My Latest Adventures
Last Wednesday, a friend and I made an excursion to Kronborg in Helsingør, a grand castle made famous by one William Shakespeare when he based Hamlet in Elisnore, the English name for Helsingør, and based Hamlet’s castle on Kronborg. The trip took about 2 hours of train travel, though we had to get up early to get to the central station to confirm our route and fares.
Visiting the castle itself was great. The casemates, which comprise the underground system of vaults and corridors, were interesting and contained a striking sculpture of Holger the Dane, Denmark’s legendary hero who slumbers under the castle, though ready to rise as Denmark’s savior should the country come under attack. The Royal Apartments had a wide collection of items that the various kings had collected over the years, which got boring after a while. The climb to the Telegraph Tower was mildly arduous, but very rewarding, with a great view of Helsingør. The castle also hosts the Danish Maritime Museum, which had some interesting exhibits, the most memorable of which (for me) is a series of model ships in small light bulbs.
There wasn’t much else to see in the city, although we did stop by a church that was hosting an organ concert later that evening and got to hear someone–presumably the organist–practicing, which I must say was quite impressive. The trip back was painless and actually only took an hour and forty minutes.
Thursday was uneventful, except for going to a ridiculously nice cinema–with extraordinarily comfortable seats and the largest screen I ever remember seeing in a regular purpose theater–to see The Dark Knight. The price for the ticket, which has an assigned seat, was a cool 100 DKK, or over $21, and was worth every øre. The fantastic movie, in combination with the theater’s accommodations, ranks that evening among the best movie-going experiences I’ve ever had.
Friday heralded a tour of Christiania, the so-called Free City, which sits on a former military base that was claimed by hippies who started squatting there in 1971. Our guide, a 10-year resident of Christiania, gave us a very informative tour of the colorful settlement. Dubbed as a “social experiment,” the Free City has many interesting features, from the infamous Pusher Street with its few hash stands to the eccentric houses, such as the one constructed of almost exclusively window frames. This house, our guide was sure to point out was made by her neighbor. My favorite part of Christiania is the quintessentially defiant message on the back of the entrance sign: “You are now entering the EU.”
Not too long after I returned from Christiania, I was approached by some housemates. They had rented a car and wanted to go on an adventure outside Copenhagen. Liking adventures, I joined them in a trek to a beach in the northern town of Gilleleje, which isn’t too far from Helsingør. It was a pleasant beach, with a good view of Sweden across the water, though we didn’t hang around for sunset.
On Sunday, the social program took us on a tour of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum. More accurately, they said they would do that, while in fact the coordinators hadn’t shown up on time, which left us to enter the museum on our own (Sundays is free admission). After wandering around for a couple of hours with a friend, I had enough and went over to the Tøjhusmuseet (Royal Danish Arsenal Museum) in the historic district of Slotsholmen, where I saw incredibly numerous displays of cannons and other artillery, as well as (what I read somewhere is) the largest collection of firearms from over 500 years.
I finally went to the doctor at Frederiksberg Hospital for my 3+ weeks cough on Monday. After waiting over 3 hours and having read the entire Business Communication from the Harvard Business Essentials series, I was getting a bit hungry, so I asked how long it would be until it would be my turn. The receptionists couldn’t give a definite figure, as there was only one doctor in that day, but since there were 12 people ahead of me in line, they said if I came back in 2-3 hours, I should be alright. I went home to eat dinner and relax for a bit, got back in 2 hours and had to wait another 45 minutes or so until I was called in, where I was quickly informed that I had what appeared to be a viral infection, which cannot be treated. While happy to confirm that, I was a bit annoyed at the time it took.
Today was rather run-of-the-mill until I went to the Amager Strandpark beach with some friends for a beach barbecue/party with other CBS students. I got some nice pictures, but quickly discovered that I was ill-equipped for the outing since I had forgotten a sweatshirt of some sort. I was amused to find myself at a beach twice in a week when prior to that, I had been at a beach twice in three years.
The rest of the week should go by nicely, with my last classes on Thursday and studying for finals next week. I have been thoroughly enjoying my time in Copenhagen, but I feel as though I could use a change of scenery and am looking forward to moving on to Prague next Friday.
Pictures can be found at my deviantART gallery and the following Facebook albums: Kronborg pt 1, Kronborg pt 2, Christiania, Beach at Gilleleje, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Tøjhusmuseet (Royal Arsenal Museum), and the beach party.
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