Denmark, Sweden, Tivoli

I've had a big day. Here are the highlights and photos. Detailed update to come.

• Walked around Copenhagen - saw Amalienborg Palace where guards were changing (changing guards, not clothes)
• Explored Frederick's Church. Amanda had always walked by but never in...turned out to be great in there and inspired by St Peter's Basilica
• Went to Nyhavn, saw colorful houses
• Went to Malmö Sweden for lunch at a women's cooperative (Yalla Trappan) in an Arabic neighborhood. Had delicious Thai noodle salad.
• Took a walk after lunch and saw street art
• Went to Amanda's University. She had a meeting with her Thesis team, I used their Internet and booked a hotel in Hamburg Germany for tomorrow night.
• Back in Copenhagen, we went to the Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the WORLD, and rode the third oldest still active roller coaster in the world. It is over 100 years old. p.s. It was AWESOME, not at all bumpy and a longish ride.

Update:

I forgot to mention that Amanda introduced me to an App called Pocket Earth. It costs something like $4 and lets you download maps from any area in any country and use them offline. It locates where you are via the GPS capabilities on your phone and with the help of the maps and some 'favorites' you pre-save, it should help you get where you want to go. I am still directionally challenged and haven't played with the app too much yet, but it also has another GREAT feature which is easy and fun to use. When you're standing in front of a landmark (church, fountain, bridge - for example), you can pull up the app, locate yourself and there will be (for most things) a Wikipedia blurb about that landmark. Have you ever been wandering around a city, find a really cool thing but didn't know what it was. Well, now you can! (I am in no way affiliated with the people at Pocket Earth and am not earning money off their downloads...I just think it's cool).

So, we started the day by taking the local bus to Nyhavn, where there are rows of colorful houses you often see when looking up anything about Copenhagen.

This is my not-squinting smile - also, this is the cardigan I bought in Rome. 

Nyhavn, photo taken by a Japanese tourist after Amanda spoke with him in Japanese....she's so talented

On the way there, we walked through Amalienborg Palace square and saw the changing of the guards.

And at some point we stopped in "The Marble Church" aka Frederick's church. It was gorgeous inside and out.

Then we took the train to Malmö Sweeden, where Amanda has been attending a Master's program. She had a meeting scheduled and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see another country, so I came with her. First things first, we had lunch at a women's cooperative (Yalla Trappan) in an Arabic neighborhood. The Wednesday menu listed a delicious Thai noodle salad. It was the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. And after all the pizza and pasta I'd eaten in Italy, I needed the veggies that were draped all over the noodles. It was seriously good. 

On the way to a bus, I saw a statue, on the sidewalk, of a woman looking up. So, naturally, I looked up to see what the statue was looking at and it was another statue. A boy hoisted up a flagpole. 

Malmö Street Art

We went to Amanda's university, she had her meeting and afterwards we head back to Copenhagen.

We went to the University Library

This beautiful thing was hanging at the train station in Sweden
(not even CENTRAL station, just a regular old station)

One of the oldest buildings in Sweden. It dates back to the 1600's (probably)

I decided not to wrap the day up just yet, but rather to go to Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest Amusement park in the world. The first being 20 minutes away. And even better, to ride the third oldest still active roller coaster in the world.

What I saw inside Tivoli was surprising. 

Tivoli is in the middle of the city. I passed it yesterday when walking from the National Museum to City Hall. The place is HUGE inside. There are rides and shops and more restaurants than I could count. Like proper restaurants, not just the corn dog stands you might see at Great America.  It's like a small version of Disneyland, with different areas. The rides are interesting too. I mean, you have the swing ride that's like spinning chains of doom with chairs on the ends. There are drop rides. But then there are rides that spin and turn in every direction all at once. And they go SO FAST that you don't even hear screaming because the G Forces make it impossible (this is a guess, they might also not be screaming because they are Danish...I'm not sure). Then there are flowers and lakes and peacocks (and poor peahens who are tired of being courted by the peacocks).

The third oldest Roller Coaster in the world. No pipe smoking please.
Also, the driver is on every ride and runs the breaks.

This ride goes up and down  and you can get some serious air! Around the bends centrifugal force throws you into your friend hard. There are parts of the ride where you go into tunnels that are darker than Space Mountain. It was GREAT.

Copenhagen: National Museum and a lot of walking

Copenhagen is a flat town. It's the flattest place I've ever seen (next to the state of Florida). 

Will write more later.

Update:

The night I arrived in Copenhagen, my friend Amanda (who was a high school classmate), picked me up at the airport. We took the Metro and a bus to her place. That evening, I met her kids (her husband I already knew) and we got to reminiscing and then talking about what I might do the following day in Copenhagen while Amanda stayed home to work on her thesis.

The next day, I took copious maps and plans with me out the front door into a grey Copenhagen morning. Dark clouds looming in the distance. I took the 1A bus to the National Museum aka Nationalmuseet. As I stepped off the bus, wondering which way to walk, I heard a herd of school children screaming in only the way small children can when they're supposed to be quiet on the way to a museum. I followed the noise and was promptly at the entrance to the FREE museum. At that moment, right before I stepped inside, it started to rain. Seriously perfect timing. 

I was told that I would need to put my bag in a FREE locker, but that pictures were ok. I asked, "What's the BEST thing in the museum?" and got a "PBhwhoa!" in response. Apparently this was going to be awesome if it was hard to nail down the best thing. I was directed to the "most visited" section of the museum, which covered The Stone, Bronze, Iron and Viking ages. And it was, in fact, awesome. It was super educational and not boring. The rooms flowed into each other chronologically, telling the story of Danish History and culture. There were weapons and tools, bodies in log coffins, skulls, jewelery, a big boat and lots of other little things on display, like coins, pots and teeth! I had a great time!

Musical Instruments

Horned Helmets

National Museum - Cool mini swords

Big swords

This guy died by pokey things in the head and chest

Around 11am, I decided to head out of the museum and walk around Copenhagen, intentionally ignoring the maps "to get lost". This is a trick I like to employ because it really does make you learn an area, but with only one full day in Copenhagen, I wish I'd have looked at the map more. I walked in circles for a while and sort of exhausted myself. It turned out to be ok because my exhaustion forced us to stay home in the evening when it poured with rain. Here are some of the cool things I saw. 

Copenhagen, pedestrians, bikes, flat streets, colorful homes

Dragon Fountain outside of city hall

City Hall

City Hall

City Hall

The Round Tower

The Round Tower

This is not a specialty store. This is a 7-11. There is hot, fresh food and tables to eat at!

Copenhagen is a bike town, for sure!

Public Restroom at the bus stop, Free and clean

Sort of helpful post with general directions (In English)

Italy, The Netherlands, Denmark - Oh My.

Today was a travel day. We woke at 6 to catch a taxi to the airport. From 6:30 to 7:05am we were in the taxi on a ride that made Kate and I cry (with laughter...maybe to hide the fear). We were in a minivan taxi. Our driver was not going to screw around to stretch out the trip and make more money off us. He was on a mission. He was probably on several including phone calls and texting. The road leading from the hotel is winding and narrow with cars parked on one side and a wall on the other...oh, and also has cars coming at us. At no point do I remember slowing down. Our wheels screeched around corners, we flew on the freeway (150kph). At times, he would drive in two lanes at once while tailgating two different cars. At one point, we were in the fast lane and the driver in front of us was clearly fixing his hair in the rear view mirror, his car sliding to the right, "Sharing" the lane with the car ALREADY THERE! All the while, our driver is texting or answering phones at a billion miles an hour. Now, at first, I was like, "I like this guy. We'll save money." And then, "Um, is he really not going to slow down for that car coming straight at us". It was so ridiculous that Kate and I started laughing (quietly) at each near miss. By the time we got to the airport (and were very nearly literally bumper to bumper with the van in front of us) going 70kph in the departures lane, Kate and I were crying with fits. The van stops, we pay and the driver walks to the front of the car, pops the hood and CHECKS THE ENGINE! Kate and I were in hysterics.

Having survived the trip TO the airport, we enjoyed a breakfast/coffee and went to our respective terminals. Kate going back to San Francisco and I to Copenhagen (with a layover in Amsterdam).

The Amsterdam airport was great. Big shops, great choices for food (I had a chicken salad, strawberry and orange juice and and almond cookie) and plenty of places to charge one's devices...oh and free unlimited wi-fi. I updated the blog about Roma vs Genoa there.

The whole reason I came to Copenhagen was because friends of mine from high school (and their two awesome kids) have been living here for over a year. They were nice enough to invite me over and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch up in a really interesting place. Today was mostly settling in and catching up. I don't know what it is about old friends, but it's always so easy to settle back into an easy, happy place. In no time, we were laughing and reminiscing. I also learned about an app that lets you download really detailed maps of a city to use while you're offline. So, tomorrow, I'll test that out and see if I can't get myself around. It may rain (is scheduled to rain all day) so I might take a bus to the National Museum and hide from the weather. In all honesty, it doesn't matter to me if I see anything of Copenhagen. I'm very happy to see my friends.

Italy: Last Day in Rome

I'm going to have to blog about today another time as I've got to get to sleep for an early taxi to the airport.

Highlights:

• Roma vs Genoa Football (Soccer)
• Pantheon
• Bus ticket use (lots of it) and shuttle bus (cheap, easy rides)
• Laundry in the sink

The update below -- 

First off, let me say that the hotel we settled at in Rome was comfortable and had beautiful views and all that, but the continental breakfast was lousy and the coffee was worse, which is a disappointment in Italy. But it's easy to rectify that elsewhere.

We woke, showered, had bad breakfast and caught the 9am shuttle to the Vatican, where we took a bus to Stadium Olympico. Yeah, that's the Olympic Stadium IN ROME. Somethings just feel special when you get there. 

The activity for the day: AS Roma vs Genoa football (soccer). I'd heard what a soccer match is typically like in Rome and this LIVED UP to my expectations. I'll start off by saying there were no fights, but this is only because fans of the opposing team were cordoned off in their own small section. They were in a triangular section in the corner, on the second level, behind plexiglass, behind what looked like crime scene tape with guards surrounding the section for the whole game. 

When I bought the tickets online it said this: 

 Code of Behavior: Unless specified otherwise, your tickets are for the HOME section. Therefore, do not wear the Away Team colors for the match, neither you should cheer/jump up/show any signs of over-joy if the Away Team scores. Such behavior will expose you as a fan of the Away Team. It is considered as "teasing the audience". Such behavior can expose you to expulsion from the venue by the ushers

No Joke, Folks!

For the entire game, the Genoa fans cheered and clapped and chanted obscenities at the Roma fans. The Roma fans would respond, in kind, with chants and gestures and angry middle fingers. If the two sets of fans were able to reach each other, I am convinced that there would be murders. No Joke. But we were safe and enjoying the banter.

Before the match began, the crowd would sing a song about Rome (obviously in Italian). They would sing the whole song with no lyrics on a screen and then break for a few minutes, only to sing another passionate song about Rome. It was a fantastic thing to behold. But the best part came just before the start. The whole stadium sang the team song. Everyone stood up, held up their team scarves, flags or shirts with reverent pride and sang LOUDLY. I have never heard a national anthem sung with such feeling, let alone a team song. I was so moved, I had to compose myself. Seriously. It was emotional. 

The game itself was good. Some players had amazing moves. Rome scored their first goal in the net right in front of us and the crowd went NUTS. Young men and women screaming and hugging. Just brilliant.

And then back to the game. The constant clapping and chanting from the Genoa corner. "Va Fangool!" Finger! I was giddy at the streaming obscenities. 

Kate and I left a little early to catch the bus and on the way down the street, we heard Rome score their second goal. You'd have heard the cheering from a mile away. 

Quick side note about Italian public restroom. They are the worst. And the worsts of them all is in the Stadio Olympico. Seriously. Avoid it if possible. If not possible, burn your clothes and boil your skin afterwards.

Genoa fans try to break out of their designated area

Yellow Card for Genoa

Roma scores right in front of us and the crowd goes wild!

Blurry Goal celebration

Football fans taking a seat together on the fence around the soccer field

Stadio Olimpico - built in 1928

We took the bus back towards the Vatican and had gelato (surprise). Cherry and Chocolate today. Delicious. I used their bathroom, which was still terrible but survivable. 

To make the most of our transportation ticket (bus, tram, train for 3 days - 16.50 Euro...SO WORTH IT!) we took a bus towards The Pantheon and then had more gelato.

Raphael's coffin

And to wrap up the day (after a horrible pasta dinner at a tourist trap on the outskirts of the Vatican), we walked back to St Peter's Square (which is really a circle) and recapped our trip. It's only been 8 days or something, but we had a hard time remembering which day we did which amazing thing. Milan, Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence and Rome - The Duomo, Gondolas, the Mediterranean Sea, trains trains trains, The David, Pasta Pasta Pasta, The Coliseum, Football, The Pantheon, Gelato Gelato Gelato. Then to the shuttle and back to the hotel where we packed and prepped for our flights out of town.