Skål!!!

I had a great weekend in Copenhagen. It started off with a city tour with Kim's mom, Sanne. She used to be a tour guide a while back, so she knew quite a bit. It was very fun to be a tourist for a day and get to see some of Copenhagen.

The tour started at city hall. I wish I could remember everything that I learned but it was just so much. In front of city hall is the Square. If there are every protests or rallies for something, they are here. On Friday there was a gathering of people holding up Libyan flags.

Beside city hall is a statue of Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish writer of such tales as The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling.

He is looking to his left across the street at the Tivoli Gardens. It is a magnificent place that inspired Walt Disney to create his theme parks. The Tivoli has underground heated water so the plants are the first to blossom in Denmark.

We hopped on one of those tour buses that takes you to the sights and our first stop was at The Little Mermaid Statue. This is one of the biggest tourist things to seen in Copenhagen, so we had to stop.

After that we went to Amalienborg Palace, home of the Danish Royal Family and saw the changing of the guard. At this time of the day, it was doing a combination of raining, hailing, snowing and sleeting. It was pretty cold, and I was getting soaked. The palace is neat in that there are a couple different places that house certain members of the family, and if they are in, the Danish flag flies above their palace. Queen Margrethe II was not in when we were there. I was told her birthday, April 16, is a huge day of celebration at the palace and many people gather to party, and she makes an appearance. Sounds like it would be a blast.

From there we walked to Nyhavn, which in the summer is a huge tourist gathering place. It used to be an old harbor for sailors as they arrived, with bars and brothels, now it is a huge row of colorful restaurants. We decided it would be a great time to stop for a Danish lunch. We stopped in at a place an took off our wet jackets and settled in. We had to try the traditional Danish smorrebrod. We started off with a herring sampler basically. There were three different types--one marinated in I believe vinegar, one with different spices, and another with a curry sauce. It also came with things to top it with, such as dill, onions, and hard boiled eggs. You then butter up a small piece of bread and add your toppings. I was definitely hesitant, but it was absolutely delicious. I loved it. We washed down with some Danish Schnapps because the fish have to swim. That was not so good. I also had another smorrebrod of bored and grilled onions that was fantastic, and Sanne had one that was some kind of friend fish, with ship, herring and some sauces on it that looked incredible. It was an unbelievable good lunch.

From there we walked the pedestrian street, the Stroget, passed by a few churches and saw the King's Gardens I believe. It was a long day and a lot of information for me, and it was a total blast. I'm glad I got to see most of the good sights and get a few pictures.

Saturday was my first night out with some of my new teammates and it was a blast! The night started at Kasper Øelund's apartment. He is one of our linebacker's and just moved in that day. We played a little rock band and a few drinking games. There were about 10 guys there, and it was a ton of fun. It really helped me learn people's names. We went out to one of the bars I guess at some time, I kind of lost track of time. We were able to get a seat as it was apparently a slower night at that place. I really didn't know what I was doing, I just followed people. When they got their hand stamped, so did I. When they checked their jacket, so did I. The night went way down hill when we arrived their because there were 10 shots for 100 Krona, and the only option was Tequila. Needless to say it was a great night, but I had to get up to watch the U19 National Team practice on Sunday morning. I left the bar early at 3:30 and managed to wander my way back to the apartment. Most places are open until 5:30 if not later. 

I woke up Saturday morning and felt like I got hit with a bag of bricks. I called up the U19 coach, Nicholas, that I was supposed to go with and told him there was no way that was happening. We still had a U19 Gold Diggers coaches meeting at 4 I would need to go to though. I started moving and got better at the day went on. One of the other U19 coaches who is also on the senior team was out on Saturday and he was looking as miserable as I felt. It seems that it was one of those nights, but everyone was just so excited to have me out and wanted to show me a good time. Everyone was a blast. There were even people not on the team that I talked to from Denmark who were just incredibly kind and loved talking in English to an American. 


Today so far, I have cleaned my room a little bit and went to the gym. My card wouldn't work so I talked to the lady working there and of course she was extremely kind and helpful and pointed me to the Men's Locker room (which was my biggest fear--I would walk into the wrong one!). I'll be spending a lot of time there since I will have a good amount of free time once I learn the playbook. The last three days have been a ton of fun, and I hear the nights get even better when the season starts. It was fun to hear about the team from the guys and what I should expect. All of the guys are just great people and a blast to be around. 

Tomorrow, I am meeting up with one of the DB's another Kasper, to sit in on his Sport Economy class that he is in at one of the colleges here. It sounded interesting and he invited me along when I was telling him about my major. I will then have practice in the evening. This is a big weekend as Saturday is the first U19 scrimmage, and on Sunday we have a Senior Scrimmage. I'm looking forward to being out there and seeing another Danish team.  

Finally, I hope everyone in St. Louis is enjoying their snow! It's about 45 here!