1 sleep later: I woke up for a free walking tour (because this city confuses me and I needed help) but upon seeing the windy grey cold raininess that was the outside world, I gave myself another 2 hours of sleep.
I woke up happier, but no less confused by Copenhagen. I found a less confusing map and set out to wander, knowing that I couldn't get lost in a city this small. Wrong. I somehow managed to walk off the edge of the map, in the pouring rain, the map got soaked to the point of uselessness, and then POOF! Three turns later, I was somehow at the back gate of Christiansborg Palace...I swear this city has portals.
Insane.
I wandered the grounds, accidentally broke into the king's library, made friends with snails, offended grandmas who didn't realize I spoke English by "looking too happy" near the Jewish museum... Idiots.
Drenched and confused, I returned to the hostel, changed, and seeking order: found a pub crawl flyer and decided it was a better idea than exploring on my own anymore (plus: it was a VIKING PUB CRAWL!! There were supposed to be horned hats!! I can't say no to hats!!)
I walked to the meeting point, got told it had changed, walked to the new meeting point, got told it was at the old meeting point, waited 30 minutes and gave up. Vikings can get hammered without me. (lol...Vikings...hammered...lol)
Mildly defeated, I returned to the hostel, hoping to find adventure, or maybe just a beer and my bed... Whatever, if there weren't horned hats I wasn't going to be picky.
In the lobby, I ran into Sunny, who was chatting with a group of guys who had just checked into her room, and like that, the night took a positive turn (friendly faces will have that effect on you)
We chatted for a while about how disturbingly sweet cider is in Scandinavian countries, why Justin Bieber is interesting (but still worthy of some degree of musical disdain), and why I'm so friggin good at identifying accents--which, by the way, is a great party trick I've cultivated whilst overseas.
At some point, two of the guys went out for a smoke and never returned. Upon realizing this, a third guy rallied the troops (me, sunny, and the fourth guy) to go find them. We made it about a block before deciding that this likely wouldn't work and ducked into an incredibly lively little bar near the university (always a safe bet for reasonable night life options)
Once we wrestled our way into a table and got ourselves 4 of the house beer, we people watched and reveled in the eclectic mix of vintage music the dj was spinning--yes, on actual vinyl! I was pretty pumped.
We decided to wander out and...erm...lost(?) sunny and Aussie number 4, so number 3 and I continued on in the original quest of finding thing 1 and thing 2. We made it to the bar 3 thought they may have gone to, but when we realized they were charging a cover, we re-prioritized and headed to the hotdog stand.
Danes love hotdogs. It is pretty much their only street food and it's on every street corner... Oh, and they eat the bread/condiments on the side, which was interesting.
Overwhelmed and hungry, I asked the two Danish men behind me what I should order, this sparked a long discussion about the best kind and why I was lucky to have made it to this particular stand because it was the best in the city (the same guy had run it in the same location for 15 years or more) and how they often drove across the city just to go there. They decided on my order (a bacon-wrapped hotdog with ketchup, mustard, and onions...bread on the side) and placed it for me to insure that I got the right thing. By this point, number three was long gone... Oops...
The hotdog was an epic success, I thanked the men profusely for their input/assistance and asked if they had any other recommendations for my time in Copenhagen.
"Well, what are you doing now?"
I told them that I was just going to walk back to my hostel and maybe sleep.
They debated and discussed in Danish and then turned back to me and said, "No, that won't do...We're going to the moose."
Here goes nothing...
They ushered me off the main square and down a side street to a superbly crowded little place called The Moose, pushed their way up to the bar, greeted the bartender, and emerged with three beers telling me I was not allowed to pay them back for it because *they* were *real* adults with *real* paying jobs and, having once been in my shoes, they were just doing the right thing and that some day soon, when I find myself in their position, they are sure I'll do the same for another broke young traveler and they would consider that to be me paying them back.
Fair enough, sirs, fair enough.
We wandered into the back room, a graffiti-coated chamber of fooseball and couches, and talked about life, careers, youth, and idiot mistakes made at bachelor parties.
We departed The Moose and went our separate ways.
Upon realizing how bright the sky was, I took a moment to check the time (3:45) and then decided to sit and revel in the glory of the brightness of summer solstice when one is that far north... It's pretty cool.
I'm about to leave when a man sits down next to me, apologies, introduces himself, apologizes again, and then begins asking me deep philosophical questions about enlightenment and the significance of loneliness. He told me of his life in Pakistan as a doctor and how, living in Denmark, he couldn't be a doctor anymore and was working 18 hours a day at a kiosk just to make ends meet and help out his parents and siblings in Pakistan. He asked how I could travel alone, said he'd lived in Copenhagen for three years and hadn't seen any of the sights because he couldn't see the significance if he had to do it alone. He asked if I would go with him so he could see Copenhagen while he still had time before work, but I chose to sleep, telling him my insights on the zen of solo travel and encouraging him to give it a try as my parting words. It may not have been what he wanted, but it certainly didn't hurt.
I got home, climbed the 6 flights up to my room, and went to sleep, content with the evening's recovery and sincerely hoping that the doctor had taken my advice.
The ability to see the significance of expanding your own worldview and being alone with your thoughts is a skill worth cultivating.
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