Last Day in Copenhagen

This was an interesting day.  We decided to venture into Christiania. As Jon mentioned in the previous post, this area was founded by hippies in the 1970’s (you can read more about it  here ). Christiania is located in the borough of Christianhavn so, we walked over and stopped to eat some lunch at Cafe Wilder (highly recommend if you’re in the area!). As we entered into Christiania, ‘No camera’ signs were posted everywhere so, we got the point and decided to refrain from capturing the details of this experience on camera.  We continued through the entrance and made our way through the graffiti, drugs, trash fires, and tie-died clothing and other ‘things’ vendors.  For those of you who are fans of the HBO series “The Wire”, it was as if Bunny Colvin’s ‘Hampsterdam’ actually existed only, selling pot and mushrooms instead of crack and heroin. Needless to say, it didn’t take us long to show ourselves out.  We picked up some bikes and headed back to the Latin quarter.

Later that night...

This was the first night we got out to dinner well before 10pm to ensure the kitchens weren’t closed (we’ve run into this issue a few times now).  We were both starving so, we took a walk down to the wharf and of all the restaurants, we decided on the one that had ‘king crab’ (love me some crab legs!).  Crab legs are and will always be something I splurge on whether I’m at Red Lobster or, at Joe’s Seafood in Chicago.  This was no exception---except it was.  And, here’s why...  I asked the waitress “these are crab legs right? Not the crab body?”, she simply answers “yes”.  Ok. Perfect.  I’m thinking for 190 Kroner ($36) , I would get at least a good pound or more of crab legs and I’d get my fill for the trip.  Jon orders a steak and we’re both happy....that is, until the food comes out.  Jon’s ‘steak’ looked like something you would get with eggs at Denny’s (and said it tasted like it too), and mine?  They set the plate down in front of me and there lies ONE crab LEG cracked in half as my entire meal (whaaa????!).  I started to wonder if maybe they just brought them out one at a time and there were 6-7 more plates waiting for me behind the scenes. Well, that was wishful thinking and I left there hungry and in shock/disbelief that the person that runs that place can sleep at night knowing they’re making hundreds of dollars off one little crab!  Even though this was an obvious disappointment, we won’t hold that against the rest of the city ;)

We continue our night by walking down the street to find this cool little pub that was founded in the 1700‘s called ‘Barock’. There were maybe one or two people in the bar plus us.  We sit down, Jon orders a specialty beer and I get a french onion soup.  Next thing you know we’re both singing Don Mclean's ‘American pie” at the top of our lungs and laughing.  Needless to say, this was a great ending to our Copenhagen visit!  

Off to Paris...oui, oui!

xxj

Guest Posting: Live from Copenhagen

Jon here.

So before we get into Copenhagen, lets reflect on a couple of random topics. First, we'll start with European airlines:

So as you all know, I travel A LOT for work, and as such, have had the displeasure of experiencing just about every airline the US has to offer.  Here is how I would rank them (from best to worst):

1. A swift kick to the groin
2. United
3. Southwest
4. Delta
5. American

OK, not a precise ranking, but you get the point.  With that said, I have to say that European airlines rank below all of them, except for maybe American. Since we will be flying about 75% of the European airlines, while we are over here, I will keep a running ranking of the European carriers, or as I like to call it, 'the tallest of the midgets'.  Here is the list so far:

1. Swiss Air:  Don't be fooled by the cool logo and the Swiss mystique, this airline is one step above a ride on a greyhound.  The big difference between first class and steerage on this airline is that first class has a table in between window and aisle seats, placed directly over what would have been the middle seat. Impressive.  Behind that, the seating reminded me of sitting in those combo chair/desks in high school that were OK when you were in middle school but felt like solitary confinement once you grew a bit.  That said, we did get a stale chocolate muffin, which was delicious.  
2. SAS:  Now, don't want to stereotype here, but I thought Scandinavians were supposed to be taller folk (generally speaking).  This fact however, has not been factored into the seating design on this airline (SAS= Scandinavian Airline System).  My knees were practically touching my chest and the seat was as plush as a slab of slate.   The best was that they had little signs on 'premium' and 'first' class rows (e.g. premium seating begins in this row) so all of us regular folk could look ahead and dream of two extra inches of legroom.  For the record, all of those seats were open, but nobody got 'upgraded' (a stretch use of the term to be sure).....the benefits of being 'Star Alliance Gold' are truly rewarding.  I think SAS actually stands for 'Sit And Suffer'      
3. Olympic Air (Greece):  OK, so this goes back to our honeymoon 3.5 years ago, but I will never forget my Olympic Air experience....We flew it from Athens to Mykynos, and I think a chicken boarded behind me.  The airplane hadn't been re-upholstered since 1965 and the pilot served the drinks....maybe a bit of an embellishment, but you get the picture.  I kissed the ground after we landed and we took boats for the rest of the trip......

Copenhagen!!!

On to the important part of this post, which is our time here in Copenhagen.....Copenhagen, for those of you who are unaware, is a hidden European gem.  The easiest way to describe it is 'like amsterdam, without the overcrowding, trash, pot and hookers'.  Seriously, the city is absolutely gorgeous -  very clean, open, easy to navigate, and full of fascinating architecture that spans the 17th to the 21st century and beautiful parks/green spaces.  Only downside is that this place is downright expensive. To give you context, an 'average' burger costs 100-120 Kroner (about $20-24).  Weirdest thing so far is that they put cucumbers on everything here (e.g. I ordered a $24 'burger' that was actually a piece of skirt steak with ketchup, salsa, guacamole, lettuce, onion and cucumber)... for the record, it was REALLY good.

We arrived on Sunday, took the train into the city, and got some brunch at a trendy little cafe right on the main square in the city.  After that, we went down to Nyhavn, which translates into 'New Harbor' (or something like that), which has a row of restaurants with outside seating along what amounts to a wharf.  We decided to jump on a canal tour boat to see the city (note to self:  bring a jacket next time, as the 'canal' tour includes a swing into the North Sea).    

Day two:  woke up late and headed out to explore the city on foot and then by bike.  Copenhagen has a system of free bikes that you can pick up and drop off all over the city.  We rode all around the city and ended up at Tivoli park, which is a permanent amusement park right in the middle of the city that was Walt Disney's inspiration for Disney world.  We checked out the Titanic exhibit and went back to the hotel.  I found a little Jiu Jitsu gym (Choke Academy) and went and trained with Joao Pedro Santos and some of his guys.  Had a blast and hope to go back again tonight (Thanks Joao!). 

Day three: We will see what's in store, but thinking about hitting a neighborhood called 'Christiana' which is technically a different country founded by a bunch of hippies in the seventies.  Should be interesting......

Jon

   

I amsterdam

Ok, so I didn't anticipate the possibility of not having an internet connection everywhere we went.  But, it happened. So, now that we're sitting in the Zurich airport waiting for our connection to Copenhagen with thankfully.... an internet connection, it's time to catch up! This post may be a bit longer since it's essentially 3 days in 1 post.  Better get comfortable or, save this read for later!

Day 1--Arrived in Amsterdam!

Jon and Cousin Irene (who's sporting my shades ;)

We got on the 6 pm flight from ORD, and arrived in Amsterdam at 9:30am.  Difference of 7 hours.  I don't know if I mentioned this previously but, Jon actually has family that lives in Holland.  Jon's Dad's cousin (follow?), Irene is someone I've heard so many great things about and I was finally able to meet this vibrant, energetic woman when she came to pick us up from the airport.  We then went for breakfast since by then, it was 10:30am (and 3:30am for us! Sidenote: the last time we ate breakfast at 3:30am was probably at Nookies after a long night in Chicago...).  She lives in a village called Loenen (pronounced Lun-nen) about 15 minutes from Amsterdam.  This place is super quaint, historic, green, picturesque and all around beautiful (I have pictures but, need to upload...coming soon).  The rest of the day was dedicated to dealing with jet lag but, we managed to have dinner and try some traditional dutch food such as Bitterballen.  The name is off putting.  I mean, the literal translation is 'bitter balls'. Maybe it's just me but, that's not something I would have naturally gravitated towards had I not been with a local.  Just saying. Turns out, bitterballen is really good and the name is misleading :) Needless to say, we got our share of these 'balls' this trip and I'm ready to shelve eating them for about 10 years.

Dutch appetizer--'Bitterballen'

(Day 2) The next day, Jon and I spent the whole day in Amsterdam.  Literally 8-9 hours just walking around--did a boat tour, went to a sex museum (interesting...), red light district, got foot massages (we needed it by the 7th hour), amongst plenty of other things... Ate dinner with his cousin--crashed.

(Day 3) Since this was Saturday, Irene had some time to take us around to different areas (she's the best!).  We went on a whirlwind tour to several different places.  Even though I have been to Amsterdam before, seeing it with a local is always the best.  We visited several smaller villages on our way out to the Haag.  What an amazing older city, filled with incredible architecture and rich history. We spent the rest of the day there just exploring and eating.

Dutch Parliament in the Hague (Haag)

This morning we were up at 5am to catch a 7am flight to Copenhagen.  So, here we are now in Zurich waiting to catch our connection. Hopefully I'll be writing again before we leave Denmark!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mom's out there today!!!!

xxj