Day 4-5: Paris

Ah, Peri. Beauty and the Beast nailed it. The neighborhood our hostel was in was quite charming, with little cafes and fruit stands surrounding the area. I was just waiting for the town to burst into song. I would have to say that the Eiffel Tower isn't all that impressive, but the Arc de Triomphe more than makes up for it. It must have been from all those years of watching Le Tour de France. I could feel the electricity as thousands of fans lined the streets to see the 2,200 mile race come to an end on the Champs-Elysées. Moulin Rouge is hardly impressive at 8:00AM, but I would imagine the area becomes Vegas like at night. There really isn't enough time in the day to see all that is to see in The Louvre. The more I saw, the more I wanted to see... the cathedral of large-scale French paintings, mainly the 20x32 foot Coronation of Napoleon by David, gives you goose-bumps in its shear scale yet such detail. The 2000 year old statue Venus de Milo was another unexpected gem, further making me want to visit Greece while here. The Seated Scribe, one of the oldest works I have seen, was also an impressive look at another destination I would like to see, Egypt. The Mona Lisa didn't disappoint, as I knew ahead of time it would be small and unimpressive.

Day 3-4: London

Mind the Gap! I took an early morning stroll while James caught up on sleep. When I crossed the Victoria Bridge, I was angered to see a huge sign hanging from Big Ben, obstructing the view to my Tower. Greenpeace had hung a huge sign in protest of WMD's in England. As I made my way towards Parliament Square, I came across another riot of sorts (well more of a protest than a riot.) Parliament was voting that same day on the decision to upgrade Briton's aging nuclear arsenal for the year 2022. I struck up a conversation with a member of Greenpeace, and marched around the block a few times with the calm mob. After my protesting itch was scratched, I went back to get James. We made our way to see Buckingham Palace, and were surprised to see not the changing of the guard, but something much bigger and grander. The President of Ghana was in town to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence from the UK, and there was no shortage of spirit. Ghanese people lined the streets as hundreds of guard mounted white horses made their way down the streets, followed by golden chariots carrying England's Queen and the President of Ghana. So yes I was England and I didn't see the changing of the guard, but I think what we saw was much more memorable! I did however miss my chance to pose, Austin Powers style with a guard, as the square was closed for the celebrations.

We wandered all over the city, seeing the usual sights, and as dusk was approaching, took a commuter boat up and down The River Thames. This is a must do, as you cannot really enjoy London Bridge until you pass under it and view it from the river. The most beautiful thing I had seen... so far.

Day 1-2: Copenhagen

I thought it might be easier to remember and describe the trip if I went day by day. The trip actually started Saturday night at 23:00 when I left Sonderborg station to catch a train to Copenhagen. I had a 3 hr. layover in Fredericia where I slept among the business men in the station, waiting to catch the 3:06AM train into Copenhagen. We arrived just as the sun was rising over beautiful Copenhagen (yes, the sun does shine in Denmark), and I walked the streets as bikes begun to flood the streets. I then made my way to the airport to meet James for his early morning arrival. While waiting, I picked up a copy of the Copenhagen Post to read more about the riots that had been ravaging Copenhagen over the destruction of a youth center (Ungdomshuset), home of 800 leftist squatters. The smell of fire and the sight of demolition were evident in the streets. Police were everywhere, and I later found out that I was lucky to have made it by train from the south of Denmark, as students from Germany and The Netherlands were denied access to the city just hours before I arrived.

After observing the chaos, we made our way to Freetown Christiania. Christiania's Mission Statement: "The objective of Christiania is to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible over the wellbeing of the entire community. Our society is to be economically self-sustaining and, as such, our aspiration is to be steadfast in our conviction that psychological and physical destitution can be averted." The rules in this community are, "no hard drugs, no guns, no violence and no cars."

We then made it just in time to Amalienborg Palace for the changing of the guard. Having seen a few other royal guards, these Danish guardians of the Queen are packing some pretty big guns compared to the paltry swords of the Czech guard. The parade of music and marching is quite the ordeal, but only takes place if the Queen is in residence (lucky us!)

On to London...