Copenhagen

Grace and I woke up early to hop on a shuttle bus to the airport, where we got on a plane to Copenhagen. The flight was very quick, since we both slept through a majority of it. When we got there, we figured out which bus to take into central station, and from there how to walk to out hostel (we later figured out that there was an option to take the train, which took 40 minutes less...). Anyways we got into city center and walked to Woodah Hostel, which was the best hostel I have ever experienced. It had the atmosphere of a Yoga studio: candles lit most of the areas, organic food always available (free organic breakfast), Yoga classes at 7:30am every other day, relaxed and helpful staff, and a small environment. Everyone hung out in the common area most of the time, which was fun. I would recommend it to anyone, and would go back if I get the chance to be in Copenhagen again. Anyways, enough about the hostel, we asked them where we should to spend some time before dinner, and they recommended The Trivoli Gardens, which was currently filled with the most famous Christmas market in Copenhagen. We went there and it was like a Christmas land! Check out my facebook album for pictures of this place. Anyways, it had rides, TONS of food, cool little shops with anything and everything you could think of, including non-Christmas stuff, and lights everywhere. It made me want to bring Christmas markets back to the states. Once we got fairly hungry enough to want an actual meal, we headed back towards the hostel and asked what was good. We went to a place called Madglads, which was all organic and vegetarian meals. It was also very frugal at 12 euro for a buffet. Everything was VERY organic, but also very tasty. It was funny how this trip was very different from all other trips we took; this trip was more relaxing, and calming for the body, instead of consuming alcohol and getting little sleep and exercise. Anyways, we found a small bar and got a glass of red wine and chatted. We realized that everyone in the country is beautiful: blonde, blue eyes, beautiful faces. We went back to the hostel around 11 and called it a night, since we were tired from traveling and knew we had to get up for 7:30 yoga the next morning.

We got up in time, and had a nice class with 4 other travelers. The teacher was awesome, and explained everything thoroughly, which is more than what I expected. It was an hour and a half session, and it was a great way to wake up. Right after, we went into the common room of the hostel for an organic breakfast which consisted of homemade rolls (you could taste the seeds and everything) with homemade hummus, apple/peach jam, fruit, yogurt with local honey, and tea. It was crazy how opposite this hostel was compared to EVERY other hostel I have been to. After starting the morning off right, we headed out to explore the city. We went to some big palace that the Queen lives in, and saw some really cool pieces of art, and libraries inside. We continued on and found 'The Church of Our Saviour' which was amazing! We went to the top of it, which was literally breathtaking...both the view and the walk up to the top. Then we went into Christiania, which is a self-proclaimed free-town, which means it under the laws of the state, but not the city of Copenhagen (it's really confusing, I don't fully understand it, and I don't think it is fully understood by anyone). We walked around there and it honestly felt like a fake place; there are no cars or bikes allowed inside of the area, you can only walk around. You also can't take any pictures inside. We walked around there along the river for awhile, until we got hungry again, and headed back for the city center area. We were so hungry that we ended up settling for the first place we found, which was a Pakistani restaurant; this was yet another one-of-a-kind restaurant experience that we had. It was delicious, and it was a great experience, yet odd that we decided to go here in Denmark. Anyways, we then went to the hostel to relax for a bit and regain some energy before going out later for a proper dinner and a couple drinks. We talked with the staff, and some of the other travelers while relaxing. We went to a Thai food restaurant for dinner, where I ate with chopsticks (random fact, but I was proud of my skill). Then we found a cozy, yet trendy, bar and had a drink; I ordered a drink, and it ended up being a fruity drink, with colorful garnishes...they looked at me like I had never been to a bar before, but whatever. We then headed back to the hostel around 11:30 and went to bed, expecting to get up early the next morning to fill our day before heading back to Ireland.
We set our alarm for 8:30, but realized after the fact that our Ireland phones were still on Ireland time (one hour earlier), so we missed breakfast, but ended up buying a similar breakfast from the counter. Since we we're already a little late to start, we headed off to the Little Mermaid; this was a tourist spot, but neither of us found it to be very impressive. It was cool to see, but it was far out of the way and cold by the water. We then just meandered around the streets and got a couple souvenirs, and enjoyed the lights and scenery. Stopped by the Nyhaven Christmas markets and ate some snacks before heading to the hostel to gather our goods and off to the airport. We figured out that the train is much more efficient, and gets us to the airport much quicker. We were there about two and a half hours early, so we went through security and had a delicious meal of chicken pasta and sandwiches; they had the best orange Fanta too. We still had time so we walked around, the inside of the airport was similar to a mall with shops on shops on shops. Anyways, we got on our plance eventually and flew home. I felt like being intellectual so I grabbed an international newspaper and read that on the plane ride home. Unfortunately, we had to wait 2 hours until the next bus home to Limerick, and arrived in Limerick at 4am this morning!
Now I am off to study the next couple days for a test on Wednesday, before a final family dinner and then off to Florida for Christmas! :-D

I will probably write one or two more blog entries, but nothing will be as exciting as the past posts! For those that read this, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed experiencing it!

Until the next adventure,

Slán