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...
In the end, it seems as if Bob Wild was too much for me to stay away for more than six months, so I am returning to Marquette University for my senior year. Syddansk Universitet had its perks (like not doing anything for the entire semester), but I do value my MU education.
Ben's Swedes
...
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.
I leave for Spain in about 20 hours, and I am unsure about my ability to blog while there, so this may be it for the weekend. Sixty-eight degrees, mostly sunny while I am in Madrid... finally some time with Mr. Sun! The list of places I plan to go:
What do you do when the taxes on alcohol make buying it prohibitive... drive to Germany of course! Sonderborg is 15 minutes away from the German border, so a road trip to the border is a common occurrence for Danes. So common as a matter of fact, that there are stores run by Danes in Germany for just this purpose. Kinda like sex shops and fireworks at the Illinois border... and Danish residents get a discount by showing their residence permit. All prices are listed in Danish kroner and you pay with Danish kroner. Each person in the car can import 50 liters of beer, so we all piled in Fabians Peugeot and went to Flensborg, Germany.
