I was jarred awake or more like startled out of a semi-relaxed state by bombs exploding on the canvas above. It was pouring and suddenly the inside of the low tent seemed pretty agreeable. Eventually it let up a bit, and we dared to venture out of our polyester cave. Rain always makes a tent seem like a battlefield, but outside the rain had practically stopped. Packing up a wet tent is never fun, and everything we had and ourselves ended up damp. It was very early in the morning and we felt like the only creatures alive. So much so that we joked that the apocalypse had eradicated everyone but the ones who were sleeping hidden away deep in a forest or perhaps it was because we had watched episodes of Jericho on the laptop in our tent before trying to go to sleep. Either way, the countryside had an eerie feel of abandonment. The far and few farms occasionally had an Icelandic horse or two grazing in the pastures. We were worried about finding food since we were both hungry. We stopped in Kolding because it was the nearest largest city and because the Rough Guide had acclaimed its castle.

We followed signs for a car park and low and behold in front of us, right next to the car park, there was an open coffee shop. I must say that Danishes did not receive their name in vain and that it was the best I’ve ever had. Luckily or unluckily, depending how you look at it, the coffee shop was literally the only open shop in the entire city. We wondered through the ghost-town like streets noticing all the lemon and lime rinds which were scattered on the street like confetti, after a rough Saturday night, before the apocalypse of course. The only other people we saw were a few “walk of shamers.”
The castle was relatively disappointing as was the city as a whole. The next stop was Copenhagen. To get there we had to cross over an amazing but awfully expensive bridge. It stretched from an adorable island with the cutest lighthouse on top of a small hill to the opposite end. With dark rolling clouds lurking above it it was cutely eerie. We had a hotel booked but since it was only about noon we highly doubted we’d be let into our room yet. We were pleasantly surprised when we were handed a key. It was nap time since we were pretty much dead and even though it was a budget hotel it seemed like the most luxurious bed, and we were quickly swept away into dreamland. After about an hour we were awakened by what we think were other guests trying to open our door by accident. It was a good thing because we only had one day to sight see Copenhagen and would have slept away the afternoon. After a shower, we went exploring but first we had to find something to eat. Hendrik was determined to eat smørrebrød literally meaning “bread and butter” but really was just an open sandwich. Every café and restaurant which offered it had an awful price tag along with it. The travel book said to only pay a third of the price, so we wandered from eatery to eatery gaining hunger and annoyance. Eventually it began to pour the type of rain that if you stood outside for 3 seconds you’d look as if you had just gone for a swim. It had more pressure than out shower. We ducked into the nearest joint and decided this had to be it. Hendrik was disappointed in his smørrebrød because they did not have the one he wanted and because it was a sandwich that he had to put together himself. I had nachos which were huge. We also discovered that internet was easy to come by and most places offered it for free including this café/bar. After we were fed, our email had been checked, and the rain had subdued, we saw all the sites we considered to be major such as the palace, the marble church, and of course we had to make our way to the mermaid. We walked across the whole town, even though Hendrik said he had heard that it was not there. Upon approaching the famous alcove where the mermaid is supposed to be perched upon a rock we were greeted with a screen which had a live stream of the mermaid as it sat in its temporary new home in Shanghai where it was on display for the World Expo.

The closest we got to the statue were the ones which a vendor was trying to sell next to the screen, and for some reason he still seemed to be doing good business. We stared at the screen for a bit along with other disgruntled tourists, and I do admit the building in which the mermaid was, was very sleek and modern looking, but I wouldn’t expect anything else from the Danish designers. There were some swimmers prancing around the statue. One of the spectators who was filming the screen told us that one of them was their daughter. They were the only happy spectators in the bunch, the rest of us were fully disappointed. Afterwords, to drown our sorrow, Hendrik had an 8 Euro Carlsberg in Nyhavn and we were quickly disappointed by a new revelation, we simply could not afford to drink alcohol in a bar or restaurant and it had the revers effect of what we were going for, to cheer up. At least we had brought half a case of Jupiler with us.