jdenparis

 Welcome to jdenparis.com.  I'm jd, and I just graduated from college.  For one year before med school, I'll be working and living in Paris, and traveling the world with my job.  Below are my stories, photos, and videos.  Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

happy new year from Scandinavia!

Yesterday Damian and I took a side trip from Amsterdam up to Copenhagen to stay at the wonderful Hotel von Essen and bring in the new year in Scandinavian style. After fighting on the phone with Orbitz til 2 in the morning the night before our 8am flight, we woke up at 5 and were on our way. We met Sarah (Danish cousin? fam friend? hotelier?) at McD's in Copenhagen Central Station, and she showed us the streets and pointed us to a few good sites, but not before treating us to our first Kringle and 6 pack of Carlsburg - mmm.

First up was the Carlsberg brewery. At first we thought it was totally lame compared to the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam, but then we got to the bar at the end of the tour. We made friends with two of the bartenders while our indecisive American / Dutch palettes sampled almost every beer on tap. They decided not to collect our drink passes, and so we each had 4 free beers, with tickets to bring back on Friday :) !

Next, like true world travelers, we went to Hard Rock for dinner. I had this awesome burger with guacamole and something spicy. Mmm. Afterwards, we went to Tivoli Gardens.

This is a big amusement park in Copenhagen, and apparently served as Walt Disney's inspiration for that place in Orlando. For us, the best amusement was the big open coal pit to warm cold fingers. We only stayed 33 minutes. I know this, because that's exactly what the clerk told us when we asked for a refund. We could have gotten it before 30 minutes.

Today we decided to squeeze in one last country excursion for 2008, and so we hopped on a train and went to Malmo, Sweden. 66% of Scandinavia in just 2 days! There, we saw this cool ice show with dance-skaters and music. Feeling kinda hungry, we went on a hunt for some Swedish meatballs. We wound up in a restaurant that smelled like Ben's, and so I was confident they'd have the goods. Unfortunately, they did not. We asked our waitress the best place to get meatballs, and she told us Ikea. Ha! We found a few at this hole in the wall nearby, and we froze while eating them.

This guy from Chicago sat down next to us and started talking to me. And he kept talking to me. With no end in sight, I had to jump in and tell him it was nice to meet but we had to run. Apparently he was this finance guy from Chicago who worked at a firm on Long Island and spent time in DC (Georgetown) too. He was trying to convince me that hospitals on boats that went from poor coastline to poor coastline were a good idea. I was just confused how the patients were supposed to get home if they're discharged in a different country than they were admitted in.

Tonight we're back in Copenhagen for the New Year, and currently intend to spend it outdoors. That may change when we actually set foot outdoors, but who knows.

See y'all in 09! Happy new year :)

A bientot,

(ps - I'll have the rest of Egypt w pics this weekend and hopefully be caught up w posts soon!)

*edited by Damian

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