6 Hours in Copenhagen

A few weeks ago, I was invited to go on yet another weekend trip with people from my program. Cruise to Copenhagen with 29 of my new friends?! Uh...yes, please! Although I had really wanted to go to Stockholm that weekend, I didn't have to think twice. And I am so very glad I jumped at the opportunity to visit another Scandinavian capital with great friends for a very reasonable price, even though we would only be spending part of one day in Copenhagen.

 The group :)

We didn't really know what to expect of the Crown of Scandinavia, but to my surprise, the ferry was just like any of the cruise ships that leaves from Port Canaveral or Miami, complete with many upscale restaurants & buffets, pools & jacuzzis, bars, shops, clubs, movie theaters, etc. What more could we have wanted? We arrived at Oslofjord & got on the ship around 3:30 on Friday afternoon & spent the next couple of hours exploring the ship & its amenities before taking advantage of the very pricey but also unlimited buffet for dinner. 

 How cool does Oslo look from the water?

 First order of business: Titanic photo. (Joe from the US & Axel from Turkey/Spain/London)

 Arne!

 My favorite Michigan State girls. :) (Megan, Lauren & Jenny)

Bye, Oslo!

After the buffet, we decided that Thursday night's karaoke outing was not enough for us and immediately hit the club/bar to continue the streak. It was a late night.

 Madi! (From Australia)

 Arne, Lauren & me

 At 8:00 sharp the following morning, we were rudely/conveniently awakened in 3 different languages, basically telling us that we had better get off the boat within the next 2 hours. We did not want to waste ANY time, so we leaped out of bed & headed up to Guest Services to exchange our currency from Norwegian Kroners to Danish Kroners & purchase tickets in advance for Tivoli Gardens, the amusement park we planned to visit later that day. We only had about 6 hours in Copenhagen, and we intended to use every minute to the fullest, so we immediately made our way to the canal for the canal tour of the city with a brief stop at the famous Little Mermaid, which is based off of Hans Christen Andersen's story.

Wez! (Australia)

By this point, I already knew I was a fan of Copenhagen. Far more than traditional visual art, I can appreciate architecture, and along with everything else Scandinavian, I like their architectural styles, so Copenhagen was right up my alley in just about every way. The canal tour gave us a spectacular view of the city & its architecture, unique in that it was from the water. Also, there are lots of yellow things in Copenhagen. :)

 Can I live here, please? It's only a few billion Kroners...

After the canal tour (as well as before & during), we were RAVENOUS. We were supposed to eat lunch at & go on a tour of the Carlsberg Brewery but were informed by a hotdog vendor that it would be very time consuming for us to get there from our current location, even by bus, so we had to skip it due to the time constraints. It was disappointing, but we didn't let it get us down & continued with our day. We stopped for lunch at a bakery en route to our final destination, Tivoli Gardens.

On another note, Copenhagen also has something similar to the horses in Ocala or the apples in NYC: elephant statues everywhere! In addition to architecture, bodies of water, crepes & the color yellow, Copenhagen is known for one of my favorite animals.

So cute!

I don't think too many people in the U.S. have heard of it, but Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen is actually quite famous. From my brief experience there, I would say it's like Epcot with more nature, beer gardens, a few rollercoasters, plus Denmark/minus other countries, plus a Titanic exhibit & aquarium, & less expensive. So they're really not that similar.

 We got Carlsbergs in Copenhagen since we couldn't do the brewery tour.

At 3:00, we left Tivoli Gardens to make what we expected to be a long trek back to the ferry. We stopped briefly for crepes (I got Nutella/banana- SO delicious!) & to pick up a few souvenirs and got lucky enough to catch a shuttle back to the ferry. Even better, the bus driver let us on for free! 

Even though we were only there for a few hours, I got enough of a feel for Copenhagen to know that I absolutely LOVE it. It is officially one of my favorite cities that I have visited, and I would love to go back one day if the opportunity arises. We made the most of our time & had a fantastic day overall.

We were exhausted & crashed when we got back to our cabins. Or at least we tried to in spite of the plethora of announcements coming through our intercoms & prank calls from our friends. Saturday evening we ate far less extravagantly, but it was even better food in my opinion. Jules, Caitlin, Liz (my roommates for the cruise) & I went to bed around 2:30 am. Only to be awakened again around 4 am by a...visitor, for whom I was forced to get out of bed & open our door to let into our room. The events that commenced next are worth alluding to due to their "crazy story from college that sounds like something from a movie" nature but I will refrain from posting details to protect those involved. I will say that it involved a rude awakening, some Australians with a really awesome (not) idea, a bath towel & a "documentary." I'll leave it to your imagination. I just went back to sleep.

We had to be off the ship by 9:30 in the morning, so it was another relatively early morning followed by everyone sleeping for the rest of the day when we returned to our apartments in Oslo. I can't even remember the last time I actually fell asleep during the day, but the jet lag & overall lack of sleep I've been getting on this trip finally caught up with me in the form of a 3-hour nap.

The weekend ended with a viewing of the Justin Bieber movie in the laundry room on my laptop with 2 friends (one willing & eager, one somewhat resistant). Perfect ending to a perfect weekend.