Before I begin blogging about my trip to Copenhagen, I just need to declare how much I hate trains in Europe. I had to board three trains lasting for a total of 14 hours to Copenhagen and had to endure another five trains lasting for 12 hours back to Germany. The Germans' obsession with punctuality makes more sense to me now that I realise how much money I spent on making new reservations for seats on trains due to the late trains in Denmark.
Not to mention, that sitting around in the wee hours of the morning at Frankfurt Main Train Station for five hours turned out to be an incredibly fatiguing and unnerving affair. Not only did I had to fend off a persistent staff working for the Die Bahn asking for my number, but I had to dodge two drunk men laying their hands on me with a headbutt that would give Zidane a run for his money. Funny as it seems, I was amazed by the look on his face when I realized the impact that my head gave him. Haha.
Anyway, Copenhagen was a beautiful city. However, the dawn of fall and the arrival of winter soon meant that the skies get dark really early here in Europe. Not to mention, the intense iciness of the weather rendered us wrapped tightly in our coats, scarves and gloves like... a round lump.
The EuroCity train to Denmark went onboard a ferry which brought us across the Scandinavian seas. There were duty-free shopping on the train, although I didn't shop much during my trip to Denmark. Was not really into the mood to shop or do anything over the past few days. Besides, I think I have had enough of shopping in Europe and anymore shopping would only serve to induce a wave of nauseas onto me.
The capital of Denmark was totally into the Christmas mood. All around Copenhagen, Christmas lights were up, Christmas markets were opened already and not to mention, beautiful ice-skating rings.
The Tivoli was a perennial favorite Christmas light-up in Denmark. All around, there were rides and lights. And hey, it rhymes!
We went into this Build-A-Bear-Workshop and now I am the proud Mummy of a Danish bear called Anders. Elise is the god-mother of my baby bear. The name Anders was actually given to us by this nice Danish lady when we were racking our heads over what to call it. I love the name Anders. Because I am a proud ex-Anderson girl! Heh. And Anders was way better than those names that were randomly thrown out by Elise and Gerald. They wanted to called it "ang-moh" just because I wanted Anders to take over my last name, Ang. For the better understanding by our Western friends, ang-moh is an affectionate term that Singaporeans use to refer to our white-skin counterparts.
Yes, we all love Anders!
This is probably the one and only picture of me looking like an idiot you will find on this blog.
Klutz is my middle name. I accidentally stepped on the pedal at the cotton-stuffing machine before Anders went in and ended up, stuffing the girl working at Build-A-Bear with cotton.
Clubbing with Elise and Gerald at Culture Box. The girl working at Sleep-In-Heaven, the hostel where we stayed at told us that this place was an insider tip. We later suspect this place to be a gay pub because Elise and I were the rare few female population and the guys in the pub were more interested in Gerald than us. Nice vote of confidence for my wily charms. After two beers, one bottle of wine and two vodkas (okay, make that one and a half since I spilled half the vodka on somebody's shoes in my drunken stupor), I bade a beddy-bye to the club and the cab driver and fell into a coma immediately when we reached the hostel. It was amazing how much alcohol I consumed that night considering how cheap alcohol is in Germany relative to Denmark and that I did not even recognise posing in half of those pictures in Elise's blog.
Christmas market at Copenhagen was amazingly beautiful. We also went down to the Danish Queen's Palace as well as the famous Little Mermaid Statue based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson.
Last day at Copenhagen was spent on a brunch session with Kelvin, Elise's Danish friend (also happens to be Yixiao's friend) who came over to SMU for an international exchange during fall semester exactly a year ago. Brunch at Cafe Nordic was a delightful but incredibly expensive affair.
We made a daytrip to Malmo in Sweden for a few hours. Because it was a Sunday when we arrived, most shops were closed. No Christmas markets. Only museums were opened. We went into the Malmo Musee. Seriously, I had no idea what the theme of the museum was about. Animals, snakes, paintings, modern contemporary designs. The museum was so random that we ended up pretending to be statues ourselves.
Fun times in Copenhagen. I will always remember it.
