After 3 hours on the train, we arrived in the capital of Denmark. Immediately, when you get off the train, you know the city tells a lot of stories. The energy of this city really carries you away. I didn’t had eyes enough when we walked to our hotel.
We got 15 minutes to get settled in. Then we took a little tour bus. This way, we got to taste a little bit more from Copenhagen. The only thing that really amazed me, was how expensive the public transportation is around here.
After this pricy trip, we walked to the Round tower. I think this was one of the peaks of our trip to this vibrant city. The Round Tower does not have an elevator, so we had to climb the winding. With my tongue on the floor, I arrived at the top. never the less, it was worth it.
The view from up there was phenomenal! We could overlook whole Copenhagen! For the first time in my life, I did not know what to say…
Afterwards, we walked into the longest shopping street of Europe: Strøget. On one side, you had shops like Prada and Chanel for the wealthy people. On the other side you had shops for people like me… At the end of Strøget, you had the Town Hall Square. Here you can find ‘The golden weather girls’. These girls used to tell the weather, but nowadays it doesn’t work anymore. After this first tiresome day, the bed in the hotel looked better than ever…
Thursday morning, at 7 o’clock my alarm went off. Normally I would just put it off and stay in bed for at least 10 more minutes. But not this time! I jumped out of my bed (bumped my head) and into my clothes, brushed my teeth and I was ready to go downstairs for some breakfast. After 3 cups of coffee, I was ready to explore more of Copenhagen.
The Thursday adventure started by walking among the riverside to ‘the Black Diamond’. There we waited for the boat to come, but it never did… So we started walking. I wasn’t too disappointed, because I’d probably died on the boat because of the freezing cold. And this way, we got to see more of Copenhagen. During our walk to ‘The Little Mermaid’, we passed Nyhavn and the Toaster, better known as the Opera House. Both the harbor as the opera were impressive. Nevertheless, I think the modern architecture of the ‘toaster’ and the Royal Library don’t really suit the old city…
Nyhavn on the other hand was, in contrast of its name, a really old part of Copenhagen. There was a romantic atmosphere here. We didn’t had a lot of time to contemplate about this. We had to keep walking or otherwise we would freeze to death…
After a long walk, we arrived at the famous ‘Little Mermaid’. It was smaller than I’d expected, but I’m glad I’ve seen it. From this fairy tale, we went to Amilienborg castle. We entered the domain and I was amazed… Four impressive buildings, a giant square and two guards. The queen was at home, because the flag was proudly waving in the wind.
On the inside, we had the chance to learn a bit more about this castle. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by this. Except for some royal dresses and paintings, there wasn’t a lot to see… I’d hoped that I could learn more about their way of living…
After a delicious lunch and a deeper exploring of the pedestrian street, we met at Rosenborg Castle. I think this castle is much more beautiful and spectacular than Amilienborg. The garden was beautiful (the snow has its advantages) and also the inside of the building was phenomenal. You could really see how these people lived in at that time. I taught it was the most interesting thing we’d see so fare.
After our trip in the renaissance, we got some more free time. Because the temperature dropped even more. A few Erasmus students and I decided to go to a café and drink some thee. When we finally warmed up, it was already time to go to our restaurant at Riz Raz. When Jette told me it was a vegetarian restaurant, I was a bit scared. But I have to say that my horror was a waste of time. The food was delicious! I really enjoyed that evening. The food was great and the company was even better. A perfect way to finish the second day in Copenhagen.
Friday morning, my alarm again went off at 7 o’ clock. Although I was still exited to go to the national museum, I didn’t jumped out of my bed this time. This excursion had been wonderful, but at least equally tiring… After we had our breakfast and I had my caffeine, I was ready to go. We packed our bags, left them at the Danhostel and left for the National Museum.
I first went to see the exhibition about the ‘Rainforest’. It was beautifully made. The moment I walked into that room, I felt I was at the other side of the world… Although it wasn’t a museum, especially for the children, there were a lot of things to do. For example, you could sit in a typical boat from over there.
The second exhibition I went to see was the children’s museum. All the other museums I’d ever seen were nothing in comparison with this one. If I was a teacher in Denmark, without a doubt, I would go and visit this museum. The children could learn by playing. Something we try to do in Belgium, but it doesn’t always works… Even I, a 21 year old student couldn’t ignore all those activities and tried everything out. It was great!
The third exhibition was about the Danish history. Very interesting as well, because although we are staying in Denmark, we hadn’t seen a lot about this land. The thing I will always remember, is the next sentence: ‘We are red, we are white, we are Danish dynamite.’ Once again, it shows that Danes are very patriotic. They really love their country, they are proud of it. And so they should be.
After a two hour overload of information, Aurélie, Sophie, Ether, Marie and I decided to go the most famous brewery of Denmark: the Carlsberg brewery. After asking a lot of people instructions about how to get there, we arrived at the ‘beer palace’. We paid 60 kroner to get in, but it was worth it. We got to see the whole history of the Carlsberg brewery. Of course I got thirsty from all this information, so afterwards we drunk a freshly drawn Carlsberg beer. I like this beer, but as a Belgian I have to say our beer is better…
And with the beer taste still in my mouth, we left Copenhagen, the city that never sleeps. I’m sure this will be one of the moments in the whole Erasmus experience, I will cherish the most.
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