Danes!
When I got to the little mermaid statue, the first thing I noticed was a big group of tourists. I think they were Italian. An old guy was climbing on to the rocks beside the statue and putting his arm around the mermaid for a picture. I was annoyed. My immediate thought was that he was ruining the photos for everyone else who was there to take a picture of the statue. It would be different if the statue was in the middle of a park, where standing beside it would be normal. But you have to climb over rocks in the water to get to her. I wished the statue had been placed a bit more out in the harbor. I always pictured her on a little island for some reason.
As Trine had warned, the statue was small, which for some might be underwhelming. She's about human-size.
I didn't even stop. The tourists were so unappealing that I walked by as if I was only there for a walk. A souvenir vendor was selling little mermaid trinkets, and I overheard a lady complaining that the things were too expensive. Yeah, welcome to Denmark, lady.
I walked to a park that had a toilet, then sat on a bench and enjoyed the cool shade. It was another hot day already. I took a park selfie. It was early (maybe 9 am) and other than the tourists at the mermaid, there were only a few joggers here and there.
I relocated to a spot in my park where I could see the mermaid mob in the distance. I decided to wait until the bus packed up and left, then I would go to the mermaid and have my private quiet time with her. The bus finally loaded up and rumbled away and I started walking. But before I got to her, another bus pulled up and a hundred Asian tourists poured out and mobbed the mermaid before I got there. I knew then that the idea of having private time was futile, so I took this selfie amidst all the Asians and bid the little mermaid adieu:
I apologize for the blur on the right side of the image. It turned out that the edge of my phone's screen protector was half covering the selfie camera. I corrected it later this night, but all the selfies up until then have the blur on the right. I don't use the selfie camera very often.
My little mermaid mission accomplished and stilla few hours to kill, I hopped on a city bus and rode it into the middle fo the city. When it looked like I was in the town center with lots of big buildings and tourists, I got off and took a few pics:
I likewise do not know what this building is. I don't do the tourist thing very well.
The same busline going the opposite direction pulled up, so I hopped on and rode back towards Lindsay's flat. As I walked, I passed by the United States embassy. Just like the embassy in Costa Rica, there was a line of people outside waiting to get in. I thought it would be fun to take a photo of the embassy. The best sign was behind the people in line, and I didn't want to photograph anyone in line, just out of respect. So I settled for the smaller sign that had the hours listed. As soon as I raised my phone, one of the guards told me "No pictures." I said, "Uh, okay" with a bit of confusion and tucked my camera back into my pocket and walked away. Is it wrong to feel a little indignant at being told by a guard with a Danish accent that I can't take a photo of my own embassy? Anyway, I knew it would be good fodder for my blog, even without the photo.
I walked back to the flat, got my bag, and dropped their keys in the mailbox. I dragged my bag to the Nørreport train station. My roll and coffee was long gone and I knew once I got on the train, my only food options would be airport or freeway exit. So I looked around for a bite. I had seen travel videos that recommended pølse as a Copenhagen street food. Pølse is basically a hot dog, though their's have a few variations. Since I hadn't yet actually gotten a true pølse in Copenhagen, I looked for a stand and soon found one. I had 30 dkk in coins, so I chose one that cost exactly 30. It looked like your basic hot dog, with ketchup and mustard. But then the Danish differences began. It had Danish remoulade, slices of pickle (as opposed to relish) and fried onions. I found an out-of-the-way nook to eat and I devoured it. It was messy and delicious. I could have definitely eaten another one. Or two. Maybe I was just really hungry, but at that moment, it tasted like the best thing I'd ever eaten.
I found the train and headed back to the airport. The train was super hot again. I wonder if the trains are also cold in the winter.
I got inside the airport at 11:30. Still had half an hour to kill. I was thirsty after my pølse, and still a little hungry, so I went to the 7-11 where we had picnicked back on June 25. Eager to recapture the bliss of my street pølse, I got a hot dog (this one was called a Fransk hot dog, not pølse) and a Coke. A Fransk hot dog is kind of silly. They take a french baguette, cut the end off, poke (or cut) a longways hole into the end of the baguette, squirt whatever condiments you want into the hole, and then stick the hot dog in and push it down. I didn't take a photo of mine, but here's one off google images:
The thing I didn't like was that the first bites are all meat, and the last bites are all bread. But I gotta hand it to 7-11, the bread was good. It tasted like a fresh French baguette, not a lame old hot dog bun. I might try making them at home.
There's a Coke marketing thing going on this summer where they have different names on the bottles. I don't know if they're doing this in the States too. I couldn't find a suitable name, and the cashier was waiting, so I grabbed this one:
It's a feminine Nordic name, pronounced Luna. But I thought it could be suitably reappropriated to describe my trip to Copenhagen.
At noon, I got the keys to our fifth and final car in Europe. Just like the first time we rented on June 18, Sixt told me they were giving me a free upgrade to a BMW. And it was a diesel, which made me happy.
Third trip across the $42 bridge. I really didn't want to take another photo, but we've joked that we're going to get our money's worth out of every crossing, so here we go.
I listened to the radio the whole journey back, which took about four hours. Got a few ideas for some slide show music (anyone heard of Peter Fox?).
I got a little lost in Hamburg because a road was closed off for construction, and all I had was a print out of google maps directions. So I had to use my phone, and the connection was slow, and there wasn't anywhere to pull over. So I'd stop at a red light, then madly try to figure out where I was on my phone before the light turned green. And many of the streets in Hamburg do not have clear signage. But I finally made it back to Martin's place.
We cooked dinner while the kids watched Johnny English (they're on a Rowan Atkinson kick) and then we walked to Lidl for some groceries and ice cream. On the way back we stopped at a park.
The photobomber in the back was a teenager hanging out with friends. He said, "Hambuuuuuurg!"
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