Our trip to Copenhagen went really well, I thought. We had a relaxing time, but still got to see most of the city. It would've been nicer if the weather was warmer, though.

Our adventure started on Thursday night because we had a 7am flight, so we spent the night at the airport. The journey to the airport ended up delayed because our train was broken or something. They had to substitute an older train after 20 minutes. Since we weren't in a rush, it didn't make much difference. However, a fight broke out at the train station while we were waiting for the new train. It was amazing how quickly the police responded. I think within 1-2 minutes about 10-20 police officers had run over to the area to break up the fight. In the next couple minutes another 20 came from cars, though they weren't needed. This is often a common response to crime that I've noticed. You'll have some small incident and about 20 police officers will show up for it. I think since the police officers don't carry arms, they need more bodies for support. Eventually the train was ready and we made it to the airport without further incident.

A lot of the budget airlines leave early in the morning (maybe it is cheaper or something), so there were other people there. However, it was not that crowded when we arrived. Victoria had spent the night there when she went to Salzburg in December and said it was very crowded then. We found a group of three seats, shoved our stuff under them and slept on the floor next to them. It was about 11 or so when we went to sleep.

Unfortunately, some man decided it would be fun to harass us and he came and sat in one of the three seats. This wasn't really a problem, and we didn't mind (the airport had started to fill up). Then this guy turns on a radio really loudly (it's 1am) without any headphones, waking up several people. Victoria sits up and then the guy starts telling her how we shouldn't be on the floor and how we are wasting the seats. He just seemed to want to argue with us, even though we didn't even say anything about how rude he was being. There were also plenty of seats elsewhere, but he seemed intent on driving us away so he could keep these ones all to himself. The best thing that he said was, "See that guy over there on the floor (he was lying away from the chairs). He is my hero." Anyway, then he started cursing at us, so Victoria went and talked to one of the police officers that was patrolling the lobby area. He came over and told the guy to go find a new spot or he would soon be sleeping outside the airport. The officer was really nice to us and gave us the phone number for the airport police department in case the guy came back again. Luckily, he didn't bother us and we managed to sleep through until everyone started checking in for flights.

We flew on EasyJet, a discount no-frills airline. They don't have assigned seats, but we were able to get window seats. I don't remember much of the flight there since I was so sleepy from the night before. I slept almost the entire flight. I think Victoria stayed awake to keep an eye on the plane and make sure its wings weren't falling off or something.

Copenhagen airport was small, but nice. Victoria was jealous that I got a passport stamp since EU citizens don't get them anymore. My passport is starting to fill up though, so I don't know what I'll do if I finish it. We managed to find a cash machine and take out enough money to get us started. The airport is only about 10 minutes from the city center, so it didn't take long to get into Copenhagen. We picked up maps at the tourist office and headed to our hotel, which turned out to be a long way away. We had pizza for lunch and stopped at a cafe on the way. The first two nights we stayed at the Bertrams Hotel, which was one of the cheapest hotels with ensuite rooms. However, because Sunday was in May, a new pricing scheme started, making Sunday more expensive. We found a much nicer hotel to stay in on Sunday which had gave discounts for Sunday night stays. It wasn't that bad changing hotels, and we saved about 50 dollars.

We found out a not-so-great thing from the desk clerk at our first hotel. Apparently there is a district in Copenhagen where marijuana sales are generally permitted, Christiantown. Normally this has not been a problem, but recently a new foreign gang has moved in and, trying to muscle in on the drug trade, came to the main street (Pusher Street) in this area with automatic pistols and started shooting people. This was of course a really big thing, especially since no one has guns in Copenhagen. We didn't visit that part of town (wisely) but apparently it is filled with police officers now to prevent a repeat of the violence.

Much of our first day was napping and wandering around the center of town on foot. We had a lot of trouble finding places to eat that weren't horribly expensive. Everywhere we looked we seemed to find places with main courses starting at 40-50 dollars. That seemed a bit high for dinner. We ended up finding a tiny thai restaurant (6 chairs) that was just amazingly good and much better priced. The lady cooked our meal fresh in front of us as well.

On Saturday we used the free city bikes (not the best quality, but they are free) to bike across to the other side of the city. We visit the Museum of Danish Resistance (during WWII). It was a small museum, but it took a long time to visit. It was put together very well, with compelling exhibits, including stories and video in English. One problem we had at the museum (and elsewhere) was getting change when paying for things. This happened on several different occasions. For example, imagine going into a store and buying something. The price is 8 dollars. You hand the cashier a 20 dollar bill. The cashier looks at you like you are crazy and says, "Don't you have any smaller bills?" Obviously it was in kroner, the Danish currency, not dollars, but it happened several times. The 200 kroner bills were the ones the cash machines gave out, but hardly anyone had any change in the registers. I remember the same thing happening in Greece when we were there. I wonder why this is an issue in some countries.

After the museum we got some hot dogs. Mine had a chili sauce which was really hot, so Victoria ended up de-chiliing my hot dog for me. Then we saw the little mermaid statue and walked around the Castellet, an old pentagon-shaped fortress. Then we walked and walked because all the city bikes were gone. We stopped in the center of town for a beer (I had a milkshake) in a central square cafe. Unfortunately it was a bit cold and it even started to rain a little at the end. Our feet were killing us, so we went back to the hotel. We were too lazy to go far again, so I just got a takeout pizza from across the road. They make good pizza in Denmark.

Sunday we moved our bags to the new hotel in the morning, and then wandered around a part of the city we hadn't really seen. We checked into Hotel Centrum around 1, and it was much much nicer than our last hotel. It was refurbished in the last two years. It had a huge buffet breakfast, and free passes to a swim/spa club down the street. We knew about the swim club, so we headed there (it closed at 4 on Sundays). The swim club was nice, with many different features. However, some things were very crowded (such as the warm water pools). There was a hot tub, but nobody was in it. They were sitting around the outside of it with their feet barely touching it. I wanted to push them aside and sit in the center, but that might've been a bit rude.

After swimming for a little while, we went back to the hotel and then visited another museum. That night we were also feeling lazy, so I went to a Thai takeout place down the street. However, it ended up taking a long time. They didn't take credit cards, so I went to a nearby ATM. That one was broken, so I then searched around for one. I never ran into one, so I went back to the hotel to get directions. Then I had to go back to the takeout place. This would've been okay if they had been preparing the food, but I didn't want to order the food until I had money to pay for it. So I then had to wait for them to make the food. It ended up taking over an hour, I think.

Monday morning I stuffed my face at the breakfast (it was delicious), and then we took a train to Hillerød. In Hillerød is a huge castle called Frederiksborg Slot. It is really beautiful, and we had a good time there despite the fact that it was raining some. The castle is next to a lake, with the town mostly around the lake. Inside the castle is the largest portrait collection of the Danish royal family through the ages. There is a lot of antique furniture in the rooms as well. The top floor is a modern art gallery, and the bottom floor has exhibitions. The exhibition we saw was about Hans Christian Anderson's life. Apparently it was a big birthday anniversary of his, so everywhere in Copenhagen we saw Hans Christian Anderson information. I really enjoyed getting out of the city (though the city looks great) and seeing some of the countryside, though it was only for part of a day.

Around 5, we headed back to the city and took a train to the airport. There were no problems coming back either, though the flight was extremely crowded. We got seats near the front so we could hurry to immigration. We were hoping to make a 10:30 train to London because the next was at 11:00. As it turns out we easily cruised through immigration and on to baggage claim in no time. We rushed to the train platform, arriving at 10:28 to discover that the train was delayed by 15 minutes. There were no problems getting home and we made it in bed around 12. This was a good thing because I had to get up at 5am to make my train to Sheffield Tuesday morning, when I started work. Somehow (adrenaline), I didn't sleep on the train on the way up nor was I tired during work all day. All in all I really enjoyed the trip. I wish Denmark was a little less expensive though. It doesn't help that sales tax is 25% on all products.