Copenhagen, Denmark

To me København felt a lot like Holland (minus the red light district). There were the tall house squeezed right next to one another, the beautiful canals, and of course the bicycles, though not to the same extent.

Here the thing to have seemed to be these giant buggies for the children. I'm not calling them buggies as opposed to strollers to be cute, these were exactly what would pop into your head when you hear the word buggy. Where in Holland it seemed liked newborns were placed in bikes seats here kids rode in buggies much later in life, there were kids as old as 5 in these things. The buggies were used to carry the kid (sometimes kids), but they were also used to carrying other things like groceries. They were used more like a shopping cart than something to be used to just carry a kid around. A couple of times I saw people with buggies and no kids. Apparently here the buggie is like the SVU is in the US.

I got a chance to view the changing of the guards at the Rosenborg Castle, which is a daily occurence. To become a Royal Danish Guard it's a lottery of sorts and a volunteer position. I was told that the guards are in postion in full uniform, including giant bearskin hat, for 2 hours and then they are on break for 4 hours, this routine continues for their entire 24 hour shift. When they are standing at their post they get to deal with us pesky tourist taking pictures and posing with them. I hear the guards at Buckingham Palace are quite serious and cannot be disturbed from the task at hand, this is not the case with the Royal Danish Guard. They seemed much more relaxed, even smiling on occasion.

Right as you exit the train station (if that's how you got there) you see Tivoli Gardens, Københavns amusement park. There was one ride in particular that caught my attention so of course I had to visit. The cost to get in is pretty reasonable, less than $20USD. This just gets you into the park and to ride the rides is a separate cost, which is good for those that do not plan to do this. You can either purchase separate tickets or a wristband that lets you on any of the rides. The ticket system reminded me of Disneyland back in the day, where the better the ride the more tickets it would cost you. The ride I went on was called the Vortex and is clearly on my top ten list. It was this tall structure with 2 airplanes attached, so it could only seat 8 people at once. The ride starts off with the airplane going is circles as it rises up in the air. Once fully in the air te plane just starts doing really fast 360 loops. It was funny to watch people on the ground as I waited in line as you would see them ducking when they heard the airplacne noise coming their way. I beleive the ride gives you the expericen of 4g's. So not only did I get to see København right side up but I also saw it upside down.

There was a replicate copy of the Little Mermaid statue at the park as the original is currently in China at the World Expo (even the statue get long vacations in Europe). I think a lot of tourist were not aware of this and a bit disappointed as the stature us a highlight for most visitors. Although some locals do not like the statue, the head has been cut off and it's been kidnapped a couple of times. At least I got to see a version of the statue.