Excellent Excuse for an Excursion: I'm Copen(hagen) Very Well

View of Copenhagen (and Lucas' back) from The Roundtower.

Didn't think I could make these titles and worse than they have been, but I surprise myself from time to time.
Where did I leave off the last entry? Oh yes, we were still in Amsterdam. I did end up going to that show at The Sugarfactory. I went solo, which in a foreign city - and considering I don't exactly ¨go out¨ a whole lot as it is - was a little strange to say the least, but I am quite happy I did go out. Once I got to the venue I had to stand in the line outside for about 5 minutes and inside I could hear the DJ spinning some of my favorite funk and soul records like More Bounce to the Ounce by Zapp and The Champ by The Mohawks. I already knew I wanted to go inside and make a fool of myself with my dancing ¨skills¨. The venue itself was quite cool, a little bit crowded but nothing all too bad. I felt awkward being ¨that foreign guy¨ standing by the wall sipping beer from a pint. But the music that was played was pretty good so I decided - a few beers later - to show Amsterdam how we boogie in Canada. Immediately after getting out of my comfort zone I got this massive muscly guy in a tight shirt hitting on me and trying to dance with me, but luckily I was saved by a few other people who came and joined us. All things aside the guy was super friendly, but it just wasn't quiiiiiite what I was looking for.. By the end of the night I had talked to a few locals and a few travelers and shared stories and experiences, and even learned a new dance move - which to be fully honest, is a pretty bad one.
Amsterdam was definitely a cool city and I also want to give a MASSIVE shoutout to Peter (and his two cats) for letting us stay at his place and doing so much research and hooking us up with all these different contacts. His hospitality was immense! I had such a good time hearing his stories and talking to him about life. Thank you Peter!
We are now in Copenhagen, Denmark staying at a hostel called Urban House. Its relatively new and is located right in the middle of it all which is very convenient. Its relatively new I think and it definitely shows. Not that its a bad or sketchy place, but there's a few things that could have gone smoother like the payment. Turns out we got charged for 3 rooms for a week when really we had only booked 2. So now I've had to email this one person who is supposed to give me a refund for the one room for a week. As long as I get my money back it really isn't a big issue though.
So far we've strolled around a little bit and seen a few sights. Went to the botanical garden but arrived slightly too late, because they apparently close at 3:00 which seems early, but what do I know? So I'm definitely going to try and go back one of these days. We then stopped at this art museum which was pretty decent, but I don't really know the first thing about old French paintings from the 17th century. Still cool to see anyhow, and it was free so why not right? Last night we went to this one super cool jazz bar called La Fontaine (thank you Paige for the suggestion) but unfortunately there was no live music going on that night. But these next 3 nights there will be so I'm going to make sure we go back at some point. The venue had a very cozy, or as the Dutch would say ¨gezellig¨ vibe to it, and apparently it can get jam packed on some nights so we'll try to go early.

Christiania households.

Smorrebrod.

Today we strolled around a little and found our way to Christiania which is basically this part of town that is self run, totally separate from the EU. It may sound sketchy but really its as safe as anywhere else because the people there know that if anything happens all of the sudden the city has a right to come intervene and crack down everything which wouldn't be good for anybody's sake. Christiania itself was very neat though! The art and architecture inside was phenomenal, and to some extent reminded me a little bit of places like Tofino or Hornby Island back in British Columbia. Also the purchasing and smoking of marijuana there is allowed, so there are all of these stalls there where people can just walk up buy a little bit and sit down at a bench a few metres away and smoke it. Although pictures on Pusher St. this section of Christiania are not allowed and there are signs everywhere warning people of that. I really wish I could have snapped a few shots of a few of the things there, but really I didn't want to be ¨that guy¨. We are definitely planning on going back there as well to maybe take a longer look around.

Even the statues drink in public.

Some neat Copenhagen architecture.

So here I am now sitting in my hostel updating this blog. The plan for tonight? Apparently is to go pub crawling with a few of our hostel roommates. I honestly don't think I've had the amount of beer I've already had in Europe, in like a full year in Canada. So don't be too shocked if I come back as a total alcoholic.
Also I still have no idea how to upload photos (EDIT: I figured it out yo!!) to this silly thing but I do have a few up on instagram @ instagram.com/doryanheijnen (REEDIT: still check out the super hip instagram though)

Also this is an opportune time for another joke. Q. How much does a hipster weigh. A. An instagram.
Until next time :)