Yesterday was a pretty chill day. I tried to find a church meeting to go to, but alas I did not succeed. I found where the missionaries live and when the Copenhagen temple is though. Today I took 3 trains to get back to Belgium. My last train ride of the trip :/. I'll miss those. I woke up early today to catch the first train. The sun rises at 4:30 am in Copenhagen. That was pretty awesome. I got to take the ferry back to Germany, but I almost missed the train, I ended up chasing it down on the tracks, that was cool. But not as crazy as it sounds. But other than that it has been another relaxing day, which is kind of what I needed. I had another 'embarrassed to be an American' moment. I love the United States, but guys we really don't make a good impression overseas. I was in Köln Germany at the train station. I needed to use the bathroom but it was €1 so I had to go find change from a restaurant nearby. As I was coming back a lady and a man were walking towards the restroom (saying bathroom over here is weird... Which makes sense because in public places there are no baths. This isn't Ancient Rome). So this man was following this lady and he was walking like he pooped his pants. Pretty badly. The lady sees the pay gate and proceeds to pull a American dollar bill out of her wallet. She waves it in the air and yells loudly- "I'm an American. And I have a dollar. Will someone let me in?" The janitor just looks at her and shakes her head 'no'. Someone inside went and gave her a euro. Maybe I should be more sensitive, but really? You are in the middle of Germany, all you have are American dollars and you think you're entitled to the restroom when everyone else has to pay? What use do they have for American money? Granted your friend did look like he had an emergency on his hands... Or in his pants.... But she could have asked someone politely instead of yelling for the whole restroom to hear. ANYWAY I am currently in Brussels and tomorrow morning I fly back to Dublin. I spend tomorrow and another whole day there and then I'm coming home... About which I have mixed feelings. I won't mind having a free laundry machine and my own bed again (though these Marriotts in Brussels have been pretty fantastic). I'm also pretty tired.. Long day of sitting. Ha. I will post more tomorrow. Back on the Dublin page. Ttfn.
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Let me just start by saying Danish is hard.
Usually I would have picked up a couple of words by now... But Danish is hard. Luckily the Danes are super friendly and most understand a little English. I asked my tour guide today how you say 'please' in Danish and he told us there's no word for please. I've tried 'thanks' once or twice but that is about as far as I've gotten. When I was ordering a crepe at a street stand (you caught me, French food in a Danish nation;) this guy came up asking where the 'Schloss' was, but the guy at the crepe stand didn't know what he was asking. Luckily I had learned that word! Unluckily I wasn't super positive where the Schloss was.... So I just told him 'I'm pretty sure it's that way'. Not very helpful, but at least I understood him! Today I went on a 3 hr. Walking tour of the city of Copenhagen. I saw the famous Nyhavn harbor that is in the cover photo above. I was expecting it to be a little more crowded, but it was't too bad. I saw two churches- a Protestant church and a Anglican Church (because I didn't want to pick sides). And then I took a tour of the Christiansborg Palace. The library in that place is right out of Beauty and the Beast! I'm a fan of the palaces over here. I know I talk about food a lot but.... I don't have a good excuse.... that's how I am. So our tour guide talked about Danish food that we have to try. The national Danish dish is pork and mashed potatoes. He listed a few other things... Pickled herring.. Etc. nothing sounded amazing. I didn't feel brave enough to try pickled herring today. Maybe tomorrow? Hot dogs are a really popular street food in Denmark. I had one that was pretty good for lunch. The man grilled both the hot dog and the bun. But the bun was more like a long roll with a hole poked in the middle for the hotdog to fit into. Good idea right? Then instead of ketchup I tried 'French dressing' is was this creamy sweet sauce that he squirted into the bun before stuffing the hot dog in there. Pretty good. After that I went and saw the Little Mermaid statue. It was put there to commemorate the works of Hans Christian Anderson. Of whom I am a fan. Then for dinner I wasn't feeling super hungry, so I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu that looked tastey. 'BBB toast'. I'm not sure if we have this in the states, but oooooooooh we should. So a smørrebord is an open-faced sandwich. That's what I had. So it was traditional Danish food, right? Also the toast was rye bread, which according to our tour guide is another Danish favorite. Guys. BBB stands for Bananas, Brie, and Bacon. Soooo good. I believe they fried the bananas a little bit and the Brie was warm and melty. Then the bacon was nice and crispy. See I can enjoy bacon. It was delicious. Here are are a few interesting facts I learned today; -there's a tradition that has been going on since 1448 where all Danish kings have the name Christian or Fredrick -The current Monarch is Margaret II. She is the second female monarch the country has had. The first was also named Margaret. (Hence the 'second') Not a lot of monarch-name variation here. -The Danes LoOOOVE their queen -Denmark really doesn't have labor laws. Crazy right? (No min. wage, no definition of full time, no overtime etc) it's unions vs employers -Danish people seem really happy and have a good sense of humor -Denmark isn't a secular country, religion is written right into their Constitution -I also learned all about the royal family. Margaret has 2 sons, one fell in love with an Australian woman in a bar and she didn't find out that she was dating a prince for a few months. (Hey wasn't The Prince and Me about the prince of Denmark?) -This is kind of my homeland, as grandpa says "we're Danish and Dutch and not up to much". Well, I will talk to you all tomorrow. |
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