Tivoli

As I had written in my previous post, Thursday evening brought a trip to the Tivoli Gardens amusement park. I traveled there with some housemates by bike, though the trip took a while since some of the bikes we were using were not quite in working order. We had already paid the 85 DKK (US$18 and change) admission to Tivoli through the ISUP social program, so we collected our tickets and entered the park. The first stop was an open-air stage where a pantomime show was being held.

Tivoli Mime

The colorfully dressed actors held my attention briefly, but as it became clear that I had completely lost the plot, the show completely lost me, and I moved on. It may have been a cultural aspect that I failed to grasp, but I simply could not follow what was going on.

We continued lazily moving around the park. It turned out to be rather small, at least compared to the amusement parks back in the United States, but it is a nice, quaint place. The only issue I have with it is the costs of activities. Rides and attractions usually require tickets, and the number of tickets for each ride varies from one to three, whicle each ticket costs 20 DKK, or about US$4.25. Naturally, the one-ticket rides are intended for children, while the rides I would go on cost three tickets. That means $12.75 per ride on top of the $18 admission. There was a 200 DKK ($42.50) pass available, but as we arrived there at 6:30PM, I did not see the value in getting a ticket that would require at least 20 tickets’ worth or rides to break even. Instead, I enjoyed walking around and taking photographs in the picturesque park.

Tivoli Lake at Sundown

In the end, my group, which had changed over the course of the evening, decided to go for beers in the nearby beer garden, and to return for the fireworks show before midnight. On the way to and in the beer garden, I had an interesting conversation on linguistics, specifically the differences between English and most other languages, such as the gender neutrality of the syntax and the technicality of the language in its myriad of nuanced synonyms. Upon returning to Tivoli, however, we discovered that there would be no fireworks, although there would be a light show. Of course, as Murphy’s Law would predict, we were too late for the light show, and simply entirely missed out on any sort of midnight spectacle at all.

This weekend was rather uneventful apart from catching up on class readings, a book, and many movies. In no particular order, the movies I watched are:

• Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
• Atonement
• Casino Royale
• Charlie Wilson’s War
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• The Prestige
• Unleashed (aka, Danny the Dog)

Of these, I had only seen Casino Royale and Forgetting Sarah Marshall before. They are all quite good.

The rest of my Tivoli photos are available for your viewing pleasure on Facebook and at my deviantART gallery. Until next time.

~ by Mickey on July 20, 2008.