Copenhagen, Denmark
Hello and welcome to technically the second country of this trip. If you are counting though you may be thinking that I am using some of that good Iowa math, however technically the Faroe Islands is owned by Denmark, making this still our second country of the trip. Either way we landed later in the evening in Copenhagen and made our way by train to our hostel. Now you may also be thinking, “Josh you got a hostel for you and your wife, that is reckless.” Now before you go casting any judgment just know that hostels can be nice and do offer private rooms, however this was neither of those things. We arrived at a very packed lobby full of people partying. We got our key for our mixed dorm room. Yes this means we share the room and bathroom with others of either sex. Thankfully this was just a 4 person room. The sad part is after hauling our bags all the way upstairs we discovered our cards didn’t work for the door. After going back downstairs and getting it sorted out I made my way back up to the room, only to find some very hairy man in what was supposed to be Bre’s bed… off to a great start here. After trying to quietly get ready for bed we decided to just get into one of the other free beds praying no one showed up to use it in the middle of the night.
7 semi rough hours of sleep later we arose just in time for our first activity of the day. I woke up sick but we couldn’t let that slow us down today. Our day today was planned out as a Christmas gift by my brother and his wife so we were in for a very action packed day. Our first activity they had planned was a kayak tour around the canals here in copenhagen. Now typically this should be a really fun activity but when you are sick and riding on very little sleep it becomes slightly less fun. Nevertheless we tried to make the most of it and worked our way out into the canals where we had lovely views of the old buildings. This was a great workout as well given the predetermined route by the company made us go up river to start. After paddling around for a little over an hour we made our way back down river and handed in our kayak. This adventure was a great way to start the trip, even being sick.
Now it was time for a more leisurely activity even sick Josh can get behind, coffee and pastries. We found one of the many cafes here and had a very relaxing brunch before seeing what else we were signed up to do. The next thing on the schedule was a climb to the top of the Church of our Savior. Now having seen this church this morning from a distance I wasn’t too worried. Even while we climbed up what felt like a never ending amount of stairs to get there I was relaxed. However when we reached what appeared to be the top and there was a ladder with a tiny hole to go outside I started to wonder what else was in store. After crawling my large self out of a tiny hole and walking around outside, Bre and I both realized there were more stairs that wound their way up the outside of the spire on top of the church. Now don’t get me wrong, heights have never really been a thing to scare me, however as we climbed the stairs just grew smaller and smaller before virtually disappearing and the top swayed back and forth more and more. If you can get past the sway of the top and the heights you are left with an absolutely jaw dropping view of Copenhagen.
Finally we called it a day with some food from a market just a few blocks from our hostel called TorvehallerneKBH. These types of markets are the best because not only are we supporting smaller local businesses but we also both get to eat whatever type of food we want and don’t have to compromise as much. So for example tonight I got Korean fried chicken and Bre got empanadas, name another place where you could get both of these amazing foods at the same place.
The next day being our last day we made very few plans, Bre went for a run, we grabbed some food from that market and then walked ourselves across town to see the iconic Copenhagen harbor called Nyhavn. This was a very beautiful area filled with expensive boats, colorful houses and equally expensive restaurants.
After getting our fill of classy, we started to walk to a well known mermaid statue. Sadly on the way a large storm rolled in and canceled our plans. We ended up finishing our tour of Denmark with laundry and Shawarma. Copenhagen was a beautiful town however it was very expensive and had a large amount of party goers, making it not really the scene for us. It can be a very well done city when you are not on a budget. Anyways, onward and forward to a country where both us and our wallets will enjoy just a bit more, until next time, go take a trip!
