Coping with Copenhagen

August 3, 2010

I was having a bit of an anxiety attack as I left the comfort of Graz’s apartment back into the hostelling world. More importantly, I was leaving an English speaking country into foreign territory, where every signage, every announcement, and every conversation would be in Danish. I knew everyone could speak English, but the feeling of no longer in control and the reliance of others did give me a sense of helplessness.

My concern was tested immediately after landing at the Copenhagen (Københavns) airport. While attempting to buy a simple airport train ticket to the city centre, the machine was just not spitting out my ticket. Of course, the long line up of impatient passengers behind me did not help matters. Finally, someone who could read Danish came up and explained to me that the machine was not accepting my credit card and instead, I had to buy the ticket directly from the teller. Luckily, the airport train did have electronic monitors announcing all the stops and I was to get off at Københavns Hovedbanegård.

Copenhagen was a beautiful city. The first thing I noticed was how many commuters riding on bicycles everywhere. Every street had car lanes, pedestrian walks, and bicycle lanes, shared harmoniously among one another. After leaving the UK, I had to relearn checking the right way across the street, except now I had to check twice, once for the bicycle lane, one for the car lane.

My hostel, DanHostel City, was close to the train station and the Tivoli Garden/Amusement Park/Entertainment Extravaganza. DanHostel City was the largest hostel I’d stayed at so far, like a skyscraper with modern decors and trendy fixtures. I met one of my eight dorm mates Ben in our room and together we set out to find some dinner. We finally settled on a shawarma place on Strøget, the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe. The price was more than double what I usually spent on a shawarma back home but it was the 500 ml bottle of water at a 7 Eleven for an equivalent of $3.00 afterward that I nearly had a heart attack. It was at that moment I realized the cost of living in Denmark was nothing like the UK. Even the internet at the Hostel cost $3.00 for 15 minutes. That was not even enough time to plow the fields on Farmville!!!


2010 08 01 - DanHostel City

2010 08 01 - DanHostel City - 8 person dorm room

2010 08 01 - Shawarma on the Strøget

The next day I ventured out as a tourist and tried not to convert the prices in my head. The tourist information centre had a good self guided walking tour which took me to all the great sights. I went to the cathedral and museums and interesting streets and buidlings. I went to the spot where the Little Mermaid would have been, and saw the Little Mermaid on a giant screen at the Shanghai Expo. I even got the picture I wanted at Nyhavn. I also did all my internet usage at the Central Library (free of charge) to plan my next leg after Copenhagen.

2010 08 02 - Carlsberg Museum

2010 08 02 - Gefion Fountain

2010 08 02 - The Little Mermaid in Shanghai Expo

2010 08 02 - Marina near the Little Mermaid

2010 08 02 - Amelienborg Palace

2010 08 02 - Nyhavn

Overall the city was indeed beautiful and the next time I go I would have a better expectation and not be shocked. As a result, I am going to change my question #4 to “What I didn’t get to do during this visit that I would do if I get a chance to go back again?”

1 On the train leaving Copenhagen, Denmark
2 Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden
3 The last breakfast in Glasgow… I had pictures of every meal after that, believe it or not!!

4 a) Legoland in Billund (a couple of hours of a train ride from Copenhagen); b) nice dinner in Nyhavn with friends; c) buy a Copenhagen all day access card and visit Tivoli Garden and other museums