Rainy Day in Copenhagen

May 25, 2013 by RosalieIs 1 Comment

It’s been quite a while since I last posted! I’ve been keeping busy with the last weeks of classes and final things going on. Fortunately, I had some time for a little adventure, and I’d love to share it with you guys!

This past Sunday I went with a friend of mine into Copenhagen to support a couple of guys in our kitchen who were running the marathon! We were planning to go in early, explore the city for a bit, and then cheer them on at the finish line. The race started at 9:30, and that’s when we decided to leave Kampsax. We walked to the bus stop and read that the next bus wasn’t coming for 35 minutes. It was a bummer, but instead we walked down into Lyngby and took a train from there to Norreport in Copenhagen. At this point it was a bit foggy, but we didn’t mind. The past couple of days had been really sunny, and we’d spent hours sunbathing. (I don’t normally spend much time in the sun, but it’s a rare occurrence here in Denmark so I wanted to soak it in while I could!) We walked to the Botanical Gardens, which are right next to Norreport Station.

The Botanical Gardens in Copenhagen house Denmark’s largest collection of living plants. They are a museum run by the University of Copenhagen. It is very beautiful, especially right now in the spring. I visited it in the winter, when I first got to Copenhagen, and it was actually beautiful then too.

Bridge over pond in garden

We walked through the garden and found that we could get into the greenhouses.

Beautiful greenhouses

When we walked in, we were surprised by the thick scent of the tropics. It was balmy, and the place was full of palm trees, vines snaking around our heads. There were a couple of spiral staircases that led up to an iron walkway which circumnavigated the room. It was magical, reminiscent of the Secret Garden to me.

“Up” Staircase

View from the walkway

Staircase from the terrace

There were four smaller greenhouses that we explored after. They contained all sorts of different plants from different climates. There were even frogs and tadpoles in one! There were lots of different fruit trees, including avocados, lemons, peppers, and berries.

Peppers!

When we emerged from the greenhouses, it was pouring. Buckets, cats and dogs, you name it. We were soaked within minutes. We continued to explore the garden. There were many different types of beautiful rhododendron bushes, all in bloom.

Rhododendrons

There were also these little guys all over. Like worms that come out in New York when it rains, the snails come out when it rains in Denmark.

Snails!

When we left the botanical garden, we found our way to the Strøget, avoiding the marathon, which wove all over through Copenhagen. We went a different route than I’d taken before, but we made it. By the time we found somewhere to eat, we were completely soaked through. I am very surprised my camera still works after Sunday, but here’s a picture of us, looking like wet dogs.

Selfies and Shawarma

After lunch we shopped a bit, and I got a pair of really cool pants. I don’t have a picture, so you’ll just have to wait and see me wear them. It was getting close to 3 hours after the marathon started, so we headed to Amager, where the race started and ends. Except I read the map wrong and we ended up in the middle of nowhere near a Chinese market. Eventually we found our way to Amager, but we were really worried we already missed our friends.

Copenhagen Marathon

Amager is across the canal from the center of Copenhagen, and it took us far longer than we wanted to find a bridge to cross. We found it, and walked alongside the route until we got near the end, hoping we hadn’t missed the guys. About a minute after we took our spots, one of them ran by! We almost missed him. We yelled and cheered, but he didn’t notice. He was in the zone. We were relieved, because we had a feeling the other guy was behind the friend who had already passed, so we hadn’t missed either of them.

As we waited for our other friend to pass, the Sirius Sledge Patrol passed, pulling a sleigh. The Sirius Patrol are a group of extremely healthy, fit military men who police the arctic regions of Greenland (which is part of Denmark!… kind of). I read their Wikipedia page, and they seem really intense. Apparently there are only twelve of them, and patrol the arctic by dogsled in pairs for time spans of up to 4 months with limited human contact. If they do the winter shift, they spend many months in darkness because the sun sets in November and doesn’t rise again until late January. Because a regular marathon isn’t enough of a challenge for them, the run the marathon pulling a sled. I didn’t get a picture (I became scared to take my camera out because it was raining so hard) but I found this one on Flickr if you’re curious what it looked like. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nakedcomms_cph/4659456704/

After about 40 minutes of waiting, we saw our friend run past. We almost missed him, but we cheered for him and he saw us and smiled. I have never really been interested in running, but since coming to Denmark, I’ve done a little to try to stay in shape. Seeing people, young and old, running for over 3 hours straight, persevering, was inspiring. Standing near the finish line, I saw so many different emotions of those who ran past. There were those who were ecstatic. Some were very focused on making it the final 40 meters to their goal. Some people looked like they were in extreme pain. The most heartbreaking were those who fell right before the finish line, and had to be helped to finish. I saw people who were soaking wet, bleeding, but they just kept going. And I struggle to finish 5 kilometers! I was very impressed with everyone, it was an amazing feat.

Finish Line!

We struggled through the crowd and congratulated our friend. Both of the runners both could barely walk that evening.

We walked through a part of Copenhagen I had never seen and took the train from the last stop back to Lyngby.

Copenhagen

I was sure it was around 6PM, but it was only like 2:45 when we got on the train! We were exhausted from walking all over the city in the chilly rain. On our walk back from the train station we stopped at Lagkagehuset (a bakery) and got ourselves a flødebolle (don’t try to say it, it’s not pronounced that way.) It means cream ball, and it’s like a fancy Mallomar. To be honest, I prefer Mallomars; the flødebolle didn’t have enough of a cookie on the bottom. But it’s always nice to try pastries! Then I snuggled in bed with some hot tea. If I was this tired after a day walking around in the rain, I can’t imagine how the runners felt!

At this point, I have finished the final presentation/papers for three out of four of my classes. I have a final exam on June 3rd, and until then, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Study obviously, but I have about 10 days to study for one exam. Hopefully I can have one last adventure before a friend comes and we go to Sweden together. Then I’m coming home soon after! Although I am finally enjoying my time here, I am very excited to go home and see my family, cats, and friends! Of course, I won’t be home for long, because I’m moving again for the next six months. It’s a busy year for me. 🙂