Yesterday was a day where i felt the longer i spent away from the keyboard, the more and more i would forget about everything i saw and everything Maria told me.
I didn't mention the metro in any of my previous blogs from Denmark even though i'd ridden it from the airport, getting on it to go into central Copenhagen reminded me that this metro train system doesn't have a driver, which i found slightly scary on my 1st day after two plane trips, but was more amused the second time i rode it.
Once in the center overcame another "milestone" in retrieving my cash abroad, held my heart in my mouth until i was greeted by the "select language" option on the cash machine, one less thing i have to be worried about.
Armed with money we stopped for brunch, a bookshop that was also a cafe, sitting outside with only bikes and pedestrians coming past me felt extremely european, a feeling that was heightened by looking in the bookshop window and seeing "winnie the pooh and friends" in danish.
It was sat here that i encountered my 1st americans of the trip, sat waiting for breakfast i suddenly realised that i could actually understand one of the conversations drifting down the street, complaining about how many krone it cost for a martini, and i thought id left complaining americans at home in heathrow.
Still on the subject of americans Bill Clinton is in Denmark, and that annoys me, he already shares his birthday with mine, what gives him the right to piggyback on the 1st leg of my trip and decide he's coming to Denmark when i do.
Brunch finished it was sightseeing time, as a sucker for nice looking buildings i didn't have to look far with my camera to keep taking photos. Copenhagen wasn't bombed in world war 2 and you can tell from all the spires, domes and old buildings that are everywhere you turn once atop the observatory.
Wandering the streets (which are mainly pedestrians only) its amusing to see that young Danish men appear to have similar problems with belts and pants as English one's do. The streets were lined with shops, and to me shops are shops, the "danish design" shop that apparently had stuff that had been made to appear on Star Trek peeked my interest, but other than the different language in the windows it was just another set of high street shops.
From the sameness of the shops to the difference of the harbour, cafes crammed down the side of the water, an Italian accordian player and boats of different shapes and sizes, not something i see everyday.
Along the edge of the harbour i was introduced to further amusing and interesting facts about Denmark. The "Little" Mermaid is indeed little (as you can see from the picture) apparently alot of the american tourists are shocked and disappointed with how small she is.
Staying with the mermaid she has been decapitated two or three times, people have tried blow her up, and have covered her in paint and various other pranks over the years. Having been told this i was impressed she looked in as good condition as she did.
On the way to the mermaid we came past, first, the submarine, Maria tells me Denmark has 4 submarines, and as their contribution to the 1st gulf war they sent one named the "seal" no idea if its the one in the photo but i doubt it.
Slightly further on than the sub was the richest man in Denmark, or rather his headquarters. I've forgotten his name but he's huge in shipping and moving containers around. I was shocked to learn that not only is he the richest single man in Denmark (in the billions) but the closest competitor is Lego! Everyone plays with lego, or at least i thought so, and the "lego man" is nowhere near the fortune of the richest man in Denmark.
The second amusing thing about him is that every year he tells the danish government how much he is willing to pay in taxes, which i thought was amazing. But when your the single highest contributor on your own, i suppose you can pay what you like and threaten to move to another country if you dont get you own way.
Once finished with the mermaid we were going to get ice cream, but it seems that the tradition of hiking up prices near popular tourist sights is the same throughout the world, one look at the price and we decided we would wait.
Back at the appartment a good day was crowned by soup, rye bread and a comparison between English cloudy cider and Danish organic cider, i was patriotic and prefered my scrumpy from home. But they were definitely both drinkable.
