Køpenhaven II: I wish I had a monarchy so I could dance along with the parade music

This morning I got up and walked to the Mermaid statue. I knew it would be anticlimactic, but it was even more so than expected. She wasn't even in the water really - I could have climbed on her - and she'd been grafittied. I couldn't find the sad, weird picassoey version. Glad I got to see her though - Thorbjørn says she's off to the Shanghai world expo soon.

Then I walked around Kastellet. It's a military barracks built within a star shaped moat. The blaustrade is a grassy hill. Absolutely adorable, and it had nice views of Christanhavn, the mermaid and the Marmokirken. Too bad it was cloudyish.


But, MORE amazing, was the changing of the guard. I can't believe they do this every day! I want a monarchy! Starting at probably 11:30, the guard starts marching from the barracks at Rosenborg arriving to start the ceremony at Amailenborg around noon. This march is really a parade. They're led by the military marching band, and the music is fantastic! Everyone following was a tourist, but it was so jovial (for lack of a better, less nerdy term). Wont lie, I made movies. At Amalienborg, there's a lot of ceremonial marching, a whole concert worth of songs, and a good ton of face to face staredowns. I particularly enjoyed one of the crowd control police who was really getting into it. He was dancing and singing along, glorious.

Then I went to go meet Arden at the Black Diamond. Along the way I was prostheletized by a Mormon missionary who prayed for my trip and my soul. The Black Diamond was crazy ridiculous looking, both outside and inside. But the real gem was the original library, which looked like a palace from the outside, and a gorgeous scene from an ivy league movie on the inside - mahogany desks and green lamps galore.

We got lunch at RizRaz, a vegetarian buffet, and then went own the Strøget and pointed out all the famous/important buildings. Clearly we went shopping in all the Danish versions of H&M. Then we walked up to see the King's Park and Rosenborg Palace. It was beautiful! It's just too bad it was so cold. Rosenborg is literally THE perfect place for a picnic. That's all I could think while we were wandering.

We walked around a bit more and Arden showed me her school, which is literally mere blocks from my hostel. Then I had her take me home so I could see her dorm. She lives pretty far out of downtown, about a 15 minute bus ride. It sounds short - but I can walk across the entire downtown/main part of Copenhagen in about 20 minutes. She and her roommate live on a floor of al American students from her program. She says there are 500 people in her program, which I found really surprising, since I've never known anyone else who studied in Denmark.