First Day in Belgium

     I was meeting my sister and brother-in-law at the Brussels airport. I was pumped about getting to spend some time with them. We met at baggage claim and caught the train to the city center. We got some food and waited on our train to Bruges. We caught up in the train station and made it to our bed and breakfast around 7pm. We are all pretty hungry and decided to go to the Irish pub that was about a block from where we were staying. The food was good and the beer was better.

     We were all pretty tired after our day of travel and decided to call it a night with the intention of exploring Bruges in the morning.

Third Day in Copenhagen

        On my last full day on Copenhagen I decided to go to Malmo, Sweden. One of my roommates also wanted to go to Malmo. Sam was on a trip that she had originally planned to go on with her boyfriend for her birthday but I guess he had an issue getting his passport in time. She was from San Francisco and was taking pictures of her stuffed cat every where she went.

Oldest building in Malmo.

       The restaurant Sam and I went to in Malmo was in the main square. I got swedish meatballs and they were very good. the restaurant also offered blankets and had space warmers. It was a really nice day. Sam and I made it back to Copenhagen in time to join the pub crawl that starts at the anchor statue.

Second Day in Copenhagen

Everyone I spoke to suggested going to Christiania. It use to be army barracks that hippies started moving into around the 1970s from all over the world. The police tried to start booting them out but they claimed squatters rights. You are not allowed to take pictures when inside. It was an experience.

     On the walking tour our guide told us some of the best food could be found at the street food area in a big building across the river from the Opera House. I decided to have lunch there. The toughest decision was deciding what to eat.

There were so many choices and they all looked delicious. I decided to go with an open face fish sandwich.

On the way back from the street food I ran across an older Poppy. The owner let me pet her dog.

I made it to one of the art museums, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Most of the art was from the Carlsberg private collection.

First Day in Copenhagen

     The first thing I woke up to were blue eyes staring at me from across the room. The eyes had a voice that said Hello. I said Good Morning. A look of relief went across his face. He asked me what we were going to do today. I thought surely this guy made a mistake. I had just heard from the other American  girl that had left early in the morning that these guys were talkative and had made no effort in trying to communicate or act like they knew English. I laughed and said everything. He started talking about all the things he and the other guy had gone to and took out a large map and showed me. I told him that I was planning on doing the free walking tour this morning. He said that he and his friend were planning on going to Malmo, Sweden. It was only a 30 minute train ride a way. I don't remember his name but I remember it started with an M. He will be known as Mickey Blue Eyes, or just Mickey for short. His friend was awake and had joined our conversation. They seemed like a lot of fun.

     When I went downstairs I asked about getting to stay in the same room. I was told they would try to put me back in that room. I had a little bit of time to explore before the walking tour. I ran into Mickey and his friend outside and they told me they had changed their plans because the train ticket was too expensive and they wanted to go to a football game. I told them I was still doing the walking tour and agreed to meet up later.

     TripAdvisor has the free walking tour as the number one thing to do in  Copenhagen and it was great. I learned a lot about the history of the city and the royalty. Where certain buildings were located and where to go for different art and eating. The guy who gave my tour was from Australia but you could tell he loved his adopted city and their economic policies.

This anchor statue was put in remembrance of all the seamen that were lost at sea.

In the background is the Opera House also known as "The Little Toaster".

The changing of the guards.

The Little Mermaid statue. 

On the largest shopping street in Copenhagen.

     

       The Danish have the oldest monarchy in the world. The queen is adored by her people. She also makes a lot of the costumes for the opera which they affectionately call the little toaster. After the walking tour and walking to the little mermaid statue I made it back to my hostel. I was placed in a different room. I tried my best to be placed in the other room but the people at the hostel said that it was not possible. I checked into my room and it appeared I was the first person to arrive. While I was putting my stuff away I met my first roommate. He was was Norway, hated the cold, and was a giant. His girlfriend was from Rotterdam and suggested I visit that city when I was in the Netherlands. Our second roommate arrived and he was originally from India but was very excited to be living in Dubai. This was his first trip by himself and was quite nervous about making friends. Our last roommate for the night arrived and her name was Bing and she was from Shanghai. She was only staying for one night and really wanted to go to Tivoli.
     Happy hour was just beginning so I made it downstairs to the bar. There were quite a few people downstairs. I met a guy from France who had a backwards cap on claimed to be a physical therapist and then in the second breath said that he knew he did not look like one. He looked like he could easily be a member of Ali G's crew. When I turned to my right my roommate from Andre, from Norway was sitting next to me. He told me that the roommates had all agreed to go to Tivoli, which is an amusement park. I told them I would go with them since it was decorated for Halloween and it sounded fun.