Tivoli

Sorry I have been completely MIA the past month or so, school picked up in full force and I haven't had much time for adventuring or stories worthy of blogging! Our exam session in 3 weeks long and they space out your exams so you have a maximum time to study for your tests. I have one test left Monday, the same day my sister gets here, and then I'm done! I can't wait to see her, or my parents (they're coming Tuesday), and show them everything I have been doing the last 4-5 months! It really has been one of the best things of my life and I'm not ready to go home yet, but I do have a flight home as of last week! I come home for 3 days then pack up and head out to California for an internship with Avid.
As for the pictures above, we took a late day/night trip to a place called Tivoli. It's like an amusement park filled with little restaurants and rides, a stage for concerts, and more. It was a blast. I went on about 10 rides in a row and had to take a break on the merry-go-round, my stamina isn't what it once was. The palace looking building is a hotel connected to Tivoli with a nice restaurant called Nimb inside. This is where we have reservations for dinner on my parents anniversary! I hope I can post a few more times before packing up and heading out, but I am excited to see every one soon!

Amsterdam to Italy

     First on the list is my adventure to Amsterdam, and adventure it was. I've never seen a city quite like it and it also took me off guard with its natural beauty and canals. As a twenty year old, most everything you hear is about the parties and the red light district, but you never hear how absolutely gorgeous every street running through Amsterdam is. We were extremely lucky with the weather, as it was raining up until we arrived, and had a very successful trip filled with a lot of walking. My friend Audrey and I traveled at 5 in the morning so that we could have the day to walk around and sight see all the main attractions. We stayed with a Dutch friend of hers in Utrecht, which ended up being really nice since the city was so crowded due to the infamous Queensday. Monday, we walked more and met up with our friend Jonas at the Anne Frank house. Let me  tell you, it was really something spectacular after learning so much in history lessons and reading her diary to actually see it in person and walk the same ladder and floorboards as such an influential symbol as her. Seeing the diary was incredible too, no pictures were allowed so that was sort of a bummer. I also learned a lot that I didn't know already. On Tuesday, we saw the palace and experienced the transition from Queensday to Kingsday with extremely crowded streets all filled with orange. That is something I will never forget. The pride of celebrating the royal family, the orange everywhere, and the flags of the new kings hung in every street and bridge really left an impact on my young mind.
    I also got to try some traditional cheese and mustards from the cheese stores in the side canals, so that's always a plus... free food! Also, back tracking a bit, we went to the red light district on Monday night where I could stare with the curiosity of a young American girl trying to wrap her head around an extremely different culture of legal prostitution. It was crazy walking the street and seeing women in behind windows in boxes with curtains, knocking on windows and signaling guys to come in. It was really strange for me since some of them even looked my age. The only thing I could think about was what they could possibly be thinking about... like I said, Amsterdam was certainly an adventure.

    Next, after getting back Wednesday, attending class Thursday, and leaving Thursday night, Simon, Matt, Nicola and I headed to Nicola's hometown in Varese, Italy. It was an amazing trip and I really didn't want to leave. None of us did. It was really a luxurious step up from our containers and our slowly but surely improving cooking skills. His house is gorgeous and surrounded by green trees and bushes, flowers and a nice patio where we enjoyed a homemade cheesecake when we arrived, specially prepared by his 13 year old sister for us from her "American cook book". After spending the night in Varese, we headed to Milan for the day to see the Duomo and climb to the top of the terrace. The Duomo was built by the people of Milan and all of the money came from every single person in the city. It's also the third largest church in the world I believe. The architecture was very impressive and intricate. After seeing the Duomo we headed to his little beach apartment in Varigotti. I fell in love with the little Italian seaside town. It was the first time we got to put our bathing suits on for getting a tan instead of swimming in the Arctic Ocean. It was a very important moment for all of us. I even got a slight sun burn.. totally fine with me because at least it proves I was at the beach in the sun for a day! We walked around the little town, got lunch at a nice little restaurant, and then got some gelato for the walk back to the beach. It was really sad leaving, but we headed to Varese where all of Nicola's friends were waiting in the city center at their "usual bar". We sat outside and the Italians all got to practice their English and teach us some Italian before heading to dinner. The next day Nicola's mom prepared a wonderful lunch for us on their patio consisting of asparagus lasagna, rabbit, and gelato with strawberries. It was perfect. We spent the day relaxing and enjoying the day, and also ventured out to see the church you see right above on the lake. To top off our trip, one of Nicola's friends works at the best pizzeria in Varese and managed to get us on the list for dinner (it takes 2 weeks to get in). The owners are from Naples and make their pizza just like they do in Naples, it was the best pizza I've ever had. The next morning we got up around 5 am and headed back to Copenhagen. Luckily when we got back the sun was out and the trees were showing signs of leaves so we weren't toooo upset to be back. Now it's time to study study study!

Upcoming adventures

    Next Sunday I will be heading to the city of Amsterdam with a few friends to visit the Anne Frank house, the Royal Palace, and observe the culture so different from ours. It should be a very eye opening experience, literally. We are heading there on the 28th, because on the 30th, it will be Queensday! This is the last Queensday as Queen Beatrix will be stepping down. In 2014, the holiday will become known as Koningsdag or King's Day following the investiture of Willem-Alexander as king of the Netherlands. Every one dresses in orange and gathers in the city to celebrate their queen. I get to act like I'm Dutch for a few days!

After returning from Amsterdam (don't worry we don't have school Wednesday and I'll be working before to make up missing Monday and Tuesday Mom and Dad), I will repack, attend class Thursday, and then head on my way to Milan and Varese, Italy with my friends Simon, Matt and Nicola. Nicola will be our generous host as he is from Milan and studies near Varese. He's already planned for us to experience the Italian fine dining and luxurious sea side, as well as going to view The Last Supper, and shop (for me). I'll be gone for a while so I'll post my adventures when I can!

Milan

Varese

A day trip to the seaside!

 Dragør

The Harbor

 I think the people were tiny!!

 The Danish flag presents itself everywhere

Sunshine is so fine

   This past weekend me and my friend Audrey headed on an adventure. Instead of using the public transportation we decided to use our nifty danish bikes and head on down to a coastal town called Dragør. Dragør has roughly around 11,000 people living there and it was one of the nicest Saturdays I've had since I've been here. The weather is getting to the point where I can wear my Mountain Hardware jacket instead of my big white coat, and we can bike outside without getting completely frozen! We left from her apartment in Nørrebro and biked through the city and along the seaside for about 2 hours. Since we took the scenic route it took a little longer then expected, but it was well worth it! We walked right up to the seaside where we could see the spectacular bridge going to Malmö (my next destination), and then headed to walk around the town. 

   The town has traditional Danish style houses with thatched roofs and cobblestone roads. It was picturesque with the small houses lining the roads with bikes and little sailboats in the windows. 

   Dragør was a prosperous seafaring town in the end of the 19th century with a harbor front that is still used today. It was founded in the 12th century and grew into a fishing port rather quickly. It continued to grow exponentially into the home of one of the largest fishing fleets in the country and as a base for salting and processing fish. 

   The first part of the name, Drag-, refers to drawing (dragging) boats ashore. The ending -ør is common in Scandinavian placenames and means a beach covered in sand or gravel.

   Now, since you've had a little history lesson, I can talk about the incredible burger I ate at the restaurant located on the side of the harbor with large windows to see outside. Yes, I ordered a burger at a harbor side restaurant. It was just too tempting. It included their homemade version of bbq sauce and a burger from a local farm with onions, cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and more I'm sure. Yes I ate it all. 

  After trying to recover from my food coma, we headed back along the shore, viewing the ridiculously nice houses behind a fence lining the sea. The houses were all clean and crisp architectural designs with large windows and personal gazebo's with white table clothes, candles, and flowers. Since it was dinner time they were all enjoying fancy dinner parties that I wouldn't have minded being a part of... One day.. one day. We took a detour on a country road while we got to enjoy the sunset and horses on either sides of the road... romantic huh?
   It was a wonderful day and I'm sure I'll go back sometime in May. Maybe my legs will be in better shape. I could hardly walk the next few days. I swear, the wind goes whatever direction you're not. I hope everyone is doing well!

The Danish castles

Our awesome orange car

Frederiksborg Castle

Inside the Frederiksborg Castle and the Chapel inside the Hamlet Castle 

Hamlet Castle

Louisiana Museum  

The Belgian crew and me

Just casually reading Hamlet 

   Last Tuesday was a great day. Spring is finally starting to arrive in Denmark, so me and four Belgians rented a car and hit the road for a day of tourism. First we went to the Frederiksborg Castle located in Hillerød, Denmark. The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 1560 structure built by Frederick II but most of the current castle was constructed by Christian IV between 1602 and 1620. After Christian IV's death in 1648, the palace was used mainly for ceremonial events. The church has also been used as the knight's chapel for the Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Dannebrog since 1693; housed the Danish royal family's art collection, notably works on the life of Jesus by Danish painter Carl Heinrich Bloch; and was the site of the 1720 Treaty of Frederiksborg. It has now been made into the Museum of National History where you can view numerous painting and much more. After the first castle we drove up to the sea side where the Hamlet, or Kronborg, castle is located near the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Kronborg is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe. In 1785 the castle ceased to be a royal residence and was converted into barracks for the army. The army left the castle in 1923, and after a thorough renovation it was opened to the public. You could see Sweden right over the Baltic Sea, where we enjoyed an hour long lunch enjoying the sun for the first time in a couple of months. 

   After visiting the Castle's chapel and dungeons, we headed to the most famous art museum in Denmark, the Louisiana Museum. It houses a ton of pop art, from Andy Warhol and several others, and even paintings of Picasso. There were several other well known artists with artwork on display inside, and outside in the sculpture garden. Although I didn't really understand half of the pop art being artwork, it was still a fascinating museum to visit and luckily we had our own personal Belgian tour guide who knew everything about the artists and could give us some history lessons.. thanks Bram!

   

Berlin/Prague

The world clock in Alexanderplatz

On the ferry from Denmark to Germany

Berlin tower!

Berliner Dom

Brandenburg Gate

Inside the Dom 

Berlin Wall

At the top of Prague!

Charles bridge and castle

On the bridge, everyone touches the gold spots and prays to the cross above it

On the Charles Bridge in Prague

He didn't want a kiss :( Zoo in Prague

A lot of buildings were painted, so cool!

Lennon Wall in Prague

famous clock in old town

   So much has happened since I've checked in last, sorry its been so long! I visited Berlin and Prague for my Easter break with a bunch of my friends from school. We went to Berlin first and stayed with one of Sebastiano's friends that is working as a programmer in the city. It was nice because then we also had a tour guide! Although, 9 people in a flat was something new for me, but we managed! It only took about two hours for us all to shower and get ready in the morning. After getting settled in, the next day we went all around. We went to Alexanderplatz where there are a bunch of street shops with food and little goodies, the world clock you see up above, and more. From there we walked the "Alexanderplatz street" which led us to the Berliner Dom. It was remarkable. Three of us went inside to tour around the main floor, crypt, and very top of the dome. While we were sitting and taking in all of the architecture and art, we even got to listen to the organist play for a while. It was really a neat experience. From the Dom we traveled to the Brandenburg gate, and Jewish memorial. I had to make a stop into the Mercedes gallery on the way, the cars were just too tempting.... maybe one day I can afford half of one that was on display. Anyone is welcome to pitch in, I wouldn't mind. 

    The next day we went to a nice brunch, all you can eat buffet. We were all in heaven for about an hour. We managed to get out of our chairs instead of napping and went on to see the Berlin Wall. The art covering it was magnificent and very colorful. They ended up tearing down a few pieces the day after we visited, so I'm curious to know which parts. I payed a euro to get my passport stamped with the "checkpoint charlie" stamp. Maybe a little overpriced but still really cool. After the wall, a few of us went on the to Jewish museum where we spent a few hours learning more about Jewish traditions, culture, the Holocaust, and viewing possessions donated by families who lost loved ones. 

   On Monday, Nicola (Sebatiano's friend) had to work so we met up with him for lunch down past the Berlin wall before heading to Prague. We then took a bus for about 4 and a half hours to Prague. We got in around 8 and met up with some other friends also visiting the city form DTU in old town. Its weird how big yet small the world is. I met another kid that goes to KU and is studying abroad in Barcelona that is cousins with one of my friends. I couldn't get over the concept! Tuesday, we saw the Charles Bridge, Jewish cemetery, the home of the Prague philharmonic, the castle, the clock in old town, a few palaces, and the Lennon Wall. A lot of walking but definitely well worth it. 

    On Wednesday, our last full day, we went to the zoo and Cafe Imperial. The zoo was awesome, all of the places to view animals were so up close it was even more fascinating to watch the animals. The animals were also all very active and liked to show off and pose. I was able to get some really neat pictures. The Cafe Imperial was founded around 1913 and was very famous among the Czech people. Then, during WWII, the Nazis took over it and used the facility to wine and dine in luxury. It then became less popular since the people did not look up to the Nazis. Once the war was over, it was slowly restored back to its former glory and now its a place for Europeans and travelers to visit for an exquisite meal. I could eat there every night no problem... 

   Sadly, we had to leave on Thursday and head back home. Now I get to study and work, I forget I'm here for school sometimes. Tomorrow I'm going to host an Easter brunch for all of my friends. 

Happy Easter everyone!!