Copenhagen

Well, it's the last night in Copenhagen, so I should catch up on the past few days and quickly!

Claire and I arrived on Thursday around 2pm at our hotel and then went on a mass museum rush. The thing about Denmark is that all the museums and churches have short hours (open at 10am or noon and close at 4pm or 5pm). So, we ran to two museums, Den Hirschsprungske Samling and Statens Museum for Kunst. The Den museum (let's avoid spelling that second word, shall we?) was small but really interesting with only Danish artists with names too difficult for me to spell successfully in a short time. We only had an hour, and that is all we needed. We ran to the Kunst museum becaust it closed at 5pm and was free (yeah!), and it was the wierdest art museum I've seen with 300 yr old art next to new art. Then there was the room with at least 400 paintings in one really large room. We were swiftly ushered out at 4:50pm and then went to the garden for a little sit and to plot our evening dinner plans. One mediterranean buffet later we were stuffed and heading back to the hotel.

Friday was a great deal of fun. We started with an open top bus and canal tour, which was great fun. We took the obligatory pictures at the Little Mermaid statue, of course. After the tour we made our way to two churches before they closed at 4pm. Then we went to the Frihedsmuseet, the Museum of Danish Resistance during WWII. Very interersting and educational, as I know so little (read nothing) about Danish history. Then we made our way to the hotel, dolled up (actually made it to the dolling up part this time) and went to Christiania-the free town in Copenhagen. Wow. So much to say. We walked around the larger part, Christianhaven and then went into Chrisiania. As soon as we stepped in, it was like going back to the 60s (I think)-the smell of pot, lots of dreadlocks, bright colors, dirt road, and people just sitting back and loving the free life. We were highly overdressed but not much out of place. We ate at the vegetarian restaurant and then made our way out (buying myself a birthday bracelet on the way from a nice Afghanistan man). As we were on our way off the island (no longer in Christiania), a couple saw us taking photos of the buildings and offered to show us their backyard. What a lovely experience.

Today we went up to the Karen Blixen Museum (Out of Africa), which was inspiring. I got my book stamped (also stamped from her home in Nairobi). We really enjoyed our morning there. Then we got up to Helsinger, where the "Hamlet" castle was a big ole disappointment. The castle is just not very interesting with few rooms full of furniture. We did take obligatory pictures at the Shakespeare plaque and at the Hamlet and Ophelia statues. Quite a wierd castle experience. They should take some notes from the British who do their castles and living history (people in costumes) really well. Well, we went, and that's good.

So, we're off to have our last meal here before Claire heads back to Liverpool tomorrow and I go off to Sweden. There are lots more stories, but Claire is patiently waiting for me outside.

Hope you are all well.

Maureen