Are You Sure You're in the Right Place?

April 5, 2009

Unlike the journey to Athens, the trip to Copenhagen was uneventful. After arriving at Copenhagen we took the train to Central Station which according to the map was not very far from our hotel, The Ascot Hotel. We walked a few blocks from the train station and then, as usual, became very unsure of what direction we should be heading. After about a three minute conference around the map involving most of the group members, John pointed out right across the street from us was an enormous sign for the Ascot Hotel. Go figure that the one time that we were actually in the right spot, we had convinced ourselves that we were lost.

After piling all nine of us into the hotel lobby, we were greeted by the receptionist with "Are you sure you are in the right place?" Long story short, we had travel vouchers proving that we paid for rooms there which meant...free upgrades! We are now staying in some very nice apartment suites.

After getting the hotel situation figured out we went out to explore the city. We found a pedestrian street about a mile long with shops all along it. We ate there and looked at the different shops. We also located some groceries stores where we could buy local beer to sample at a cheaper price. We only paid 164 Kroner for a case of Carlsberg which is "probably the best beer in town" according to their advertisements.

The next morning we went to Koge to meet Per and Eva who would enlighten us in the ways of Danish culture. When we got there, they took us on a tour of the town showing us the oldest house in Denmark (from 1500 something, the year Christopher Columbus died). They also showed us an old castle that used to be a home for spinsters coming from nobility. Now it is a retirement home for upper class Danish couples. The castle had a moat, which I thought was only for castles in the movies but they actually have them over here.

After we got to Per and Eva's house, we had two tasks. One was building a totem pole for their garden and the other was playing a lawn game called the King Game (kind of like lawn bowling). Some of the girls worked on the totem pole making a nice mortar and pestle design, while team Kyle, Kate, and Rebel dominated team Jeff, John, and Billie (team MVP) at the Viking game.

Then we went inside for a traditional Danish meal. There were all kinds of things to put on bread to make open-faced sandwiches. We learned that to have good manners, we should first eat the fish, then the other meat, and then move on to salad and cheese last. The fish were very fresh as they had just been purchased off of a fishing boat the day before. All the dishes were amazing (especially the liver). We finished the afternoon by having some of Eva's delicious apple cake and coffee or tea while discussing a variety of topics including Danish healthcare, pharmacy education, Scandanavian history, etc. Overall, it was a very enjoyable afternoon. Thanks Per and Eva!

P.S. We heard about the earthquake northeast of Rome and are thankful we are in Denmark!

P.S.S. The totem pole created by last year's SDSU pharmacy students was still proudly displayed in their garden!