I love when they say this in check out lines or in passing - it sounds so casual in my ear, but it's really the way to say hello. The group of 7 split off last week and 4 of us continued our crazy journey into Denmark and Sweden. Long train rides. But very fun!
Copenhagen was a big surprise to everyone. At first, we were a tad weary of it. All of us were exhausted and we spent almost an hour looking for a simple meal that wasn't expensive. News flash for us. EVERYTHING is expensive. So we finally settled on a random café which was way overpriced for the not so great meal that we ate. Big bummer.
The next morning though, we woke up determined to find greatness within the city. And we definitely did!
We walked around the more touristy streets, grabbed a latte and a Danish, and ran into a place where you could take Canal tours of Copenhagen. Since none of us had any idea of what was there or the history that the city contained, we decided to go for it. I don't think any of us regretted it!
The water was BEAUTIFUL that day. All of us were itching to just jump out of the boat and swim. What beautiful sights lay around the city.
We mosied around the town pretty much the entirety of the day. We walked through a park of the Royal Palace and eventually ran into the famous Little Mermaid - a monument in dedication to the story being founded in Copenhagen.
Though a short trip, it was a beautiful one.
The next morning, we left early for our 5 hour train to Stockholm. By now, we've gotten down a routine. Travel day, come back to our hotel in the afternoon, nap for a few hours, and then go out again. Thankfully, with the sun setting around 11 pm, we never felt guilty doing this! It was daylight throughout all hours.
Only problem with this plan - our last hotel room was by far the worst!
There was barely enough room for 4 people, let alone all of our luggage. We named the room "the closet" and tried to make the best of it.
Having had such a successful canal tour in Copenhagen, we took a similar one in Stockholm. However, we're not sure if it was the gloomy weather or the point of serious exhaustion but at this point, we were pretty neutral about our feelings toward the city.
We also were really understanding and living the rumor of "it's very expensive there." The first day, we made 3 sandwiches from our hotel breakfast and ate those throughout the day. Buying a water bottle and a banana as a snack would cost somewhere around $8. Shamefully, the 7-11 across from our hotel became our place of food supply.
The following day, our last day together, was pretty relaxing. We met up with Joe's friend Malin (a Swedish native) and she took us around for food, shopping, and showed us the most disgusting Swedish licorice I have ever had! :P But some amazing chocolate!
Our night concluded with us crowding around my computer and watching episode after episode of my favorite TV series "Lost." Clearly, we were done traveling. It had been a long 3 weeks - wonderful - but exhausting.
So the three who left were ecstatic when we arrived at the Arlanda airport for our separate departures.
I, on the other hand, had the most boring travel day yet. As the 3 left for America, I waited around at the airport for about 5 hours until my flight departed around 4 pm. Landed at 6 pm and of all crazy things to happen, I get on the London tube and it breaks down for several hours. I'm sitting on the train with my London map, clearly a foreigner of this place, with all of my luggage (or as my friend Dave says, my entire apartment constrained in a suitcase) barely having any idea how to read the tube maps. Thank GOODNESS they are in English!!
So after 4 hours of getting on several trains and having literally hundreds of people confused and frustrated with the rail system, I make it to my host family's pad in the pouring rain. Why is there always rain?!! I swear, every dramatic part of this trip has involved the random outpour of drops of the sky. It's all so Hollywood-esque.
I walked down the streets from the station laughing at myself at how wet I was and completely lost in a city I barely know. Luckily, I found the pad I was staying and had a nice warm bed for me to sleep in.
Today I woke up realizing that I'm alone. It's kind of a scary thought - I am alone. Across the world. I am just thankful that I even have a place to stay! So my day is mine. I think I want to hit up the touristy stuff first (which secretly is my favorite). Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament...
Pictures will probably be coming more frequently now that I have all the time in the world! Well, kind of. I have 5 days in London before I leave for Salzburg.
Wish me luck!
Until then,
<3 Allie
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