The devil is in the details

Do I really have to leave?

I started off my day by oversleeping. (It is funny that I say that though, because it is only oversleeping while on vacation. If I got up at the same time on a Saturday at home, I'd think it was early. Strange how I get up earlier when I am supposed to be relaxing.) After being uncerimoniously awakened by housekeeping at 9:45, I got up and got ready to start the day. I took the train to see The Little Mermaid statue. Hans Christian Anderson is from Copenhagen and this statue commemorates his story. It was another absolutely gorgeous day and the statue is on the shore, so I hung out there and enjoyed the sunshine and the view for a while. I got off the train with another tourist couple and they offered to take my picture, so The Little Mermaid is the only sight that you will get to see a picture of me with. J. and P. told me that the best part of going to see The Little Mermaid was watching silly tourists try to get really close to her and proceed to fall in the water. I sat out in the sun there for about half an hour (mostly writing postcards and enjoying how pretty it was) and didn't see anyone fall in. Then I walked around the park, Churchill Park, near the statue for a while.

I decided to walk back towards the center of town from the statue and got a little bit lost, but somehow made my way to Amalienborg, one of the castles that I went to yesterday and was able to find my way back from there. I walked back down Strøget and browsed in the shops again and just enjoyed my day. At one point I went back to the cafe outside my hotel and had a very Danish lunch: an open-faced sandwich (which has a special Danish name that I don't remember at the moment) with pickled herring (the Danish specialty) on it. I expected that it wouldn't be my favorite but that it would be okay since I was so hungry. It was actually much better than I expected, although the saltiness got to me after a while. The Danes sure enjoy salty foods!

After that, I went back to some serious shopping: I needed to get some souvenirs for my family, a t-shirt for a guy in my lab and the trenchcoat that I had my eye on at Vero Moda yesterday. Strøget was extremely busy. The stores are usually not open very long on Saturdays (and not at all on Sundays) except for the first Saturday of the month. Since all of the stores were open (and having huge sales), it seemed like all of Copenhagen was there. I ended up getting my coat (and everything else) but there were only two left when I got there. I almost missed out by waiting a day, but I did end up with a 100 kr trenchcoat. ($1=6 kr)

I've been pretty chill for the rest of the afternoon and I think that will continue for the evening. (On that note...postcards went off this afternoon) I am quickly realizing that I am exhausted after all of this travelling and walking and getting up early and I am a little worried about getting up on time tomorrow. I think I will end up not going out tonight and instead going to sleep a little early to ensure that I make it to the airport in time. At the same time, I think there are fireworks over Tivoli tonight at 11:45, and Tivoli's only a block from my hotel....

I have had an absolutely wonderful time here. I wish that I could stay much longer. Sometime I will regale you with more little Copenhagen details, but for now I'll go and find food. Copenhagen rocks!

posted by Immunegirl @ 3:03 PM