My Scandinavian Adventure began with my first flight on RyanAir. How I managed to get through 6 months of living in Europe as a college student without flying on RyanAir is baffling, but suffice it to say that the airline has always slightly terrified me. If you can offer flights for as low as $10, you must be drastically cutting back spending in other areas, and I have no way of knowing that those areas aren’t, you know, vital airplane parts or skilled pilots.
But, now, my thrift outweighs my fears, and I’m a RyanAir convert. As long as you know what you’re getting into (very small seats, no free beverage cart, etc) and jump through their hoops, it’s an excellent money-saver.
Anyway, after flying to Copenhagen, I arrived in the city center around 4pm. I’m trying not to come over all starry-eyed, but it is definitely a city of fairy tales (appropriately enough, as it’s also where Hans Christian Anderson penned his famous stories). The afternoon light was making the colorful buildings (the city’s original red light district) glow, a busking clarinetist was playing “Moon River,” and there were a surprisingly high number of hotdog stands.
Of course, within about fifteen minutes of absolute, Danish bliss, there was a brief but fierce gale and torrential downpour. It only lasted a short time, however, and then it was back to sunny, storybook skies.
After checking in to my hostel, I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening just wandering around and checking out the city-no specific “to do” list. I ended up making the requisite walk to see the Little Mermaid statue, and it was… underwhelming. The statue itself is beautiful, but the experience is spoiled slightly by the hordes of people getting their photo taken with her.
The next morning was getting lost on my way to the free walking tour (but meeting up with the group before they’d gone too far!) and learning more about the city. As with any deluge of information, however, I barely remember any of it, except that a lot of buildings burned down over the course of Copenhagen’s history. And then they usually burned down again.
The National Museum was up next and is definitely worth a serious chunk of time. In a couple of hours, I managed to only see one small fraction of the building and its exhibits. Clearly, I need to go back again.
One of my “must see’s” of the trip was Christiania, although I didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect. What does an area that’s declared itself a sovereign state look like? Turns out, it’s not so much what it looks like as what it smells like. Although marijuana is illegal in Denmark, it’s tolerated in Christiania by the authorities. Hash shops line “Pusher Street,” affectionately (I guess) called the “Green Light District.” While the shops are obvious, they still seem to pay tribute to a certain degree of concealment, covering the small shacks with netting, cloth, and fake leaves. There is a “no pictures” rule in Christiania, and the dealers themselves are completely covered up with no facial features visible, making it clear that, while the industry is tolerated, its well-known existence is still perhaps tenuous and participants walk an uncertain line with authorities.
Christiania has existed since 1971 and was created in old army barracks. Governments over the years have exerted varying levels of control over the community, some enacting raids and some just letting them be.
That night was Tivoli Gardens, which I’d not originally planned on seeing, because there is about a $15 entrance fee. But, take it from me, it is absolutely worth it, especially after dark.
There are even peacocks wandering around. It doesn’t get much better than that.
After two full days in Copenhagen, I took a train to Lund, Sweden. It takes about an hour to get there, but only half an hour to go in the opposite direction, owing to numerous passport checks one way and none the other.
After being in a capital city, it was nice to go to a smaller town and relax. I ended up doing more relaxing than I’d intended, however, as both of Lund’s museums (which I was pretty excited about) were closed on Monday, the only day I was there. Monday closings are normal in Europe, but I’d completely forgotten about that. So, I wandered around, went to the Botanic Gardens, and sat in the sun.
Although I would love to have seen more places or made a longer trip, it’s nice to be back in Dublin where things aren’t quite so expensive.
Going Out Your Door 