Sorry it has taken me so long to put this post up. School is getting very busy, and I just have so much to write about my recent trip. Two weekends ago I traveled to Copenhagen and had a wonderful time with my two friends Juliana and Miriam there! I'll first start by telling you about the things I didn't particularly like so that I can finish on a good note about the things that I loved. First off I was kind of surprised about how dirty/sketchy some parts of the city were. Before coming to Europe I thought that I would encounter lots of shady characters and experiences while I was in Amsterdam because of its reputation, but that has not been the case at all! However, I did realize that this is not true for the rest of Europe. Of course I don't think it helped that our hostel/hotel was located on what's supposed to be the worst street in all of Copenhagen. All day long the side walk was lined with prostitutes on our way out to explore. I probably saw about 3 different people peeing on the sidewalk, stared at by 5 different men over the age of 40, asked if I was "friendly" by some random guy at a club who grabbed my arm and tried to follow me into the bathroom, had some men try to pull down their pants (they may have been joking but we ran away before we could find out), and to top it all off my friend was pick pocketed and lost her entire wallet. However, I don't think that all this that happened is a reflection of Copenhagen as a city but rather just a byproduct of large cities in general. I definitely have a new appreciation for Amsterdam though, I hadn't realized what a safe and clean city it really is. I think that the Dutch approach to such a relaxed life style is a big factor in all of this, I mean of course there are parts of Amsterdam that are sketchy but they are very easy to avoid. Although Copenhagen was a reminder that I need to constantly be on my toes and aware of my surroundings I did enjoy it a lot. The nice parts of town were really beautiful and we were able to do so many fun and interesting things while we were there, and the people are actually very nice and helpful despite my couple of bad experiences. Lots of people went out of their way to help my friends and me when they could tell we were lost or didn't know which train stop to get off. Also, I woman found my friend's wallet after we had gotten back to Amsterdam! Everything was still in it, except for the little cash that Juliana had, had on her. She is sending it in the mail, so now Juliana can get her student visa, driver's license, museum card, and all sorts of useful things back. I would definitely recommend visiting Copenhagen to any one, but I recommend waiting until late spring or summer, it was COLD!
In case you can't tell this is an ice skating rink that circled around the statue in the middle, on sunday there were lots of families skating together. We didn't bother skating ourselves though because our feet were so tired from walking all over the place.
Every little kid we saw was wearing a snow suite, it was kind of funny after a while.
This is the round tower. I believe it is the oldest observatory in all of Europe. We walked all the way to the top to see a view of Copenhagen, it was worth the climb!
This church is attached to the round tower, I actually took this picture through a window from the tower.
Just what the pathway up to the top looked like
View from the top!
This castle was built as the summer house for King Christian X. You can go inside and see the entire thing, it is really cool and in the basement you can see the crown jewels!I have to admit though that I borrowed the pictures of the crown and necklace from a friend, I wasn't sure if we were allowed to take pictures, but I really want you guys to see how cool the stuff I saw was.
Christiania is a small little town, that is a semi-legal independent community of Denmark. It was originally a military barracks but after the military left homeless people started sneaking and sleeping in the empty buildings, eventually people from the surrounding neighborhood broke in to create playgrounds for their children. Because of the lack of afordable housing in Denmark at the time people began squatting on the land and converted it into a little "town" Basically it reminded me of a park that people covered in street art and built houses out of old rundown buildings. It's really cool but you can't help but to feel like you're not supposed to be there when you're walking around and you're not allowed to take pictures inside so I only got to take a picture of the sign and a building just outside the entrance with a mural. Literally, every home and building is painted the picture I have below. It is very cool.
"You are now entering the EU"...Christiania has also leaglized marijuana, but local Copenhagen officials are beginning to crack down on their drug trade.
I believe this is called the Marble Church, its just by the royal palace. Every Saturday at 1 and 3 o'clock sharp they will take tours up to the very top, we just so happened to walk by the Church at 12:30 thought it looked intersting so we went in and found out about the tour. It was very cool and probably my favorite part of the trip. We had to walk up the tiniest staircase up into the wooden rafters and finally made it up to the top.
Ceiling of the chapel
View from the top
On the way down
The Little Mermaid!
The next three pictures were taken on our walk back from the statue through the park that it is located in. If only the sun was shining!
This is the same church that we climbed to the top of
Changing of the gaurds
It is starting to get a little warmer here in Amsterdam, but everytime that thought crosses my mind it gets really cold and windy the next day. We've also been getting more and more rain, which I'm sure you can imagine is not the most ideal weather for biking, but hey atleast I'm getting in a good work out trying to bike as fast as I can to get back inside. This Saturday my friend Emily is coming to visit for USC's spring break so I'm really excited to be seeing someone from home and to make her do all the touristy things in Amsterdam I haven't gotten done yet. I don't have any trips planned for March, but once April rolls around I'm travelling just about every weekend, so there are many exciting things for me to look forward to!
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