Denmark vs. Germany
Second day in Copenhagen and I am loving this beautiful city. The core is incredibly compact and very walk-able. Bikes are everywhere…according to Carter, who’s studying geography/urban planning, CPH is a global leader in making the city bike friendly; everyone wants to “Copenhagenise”.
We spent the afternoon doing a free walking your, organise by a group called Sandemans. The guides are all young volunteers, essentially, working for tips only. Our guide is Rosie, a Brit who’s been living in CPH for about a year and a half. Her full time gig is an internship as a copywriter at an agency. She’s a great guide and gives us a brief history of Copenhagen and insights at various points of interest in the city. There are about a dozen of us taking the afternoon tour. The on-and-off rain has deterred some people, I suspect.
We also walk by the royal residence. These royal residences are like nothing I’ve seen before — no walls, gates, or armies of guards to scare people away. Apart from the presence of a couple of guards, I can practically go knock on the door of Prince Federik and Princess Mary’s house. They live next door to Queen Margaret. Maybe they’ll invite me in for tea and tell me the story of how they met :). For non-Aussies, the story of Prince Federik and his Princess Mary is a classic fairy tale come true. Crown Prince Federik was in Sydney for the 2000 Olympics and met Mary at the Slip Inn bar in the Sydney CBD. He introduced himself as “Fred”. I wonder what her reaction was when she first found out his true identity. Now, they have three (?) children and he’s next in line to the throne, I believe.
Late in the afternoon, we return to the hostel and later are joined in the common area by Long, a Chinese international student who’s just finishing up a degree in the UK, and David, a cute Kiwi who checked in at the same time as us. He got in from Iceland the same day we did. Both are staying in our dorm room. We decide to find a place for dinner together and watch the soccer game. Euro cup is on and tonight it’s Germany vs. Denmark! I’m excited to join the action and cheer on the Danes whilst in Denmark. I’m a true bandwagon fan, my alliances last a day only. Just a few days ago, I was cheering the Swedes on with equal passion.
As we wander the streets near our hostel, we can see hordes of Danes dressed in red and white, all heading in one direction. That must be where all the action is. Dave and I decide to get pizza and Long and Carter go for Thai take-away. We casually eat, sitting outside the Thai place and people watch. More Danes, drapped in flags and carrying Carlsberg cans, walk toward the Kongen park. As soon as we finish, we head there as well.
The park is filled with young people and there are several big screens set-up for viewing the game. Soon the cheering begins and the crowd goes nuts when Denmark quickly catches up and ties with Germany in the first period. The atmosphere is good, but everyone is well behaved and orderly. Sadly, the Danes lose the game and are out of the tournament, but it is still an awesome experience!
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The next day, we hire bikes to bike around the city. It’s a great system…like shopping carts, you insert a 20 Kroner coin and can use the bike for as long as you like. When you’re done, just find another lock place to return the bike and you get your coin back!
