DAY 88 – HERRESTRUP AND COPENHAGEN 16/03/2009
Breakfast in a family home is much better than eating on the run, and the bread and cheese this morning was streets ahead of the home-brand cornflakes we have survived on for the last few months. Fortunately both Morten and I had survived the "Roskilde Disease" and were feeling much better, so we jumped in the car and drove to Copenhagen to see the sights. The suburbs are downright depressing, with rows upon rows of run-down community housing blocks. Morten had some trouble navigating the city (it'd been some time since he'd driven in Copenhagen) but we did arrive in the port area alive and well. The older part of the city feels completely different to the suburbs, with a very seaside theme to everything. We walked along the main canal, and Morten knocked his kneecap in a hilariously bad attempt at vaulting a small wall. We saw the parliament building, heard about the political issues of the Danes (one small party walk out of the parliament in protest whenever the royals enter, and a peace protest has been constantly active outside since 2001), saw numerous statues of numerous kings Frederick and Christian, climbed the observatory tower (a spiral ramp inside was cool and the view was really good) and heard the royal guards play their band as they marched through the town (every day at noon). The shopping district is nice, and we had some 'traditional' Danish hot dogs that were not bad, but nowhere near as good as German sausages. We also visited the Royal Palace, which has four buildings arranged around a quadrangle so that whatever royal is in residence can address the crowd from their balcony. There was also a cool hotel that was in a converted shipping storehouse. The new opera house commands an excellent view over the harbour and was a gift from a filthy rich shipping tycoon (the owner of Maersk shipping). Copenhagen city is really quite pretty, and I'm glad we saw it. Our tour ended with a longwinded attempt to find the quite underwhelming 'Little Mermaid' sculpture, which contrary to my expectations sits just on a little rock, not a podium.
We dropped in to see Klaus, and he gave us a tour of the ultra-impressive veterinary hospital where he works (it's also a university campus) and it was good to catch up with him.
Dinner was a really nice open sandwiches on rye bread (Keeley was unimpressed with the amount of mustard) and we spent the night watching movies and chatting with Morten. It was very enjoyable.
DAY 89 – HERRESTRUP 17/03/2009
Our breakfast included something neither of us has had since we were kids – boiled eggs straight out of the shell. It was quite nostalgic, and very enjoyable. From there we were taken on a tour of the area where Morten's family live. We saw Morten's school, a rather dour black and orange building that looked like a factory, a couple of small towns that explode in summer (the population quadruples), and looked out over a beautiful countryside spanning from hills to farms, plains to beaches, and everything in between. We dropped into the oldest castle in Denmark, currently a guesthouse and being renovated, but still pretty impressive. Finally we saw Morten's father's mink food factory, a very eye-opening experience. They use all the left-over bits of fish and chicken that other industries don't want, add in some grains, combine it all in a giant blender then cut it into slabs and freeze it at -22°C. They export thousands of tons a year, and spend three times longer cleaning the factory every day than they do actually producing.
A lazy afternoon was punctuated only by a trip to the supermarket where Keeley got another nostalgic moment with the 'kiddies trolleys' and we had a lot of coffee and Danish pastry. Morten and his mother drove us to our overnight train in Copenhagen, we bid them and Denmark goodbye, and headed off to Amsterdam. Our night was made slightly more interesting as we played cards with a Dutch guy called Boris and laughed at the stupid people who couldn't find their beds, only to find that they were sharing a compartment with us.
DAY 90 – AMSTERDAM 18/03/2009
We arrived in Amsterdam very glad for our 'sleeping couchettes' on our overnight train, which ensured we were at least partially rested (unlike our overnight buses). The children sharing our room were loud in the morning, but at least they slept through the night. We procured a map from the tourist office (the man was very good about giving us the €2 map 'under the table') and found our hostel, eventually, nestled in a small street. The extremely steep stairs were a bit of a challenge with bags, but we managed. Along the way we had our first Amsterdam experience – while looking at the beautiful buildings as we walked along we came face-to-face with a real, live prostitute in the window, 'advertising her wares'. Keeley did one of the biggest double takes I've ever seen. After checking in we spent a very long time trying to find a supermarket, much to Keeley's distress, but we did find custard, multivitamin juice and pasta for dinner, so it was worth it. We spent a bit of time wandering the streets, including a visit to a crazy specialist condom shop. This place was something else – there were specially shaped, handpainted ones, ones in lolly wrappers, some attached to sticks like lollypops, every colour and flavour imaginable and even a machine they used to test for leaks… it's okay, I think they used water. From there we walked a bit more, got held up at a police blockade as people tried to get on a bus to go to the soccer match tonight, and visited the Sex Museum. Some of the things on display there were quite… revealing… and there was a whole section on fetishes that was just plain wrong. I never realised how explicit the 1800s were though, and there were a lot of things on display from back then. There was also a 1930s porn film (the girl started naked and gradually put on clothes, no kidding), and some pretty bizarre pneumatic 'statues' that did all sorts of things. Interesting, to say the least.
Already we have a pretty good idea about Amsterdam – it's a really pretty city, most of the buildings are really nice, the roads are pleasant to walk down, but you are constantly reminded about its liberal attitudes. There is cannabis and sex everywhere, whether overtly or discreetly, and as much as it is in your face, it's refreshingly different. I think it will get tiresome quickly though.
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