I know it's been a while since the last entry, sorry mum.
Donald and I set off from Frankfurt to Copenhagen a couple of weeks ago. Lenny headed to his Grandma's place south of Munich and left us to our own devices. If anyone thought that could possibly go off without a hitch, you do not know Donald or I. Neither of us have the best time management or a sense of direction. But we got there! After I'd gotten us to the train station half an hour early because I forgot what time the train left, we managed to find our seats and felt rather smug in our achievements, we didn't need Lenny! Until the ticket guy came. We'd gotten on the second carriage and found our compartment with seats 85 & 86. Turns out we were sitting in first class, whoops! Apparently we were supposed to be on the second carriage from the other end. And every compartment had seats 85 & 86. The ticket master said we could sit in any second class seat that was free and we just had to walk through the train until we found one. We walked through 9 carriages before putting our backpacks down in a compartment with a couple of free seats. We then decided to walk around to see if we could find an empty one. So we walked back through the train and picked up our backpacks and took them to our empty compartment. I then had to walk back as I'd left my hat in a previous carriage, people noticed it was my third time walking through.
The rest of the train trip was uneventful until we got to the ferry. We assumed that we would have to get off the train, catch the ferry and then catch a different train the rest of the way once we'd crossed the sea but somehow the ferry opened up and our train had a spot inside. Crazy European ferries! We had to get off the train whilst inside so we went up to the outside deck to enjoy the view. 5 minutes before the ferry stopped, we got told to get back on the train and for everyone to get back in their cars and whatnot. We raced down the maze of the ship and somehow ended up next to the train but on the opposite side. We managed to race around a minute before the train doors closed.
Our first night in Copenhagen was interesting. We went to grab some dinner in the centre of town and almost everything was closed so we walked into the first pub we saw that had a sign for burgers. Good ol' Sam's karaoke bar. There were only 4 other people in the bar and they were all friends with the barman so apparently dinner and karaoke isn't overly popular on a Thursday night in Denmark. It was very entertaining though, we were serenaded over our rather disappointing but huge burgers.
On Friday we met up with Olly, an old friend from school, to explore the city and find ice cream. I had been looking forward to Copenhagen for the ice cream. They usually have plenty delicious ice-creameries and I hadn't had any for the two weeks I'd been away. 2 weeks without ice cream! We wandered around the city and went to "the green light district" Christiana after going out for a great long brunch and catching up.
For dinner we joined Morgwn, a girl I used to work with who is now studying in Denmark, and Paris, her partner, in a swanky local restaurant. We then kept the evening going by heading to the cheapest bar in town. It had signs painted on the windows advertising 10 kroner ($2) shots and it's safe to say that we took advantage of this with the ultimately tasty 'kangaroo liqueur'. It was great to see everyone again and make some new memories, the boys being told to "keep their women in check" would have to be a favourite.
On Saturday morning Donald and I met Morgwn and Paris in Malmo, Sweden. We were supposed to meet on the train but again, Donald and I aren't the best with time management (he got distracted by talking to our dorm buddy and didn't realise we had to hurry- not my fault!). Malmo is adorable. It's a small town that was covered in snow, still had presents hanging in a tree from Christmas and fairy lights on the streets. It was still asleep when we got there though. Things opened late (and closed ridiculously early) and there was no one walking around yet so we went into a fancy coffee and cake store.
Here I learnt a rather important lesson; when going to the toilet, you have to turn the lock twice or people can still open the door.
We walked around a little more and spent most of our time trying to find a rock to see how frozen the river was. Eventually Morgwn found a cobblestone and threw it down with less than exciting results, the ice was pretty thick it turned out.
We went to TGI Friday's for lunch as it's Morgwn's favourite. I can see why. Oh my goodness, the food. Morgwn and I had the most delicious cocktails I have ever tasted. Hers was a mango and berry daiquiri which is probably worth selling your right leg for and I had what can best be described as heaven. It was basically an oreo milkshake with creme de cocoa in, complete with oreo on top. So delicious. I would have been happy with just that but I also had chicken strips with the best fries and honey mustard sauce, just like back in the states. The others had burgers but we also got a side which is pretty accurately described as potato crisp nachos. I was fulfilled to say the least. As it took us so long to be able to move again, the stores closed and we weren't able to stock up on delicious and cheap cider.
Donald and I had a much needed sleep in on Sunday before exploring the National Gallery of Art and much more notably, the frozen lake outside it. I was so happy when we realised that it was frozen solid (most of it) and we could walk on it. Don't worry, we made some kids go first to make sure it would hold us. We spent an hour walking along the bay to find the Little Mermaid, not realising how far away it was nor how cold. It was minus ten degrees and the whole walk was into the wind but eventually we got to the statue. Yep, it is exactly how they describe it, a little statue of a mermaid.
For dinner we had a kebab because that's what the locals do. Copenhagen kebabs were fine until we got to Berlin and tasted the greatest ones on Earth (more on that in the next entry). After an ice-cream-less weekend due to EVERY ice-creamery being closed for Winter (I don't see why, ice cream is always delicious and they wouldn't have to worry about it melting!) I settled for a Toblerone mcflurry. Ice cream in minus five degree temperatures is as cold and uncomfortable as you'd think but somehow more delicious.
That night Donald and I had the dorm room to ourselves so we did what anyone would have, we pushed all the bunk beds together and made a giant fort. Luckily no one checked in late that night because we fell asleep across 4 beds.
The 8 hour bus from Copenhagen to Berlin was filled with a school trip for 14 year olds. It was tempting to not go the whole way. I didn't mind it though, Donald learnt of my special talent of being able to sleep on all forms of transport for a ridiculously long time, before and after a really good nights sleep, while he sat and had to listen to 20 teenagers giggle in Danish.
Oh Copenhagen, we wont miss how expensive you are but we will miss your really good looking people. Phawrrr!
I have been spending too much time with the boys. The word (sound, really) 'phawrrr' gets used in almost every conversation just with a different emphasis to change the meaning.
I'll try not to be so slack on the next couple of entries, Denmark was a lot like home though so not too much to report but I'm currently in Slovakia and have been having snowball fights with local kids, skiing and may attempt the 50cm pizza challenge tonight.
Cheers.
