Copenhagen

So, today, I drove over to Joel and Sarah's house. Yes, I drove and did not get lost or arrested. Is this a great trip, or what? Joel was digging into his Bible study for Friday night "Underground" and needed a break from entertaining me. I know, hard to believe but there you have it. In any case, he dropped me at the train station and I headed for a day in Copenhagen. I've always wanted to see the hometown of Hans Christian Andersen. Of course, he was not there, having been dead for a century or so. Nevertheless, his name appeared on cafes, museums, and even a tourist trap or two.

Tivoli, the oldest amusement park in Europe and near the oldest in the world, sits just outside the Copenhagen Central train station, so I made my first stop there. Tivoli is acres of gardens, eateries, and, yes, thrill rides. You have to pay (about $18) to get in and after that, you pay for everything else. For $40, I could have bought a pass to ride all the rides all day, but somehow that seemed excessive to me. So, I looked everything over and decided one ride on the Demon, a chinese themed double-loop roller coaster, was the only thing I wanted more than my $12. It did not disappoint. Twists and turns. And everyone yelling in Danish. How on earth can you beat that?

Then, I started down the longest pedestrian mall in Europe . . . or so I was told. Sure, it was mostly kitch, but street musicians added ambiance. I discovered this crazy Danish cinimon roll with a crazy rich chocolate on top. Oh my soul! I also wondered into a museum that had an exhibit of cut up paper . . . still wondering about that . . . and a few mammoth churches. My favorite is called the Marble Church. I bet you'll never guess what it is made of. Well, mostly Norwegian marble. It got a little expensive, so they finished it with whatever was on hand. Nevertheless, it is a gorgeous domed church with brilliant frescoes. Worth a look. And, they won me over by telling us to shut up and pray while we were in the church and talk about it when we got outside if we really had to say anything.

The famous Little Mermaid statue on the water near an old fort is a must see in Copenhagen, so I planned my day around a walk to the water to view the H.C. Andersen character. Unfortunately, the nasty little fish-girl has decided to vacation in China this year. Oddly enough, there is a big TV screen in the sea with a direct feed of her entertaining the good people of Shanghai. Really. I've got pictures. Of course, the feed went south while I was there, but I noticed they had it restored after a few moments. Hm. If this was a James Bond movie the famous statue would have been sneakily replaced with a replica that says "Made in China" on the bottom during the interruption of transmission.

Good day. Looking forward to hanging with the high school age youth tomorrow. Loud music. Hard-hitting teaching. Sounds like a party.

20 May 2010

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