The end of 6 weeks Eurotripping - 12 countries, 14 cities...

 I wish I could say it was all smooth sailing after our dramatic departure from Amsterdam....I really wish I could. After leaving Amsterdam at 9pm we got to Copenhagen an hour or so later...Drama. So I had booked accommodation through Airbnb but for some reason the payment had not gone through. On my end I had no idea anything was wrong. We got to the apartment and the host was surprised to see us. On her end it appeared the booking had been cancelled. We were just about to be broke and homeless in one of the most expensive cities I have been to. Thankfully the host was so kind - she let us stay and said we could sort out the payment the next day. 

The next day - once we sorted out the situation (more money needed from these broke girls), we went out clubbing in the evening. The following day we went for dinner at an old colleague's place. The conversations were great. The food was amazing - her husband is a professional chef.

On our final day in Copenhagen - we spent most of our time in pubs in Stroeget. We randomly met some nice girls who we played a Danish dice game with in the bar. A few years later one of our new friends came for my 30th birthday in Nairobi - she was in the city at the time. I love how small this world is..Later in the evening, our other friends joined us. 

In the evening we staggered to the airport - and thus ended 6 amazing weeks, 12 countries, 14 cities.....

Touring Copenhagen - getting royally lost

Aaaaah, that hostel – Danhostel Bellahoj! What a pain. In addition to having to physically construct your own beds , the showers and bathrooms in the hostel were closed from 10am – 2pm. I imagine that this time range is when most backpackers are waking up….arrrgh. On this day we actually managed to make it for the city tour. To be honest it was not that great a tour, though we did learn a few interesting things – we passed by the royal family house – found out how approachable the Danish royal family is – one can bump into them on the streets. We learnt about how Denmark made a fatal error in partnering with Germany during WWII – not really partnering but never putting up a resistance to German occupation. During much of World War II, Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany – from April 1940 up until German forces withdrew at the end of World War II following their surrender to the Allies on 5 May 1945. Contrary to the situation in other countries under German occupation, most Danish institutions continued to function relatively normally until 1943. Both the Danish government and king remained in the country in an uneasy relationship between a democratic Danish government and a totalitarian nazi system. Over 3000 Danes died as a direct result of the occupation.

Later in the afternoon we went to the city center to visit my company’s Copenhagen office. After this we went to Freetown Christiania – a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood in Copenhagen – which is the hippie part of Copenhagen. We then took a boat bus round the city. Soon it was time for us to meet our new friends and my boss who was in Denmark for meetings. We got so lost and walked round in circles for 2 hours in Copenhagen before we finally made it to the meat-packing district. Times got so desperate to the extent where we had to sneak into some art gallery or something of the sort to use the washrooms – we had drunk a few beers in Christiania and after many hours of walking idly, we were really really pressed. We met up with everyone in a reggae place in the meat-packing district, partied the night away there and in another club close by called Joleen. The next day was chaotic – we left Copenhagen in the morning and were to get to Munich at 11pm, but a train had fallen on some train tracks. We finally made it to Munich at 5am the following day, and quickly prepped for the festivities that would be the closing ceremony of Oktoberfest.  

Scandinavian diaries

After the lovely Berlin city tour , we took at 3:15pm train to Copenhagen. We finally got to Copenhagen at 11pm. Part of our journey included a very posh ride in a great ferry that had shops - it was like a moving mall. We were so exhausted and finally managed to lug our luggage to what we thought was our hostel – Danhostel Copenhagen. After spending close to 15 minutes at the reception without the receptionist finding our booking, she finally asked “Are you sure you are in the right hostel?” “Of course! Danhostel.” “But you do realize there is also another Danhostel out of town. Please look at your booking confirmation.” Aaaaaaaah! Now this does sound familiar. I do have a vague memory of seeing Danhostel Copenhagen and Danhostel Bellahoj online and picking the one of the two that was cheaper….Cheap is expensive. At midnight, exhausted and with huge backpacks, we had to make our way to Bellahoj. We finally got to our hostel and it was like an IKEA showroom – you had to make everything from scratch. The beds were on the walls, and had to be pulled down from there. After that, one had to look for beddings and make the bed. I still have no idea why the hostel would want tired backpackers to take a forced class on masonry and housekeeping!

The following day we planned to take a city tour, but we were all so worn out. We had been invited for dinner by our new Danish friends. Prior to that we linked up with a Kenyan friend of ours who worked with one of our Danish friends. We went to her hotel to have drinks and wait for her to get ready prior to our group dinner. Olale has always been a very great dresser. Her smashing outfit for the night, makeup, manicured nails etc. only made us realize how we all looked like dirty backpackers. It’s funny how a few weeks of backpacking will make one look like those jungus one usually sees in town, emerging from hostels on river road and the neverlands of deep town. I felt solidarity with all my fellow dirty-looking backpackers, the world over.

Our hosts were extremely welcoming and we all felt extremely happy to be in Denmark. We kept on telling and retelling the story of the posh ferry much to our host’s amusement – “Yes….The train got on the ferry…Why is that a big deal?” After dinner, we went for drinks at a bar down the road. Yet again, we were amazed by how tall and handsome the men were. They were shy though – which was very confusing. The Reluctant referred to it as “The gentling of the Vikings.” How did these giants who were once known for their fierce conquests, now get reduced to terribly shy men who would not approach a woman first unless at gunpoint?”

One wonders…