Welcome Back to Copenhagen

I woke up to a camera lens staring me straight in the face while hanging 15 feet in air and unable to escape the awkward photos. I was too tired to move and too secure in the harness to turn the other direction and hide my face. As a result, my mom took photo after photo of me sleeping. I attempted to go back to sleep for a few more minutes, but soon enough Robin was below us saying breakfast was ready. I had woken up a few times in the middle of the night attempting to get comfortable; as a result, I didn't feel as refreshed and awake as I would have liked.

After throwing our sleeping bags over the edge, we had to climb down the rope. I was surprisingly sore from the day before and thankful that I had to go down the rope instead of up. We quickly packed up the sleeping bags, backpack, and camping equipment so we didn't have to hike back up the hill to do this after breakfast. Robin told us that he had breakfast prepared at the bottom of the hill by the lake, so off we went. Once again, I was glad we were walking down the hill instead of up, gravity was certainly in our favor this morning.

We approached the little lake and found a miniature table set up covered in bread, cheese, dried salted pork, jam, and cream cheese. The table was just one of those 18 gallon storage boxes covered by a table cloth creating the perfect morning atmosphere. We positioned ourselves on the opposite side of the table so we could look out over the lake with trees to our left and cow pastures on our right. As I was waiting for the instant coffee to brew I started with a slice of gluten free bread with cream cheese later adding some jam and the other cheese to add to the flavor. I was anxiously waiting for the coffee to finish so I could really start my morning. I took a few nibbles here and there, but I needed some liquid to wash it down. When the coffee finished I was overwhelmed by its strong flavor. I had never had such strong coffee in my life and I now know why the word tar is oftentimes used when referring to coffee. Whether it was coffee or black tar, it sure did the trick and I instantly gained more energy.

Now that I was a little less blurry eyed and a little more awake I was able to enjoy my surroundings. To the right we found two interested cows approaching the fence. They mooed as we enjoyed the sunrise, they mooed as we enjoyed our breakfast, and then it appeared that they just kept mooing for the fun of it. I wonder if the insistent mooing was a plea for food or just a means of annoying unknown travelers. Either way, it was all part of the experience. I was half tempted to give the cows a name and start mooing back, but I resisted the urge.

We finished up our breakfast and packed up what was left of our camping adventure. We had a plane to catch, so we had to start our drive to the airport. En route I realized brushing my teeth was a necessity. I had never had such bad mittens covering my teeth and I was starting to get paranoid that before we reached the airport the plaque would completely devour my teeth leaving nothing but cavities. I wasn't able to brush my teeth the night before because I didn't want to risk not being able to climb back up the tree, not to mention I was so tired that it slipped my mind. We attempted to get off the freeway looking for a place to stop and managed to get lost on back roads throughout the city. The roads were too small to turn around and it seemed that every turn we made was a wrong turn. I was anxious about getting to the airport, brushing my teeth, returning to the states the following day, and combined with the little sleep I had the night before created a recipe for disaster. I finally had to take a deep breath and place trust in my mom that we would find our way out of the city, find a bathroom, and make it to the airport on time. Sure enough, and after much headache, we found a bathroom, brushed our teeth, and continued on our way.

Airplanes and airports stress me out. Growing up in California and going to school in Vermont has forced me to fly more than I would have liked over the past few years. I actually like flying, but not when you are running between gates, missing your flight, and losing your luggage. Fortunately this short flight was relatively painless. Apart from getting to our gate early and having to find some way to kill the time, everything ran smoothly. In the United States I've become accustom to airports being slow and frustrating, but once again I think Europeans just know how to travel much better than Americans.

To pass the time until our plane took off we had lunch which was an overpriced salami and cheese panini and a coffee. We sat next to the cafe where we bought our food because they had a nice waiting area with huge couches. For the rest of our wait we played cribbage and read while taking advantage of the comfortable chairs. Soon enough it was time to board our plane to Dusseldorf and then on to Copenhagen after the quick stop.

It was fairly late by the time we arrived back in Copenhagen, took the train to the right stop, and actually managed to find where the hostel was located. We had just enough time to check in, freshen up, and spend one last night on the town. The past week and a half ran relatively smooth. There were times that we didn't book the hostel until the night before and one day where we were in different rooms, but even then everything turned out fine. Of course our last night stay would be the most challenging and frustrating of all reservations. When I was attempting to find a hostel in Copenhagen I had several different internet pages pulled up on my laptop. I was checking prices before finally deciding on Generator Copenhagen. By the time I decided to make a reservation the page timed out and I had to refresh the site before moving forward with the reservation. I quickly moved through the steps and made the reservation under the assumption that all my imformation remained the same. It wasn't until after I clicked sumbit that I realized I reserved two beds for July 21st rather than July14th. How I didn't catch this mistake beats me, so I just booked another night for the 14th rather than attempting to change the room when there may no longer be any availability. I emailed the reservations help address who quickly responded requesting that I needed to contact the hostel directly.

Tired and ready to shower, we walked upstairs to check in and barley came second in line behind a huge family with a complicated reservation. As I waited and waited to check in I looked around the room. It appeared as though most of the people staying in the hostel were in their 20s and 30s, but the group in front of us were mainly in their 60s or 70s. Nothing against older adults, but if you are looking for a nice, quiet place to stay with your family, a hostel is most likely not the place for you. I couldn't help but wonder how some of the older adults were going to climb up onto a bunk bed to sleep or how they would respond after finding they would be sharing a room with a group of rowdy boys as they came stumbling in at 5am totally drunk (which is exactly who we ended up sharing a room with).

It was finally my turn to talk to the reception desk. I asked about my previous reservation and said that the email suggested I cancel the reservation in person. The man at the reception said I needed to do this via email, so back to my computer I went. I pulled up my email and visited the desk a few more times to clarify any necessary details. I was tired of going back and forth and it appeared that no one knew what to do with my reservation. Finally, the first person I emailed said she would cancel the reservation. That probably would have been nice to know when I emailed her the first time, but I'm just glad everything worked itself out.


At this point I was beyond ready to shower. Other than brushing my teeth earlier today, I didn't have the chance to freshen up in well over 24 hours and I was ready to wash off all the grime from the past few days. I spent what felt like an hour in the shower washing every inch of my body. It's been a long time since I've been this grateful for an endless supply of hot water.

For our last night in Europe, we decided to have a nice dinner at Nyhavn, something I've wanted to do since arriving in Copenhagen. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbor, Nyhavn is a hustle and bustle district during the day with cafes, bars, and restaurants that flourish during the night. After spending extra time getting ready and moseying over to the canal, it was fairly late and most restaurants were closed or serving their last customers. Generally the restaurants on the canal were busy late into the night, but on a Sunday night things were settling down early. After stopping several times and asking numerous waitresses we were finally referred to Heering Restaurtant and Bistro.

Like every other meal we've had on this adventure, our dinner was fantastic and we practically licked the plate once we were finished. We shared the lamb crown with potato and horseradish gratin, slow baked carrots and beetroot topped with green pesto and the mixed green salad with apple, pear, grapes, pomegranate, and sweet chili sauce. Each dish was unique and full of varying flavors that combined to create the perfect bite each time. The lamb was cooked perfectly and displayed beautifully with the accompying potato, carrots, and beetroot. Good food, good company, beautiful sunset, there's no better way to spend my last night in Europe.