Adventures in Tiruchirappalli, India: Copenhagen, Denmark: "That Calls for a Carlsberg"

Hi everyone! So it's been a while since I've written, but I promise I'm alive and well! Since the last time I wrote a lot has happened. In that time, I have left India, gone to Copenhagen, and am currently on my way to Berlin! So while I have a lot to share, I'm hoping to try to keep this fairly short and let the pictures do the talking.

On Saturday, Maddie, Morgan, and I woke up bright and early so we could send Maddie off for her flight to London. Maddie had a two-day stop in London where she was going to sight see and learn some more following our experience in India. After she left, Morgan and I packed up all of our things...and then had nothing else to do. Things weren't complete without Maddie in India and we were just anxious to board our plane. I'm sure you all know that feeling: you're sad to leave but waiting to actually leave makes you want time to go faster!

A photo from India that I never posted!

The final product

Around 2:00 we finally were allowed to head through security to get on our plan to from Trichy to Chennai. As we got our last look at Trichy from the clouds, Morgan and I were both discussing how great of an experience we had, how much we learned, and how much we would miss the Indian culture. Lucky for us, we still have 12.5 hours in the Chennai airport in India! We weren't completely leaving the culture just yet. However, the Chennai airport turned out to be a very large ordeal for Morgan and myself.

When we got to Chennai, we had to pick up our baggage since our flight was so far away. Since our next flight was to London, we also had to go from the domestic terminal to the international terminal and because the airport is under construction, this involves going outside and walking (or taking a golf cart) from one end of the airport to the other. Well, little did we know the airport had a rule that you cannot come inside until the day of your flight (the next day for us) and cannot check in until three hours before take-off (aka 2:30 am). The guards who would not let us in told us to go back to arrivals and wait there, but the guards at arrivals would also not let us in and told us to go back to departures. Morgan and I were stuck trying to figure out what to do since it appeared the only option was to wait outside ALL NIGHT and as young, foreign girls, we did not like that option. A local woman noticed how frustrated we were, she came to ask us if we needed help and from then on acted as our sort of translator. After talking to multiple guards, a few of people from the airline (including the captain of our flight), a manager for our airline, and a lot of tears of frustration, we were finally told that we may be able to get inside. Before then, we had just been told that we were not allowed inside and we would just have to pass our layover outside the airport! Finally, the manager was able to get someone higher up in the airport to allow us inside... goal accomplished! So when we were safely inside the airport, we were able to relax and rest for the next day of travel - a flight to London and then another to Copenhagen!

The guards carry scary guns...

Our flight to London ended up being delayed so we were pushed back on our flight to Copenhagen and arrived a couple hours later than we had hoped, but we were still able to get settled in our temporary home and go out to eat in the area we were living in called Christianshavn. We stayed in an apartment in Copenhagen and we had a fantastic view from the balcony of our fifth floor abode! We could see the Church of our Savior two blocks away from our window. This Church has a spiral tower on the top that you can climb and see over all of Copenhagen and over to Sweden! We later climbed that church up 400 steps, the second climb of 400+ steps in a month's time!

Immediately we realized a lot of things that were very different in Copenhagen: 1) we hadn't seen so many Caucasian people since we had left home, 2) there were no cows, goats, or dogs roaming freely in the streets, 3) there were CROSSWALKS! Crosswalks really are quite wonderful. Even though sometimes you have to wait and it can get pretty frustrating if the light is taking a long time to turn, you also don't have to worry about being run over by a car/auto/bike/scooter/bicycle! After a long couple of days of traveling, Morgan and I were both very tired, so after a very delicious dinner of pasta at a local restaurant, we headed home to shower and get some sleep.

The next day, our only full day in Kobenhavn, we woke up bright and early and headed out the door at 7:30 so we could be sure to get the most out of our day. First, we went to go get our train pass for the rest of our trip and failed since I'm notorious for forgetting my passport when I need it... but we did get to experience the pay-use bathrooms. The bathrooms were 5 kroner, so $1, but when you walked in there was a greeting desk and a fish tank complete with lots of little fishes. I guess that $1 gets put to good use keeping those fish alive and the bathrooms clean! We also noticed that there were more pitbulls in Copenhagen than I had seen anywhere else, even the animal shelters back at home. We didn't keep exact count, but I know we saw at least 15 different pitbulls over the course of the day. Pitbulls often get stigmatized because of their strength and the fact that they are most commonly known for dog-fighting. However, if you haven't spent time with pitbulls, you should. They are so loving and so resilient and I was so happy to see so many of those wonderful little pups with loving families - they deserve it!

The first thing we did in Copenhagen was go on a free tour around the city so we could get an overview and then decide what we wanted to get a better look at later. Here are some of the fun facts I learned:

-Tivoli Gardens is the third oldest amusement park in the world

-Carlsberg is the most common type of beer in Copenhagen and has the fourth largest brewery in the world. This beer became very popular in the area because it was the first to offer a consistent brew. Currently it provides the city with cultural stops (i.e., the Little Mermaid, museums) in order to say thank you for helping the brewery to thrive. The Carlsberg motto, "That calls for a Carlsberg" is found all over Copenhagen!

-Hygge is a Danish word to describe a cozy atmosphere. So a street, a situation, a home, etc. could be descirbed to be hyggly (I think that's how they spelled the adjective).

-The drunk driving fee is a percentage (depending on the level of drunkenness) of the person's income

-During World War II 99% of Jewish Danes were saved from the Nazi Germans. In the first three years of the war, the Danes continued to be in power and protected their citizens. However, following those three years, the Nazi Germans were able to take over and the Danish government lost its power and its ability to protect its Jewish citizens. But they were able to find out when the Germans planned on raiding the communities and informed its citizens so they were able to make it over the Sweden to safety!

After our free tour, we went back to the apartment to eat some lunch and then headed back out! We climbed the church, as mentioned above, and then went to visit Christiana which is considered the "free-town" of Copenhagen. This area has its own lake, kindergarten, homes, etc. But what they are most well-known for is what's called Pusher Street. On this street there are lots of vendors selling Marijuana, which is illegal to sell and buy in Copenhagen. However, the city has come to an agreement to pretty much ignore what's going on inside of Christiana unless it comes out of Christiana - don't worry, we stayed away. There were also a lot of other really cool things about Christiana. There were lots of houses decorated with non-traditional building materials and vendors selling merchandise. One man molded old-fashioned silver plated spoons and forks into jewelry and other accessories such as hair barrettes. Neither Morgan nor I had enough Kroner to purchase one of the rings we liked and promised to return later to buy it, but later he had already packed up... it was very sad.

We continued our evening with a boat tour through the canals, some delicious pizza and coffee (a weird, yet delicious combo),a visit to the Little Mermaid, a few jumps on some public trampolines, and a rainy trip home. After a very long day walking around Copenhagen (7:30 am to 11 pm) without much rest for our legs and some added on sunburn, we were very tired. We headed home to pack up our bags and prepare for our early morning train to Berlin!

This morning after leaving a postcard and a pin from home for our wonderful host and one last look over our beautiful balcony, we began our trek to the train station looking like real backpackers! After advice from my big sister who has travelled in Europe before as well as one of the staff, we grabbed a couple open seats on the train since we did not reserve seats for this trip. Well after following all of the protocol to choose non-reserved seats, it was just our luck that our seats were actually reserved, it just didn't show up for some reason! So after a few hours migrating to random areas of the train and hoping not to get kicked off, we finally made it back to real seats for the final hour and a half of the trip!

The weirdest thing about this trip is that a portion of it takes place over water! So we didn't take the train over a bridge but into a ferry that then took us across the ocean. So we were in a train on a boat... pretty weird. But we were required to exit the train and wonder around the ship, but this meant we were able to see the Ocean from outside and that was pretty great even though it was windy and cold! We returned to the train and pick up our chosen spot in the train. At our first stop in Germany, we picked up a police man (Polizien) who picked a spot right near us. This police man was literally a picture of the Aryan race. He was tall, strong, blond, blue eyes, polite but also able to enforce rules, and demanding of attention. It was quite a strange thing to see!

Anyways, I think that's about all I have to share! That was a lot, so I hope the pictures help to break it up! Also, you should go read Morgan's blog post as well (morganscout.blogspot.com) because I'm fairly certain we talked about a lot of different things. Currently we are almost to Berlin and the train is driving backwards... so that's pretty weird too! When we get to Berlin we will head to the Hostel at which we are spending two nights. My next post will most likely be following my time there!

Until then...vi ses senere!,

Marissa

Our first meal in Copenhagen, right down the street from our apartment in Christianshavn

Our first coffees in Europe! Our first morning in a cute little cafe.

The view from our wonderful Balcony (see the spiral-top church)

Underwater statues - Anita and the man of the sea

Nyhavn - Copenhagen's most famous street

The Royal Abodes! Not sure of the actual name... but there is a beautiful church and four "castles" where each of the royal relatives/families live

One of the homes

Change of the guards

The beautiful church

The gold in the background reminded us of India

Our little canal outside our apartment

That calls for a Carlsberg!

View from the top of the Church!

Our apartment was the third from the top is that skinny little white building!

Look how tall it is!

Christiana is the "free-town"

The Little Mermaid statue - H.C. Andersen lived in Copenhagen

My sister spent last summer in Copenhagen
and took a very similar photo. Yesterday
was also her birthday so it was great to share
that experience with her from abroad!