Ooty (Feb 3-6)

tea plantation

Friday evening I took my first bus trip in India. I went with several of my German friends - Julia, Kim, Carina, Michael - and another girl from France, Anastasia, who is also studying at St. John’s. I was glad that I had a group to go with because I think I may not have made it out of Bangalore on my own. The place where we had to pick up the bus was really not well marked and there were tourist buses everywhere. I think alone, it is quite possible that I would have missed the bus to Ooty. They have sleeper buses in India which are buses with beds that are supposedly more comfortable for sleeping but we were not on one of these buses. We took a non-A/C seater bus which reminded me again why I had resolved not to do overnight bus trips anymore after my experience taking the night bus to and from Copenhagen. At least the Copenhagen bus had WiFi. I did not sleep very well the entire trip to Ooty and when we arrived the following morning, I was feeling quite tired and sore from my night on the bus. They also don’t have bathrooms on the bus and we only made one pit stop...on the side of the road so all the men were able to get out to urinate, but for us women who actually need to at least find some private place to squat - there was nothing. So by the time we arrived in Ooty, I was tired, sore, and really had to use the bathroom. We found a hotel to stay at for the night, dropped off our stuff, got changed and headed out for breakfast.

Ooty - view from Willy's Coffee Pub

There aren’t too many places listed in the Lonely Planet as far as breakfast goes in Ooty and the ones that are listed are pretty difficult to find. Even though there was a street map of Ooty, the fact that many of the roads lack actual street names makes it hard to really find anything - you know what general direction to head and end up asking a lot of people along the way if they know of the place you are looking for. Often people will give you some direction, but unfortunately there are many times when the directions they give are either completely wrong or impossible to understand like “go straight then left” without any specification of how you will know when it is time to turn “left.” We were unable to find the restaurant we were looking for (called Willy’s Coffee Pub) and so ended up eating at a different cafe that was more expensive then it was worth. After having breakfast, we wandered back to our hotel where we had discussed meeting up with a guide to take us to the good trekking spots in Ooty.

home in the Nilgiri Hills

According to the Lonely Planet, the main reason why people go to Ooty is for the trekking. It is an old British hill station up in the mountains and is cooler then some of the larger cities at lower elevation. In addition to the mountains, the Ooty area is also home to a lake and an abundance of tea plantations. The problem with the Lonely Planet is that it doesn’t really tell you where exactly to go to find this great trekking which necessitates hiring a guide. Our hotel had a guide that they called for us and at around 1pm on Saturday, we headed out. Our guide took us on the local bus to a village about 20km outside of Ooty where we got off the bus and started our trek. We climbed to the top of a hill and had a nice, but hazy view of the surrounding mountains and river. According to our guide (which after the weekend, I am not sure how true/factual the information he gave us was...), this was a popular site for Bollywood movie scenes and also the site for some foreign film scenes as well - although the German and French movies and directors he mentioned were unknown to the Germans and French in our group. He didn’t list any Hollywood films that used that site. From there, we walked through a typical farm and home of the Nilgiri hill people. Although I felt uncomfortable walking through someone else’s yard and interrupting their work to talk, the woman who lived there was quite friendly and seemed happy to show us the incredible weaving work she was doing. 

We continued along the trail following our guide through the hilly forests. Apparently, these forests are the home to lots of wildlife including black monkeys (which we heard but did not see) and tigers. I was one of the few in the group hoping to catch a glimpse of a tiger in the wild but the closest we got were some relatively fresh tiger droppings from a few days back that our guide pointed out to us. The best part about the trek through the woods is that we were able to escape the noise of the streets and other than our own walking and talking, the only sounds we heard were the natural sounds of the forest. It was incredibly peaceful and exactly what I needed. Before I arrived in India, I had planned to take weekend trips to visit the major cities of India. After spending time in Delhi and Bangalore, I realized that what I wanted the most out of my weekend trips was an escape from the city to someplace quieter and less crowded. I was glad to find that in Ooty. After a while of hiking through the woods, we came upon Ooty Lake. It was beautifully set by the hills and was a quiet place for us to sit and relax a while. I would have loved to jump in for a swim but instead settled for sitting on one of the giant boulders by the water and just letting the calm of the water fill me with calm. After our time of relaxation, we trekked our way out of the woods and caught a bus back to Ooty. The six of us stopped back at the hotel before making our way to the Kebab Corner for dinner. After we filled ourselves with food, we stopped by a few of the numerous chocolate shops in Ooty, bought ourselves some dessert, and headed back to the hotel for a good night of sleep.

We decided to sleep in the following morning since none of us had slept very well on the bus and we were tired from the day of trekking. We took our time getting ready and after checking out of the hotel, we were able to find Willy’s Coffee Pub where we had a nice long breakfast. We then met up with our guide from the previous day to go for another trek before we had to catch our bus back to Bangalore that evening. We again took the public bus and got off at the base of Doddabetta Lookout - the highest point in the Nilgiri Hills. The best part of Doddabetta was the hike up the road to the top. The trees along the road had signs posted on them with messages like “let nature be your companion” and “it’s sad when flowers refuse to smile back at you.” The view from the top would have been much more impressive if it were not for the omnipresent haze that seems to cover all of India. The pictures I took from the top were pretty disappointing as they all looked fuzzy from the haze. Instead of going back down the way we came, our guide took us past a rock ledge that is apparently a major suicide spot in the region (morbid, I know - we all felt like that information was completely unnecessary for our tour) and had us crawl underneath a fence into the woods. Our trek through the woods on Sunday was much more rustic and less well marked than our trek the day before. For some of us, it added to the adventure and for others, it was a pretty miserable hike. I was very thankful I was wearing long pants and had decided to bring along my long sleeve shirt so that I could protect my skin from the some of the sharp plant stems that frequented our path. We finally made our way out of the woods and found ourselves in one of the nearby villages that is home to some of the tea plantations of the region. Although from the tea plantation, you could hear the noise of the streets, this was probably my favorite trek that we took all weekend. The plantations were vibrant green and it was very relaxing to meander through the plants. By the time we walked through the tea plantation, it was time to head back to Ooty to collect our bags and have some dinner before catching the bus back to Bangalore. We ate at a hotel recommended by the Lonely Planet although I think we were all a bit disappointed and wished we had returned to Willy’s Coffee Pub for our final meal in Ooty. We boarded our bus around 8pm, had another very restless night, and arrived back in Bangalore Monday morning shortly before 7am - just enough time for a quick nap before starting my posting in Emergency Medicine. Namaste.

local bus

up Doddabetta Lookout

2nd day hike through the woods

North of the Arctic Circle - Abisko, pop. 85

I think I may have arrived at the most beautiful place on earth - Abisko, Sweden. It took slightly less than 21 hours to get here by a combination of train and bus and was worth every hour of the ride. The week leading up to this trip I was kind of nervous about it - I mean, what do you do for two days in a place that's all wilderness and a total population that would be feasible to meet every person within the time that I am here? I did find out that there are no polar bears in Scandinavia so I don't have to worry about them. And I made a friend right away when I arrived which means that I have someone to share the experience of the Northern Lights with!

My trip here was for the most part uneventful. I took an overnight train from Stockholm and had two seats to myself. The train is about a million times more comfortable than a bus for sleeping, so I was actually able to get in some good sleep while riding. We stopped for a while at about 3 in the morning due to some snow/ice that was blocking our path on the train tracks. By the time it was cleared off and we were on our way again, we ended up being just under 2 hours behind schedule. Due to this fact and that the train was scheduled to head back to Stockholm, it was turning around in Kiruna. Although the sun doesn't rise this far north, the "twilight" hours provide a surprising amount of light. I had the chance to enjoy some of the Lappland landscape from the train window as we made our way towards Kiruna. There was snow on the ground and I saw two families of wild reindeer from the train window. Once we arrived in Kiruna, a bus was waiting to take us the rest of the way. I can't complain about the bus ride. There is one road from Kiruna to Abisko - the E10 and it is one of the most scenic roads I have ever been on. The road wound through the snow and trees and towards gorgeous snow-covered mountains. As we neared Abisko, a large lake at the base of the mountains came into view - calm, blue, pristine. 

So, upon my arrival to the Abisko Turiststation, I met another solo female traveller from Indiana who has been studying for the past 1.5 years in Stockholm. We checked in, got settled, and met back up in a cozy lounge with large picture windows overlooking the lake and mountains and a small fireplace. While sitting in the lounge, we met another traveller - a man from Stockholm who was spending about a week here visiting a friend. His friend happens to work in tourism and was that night leading a crew from the Japanese version of the Discovery Channel up to the Aurora Sky Station to hopefully see the Northern Lights. His friend was going to call him when there were lights worth seeing outside so he wouldn't have to stand outside in the cold waiting for them to possibly show up. My new friend Carrie and I benefited from this inside knowledge. Although I was staying up later than I have been in Stockholm, the hours passed quickly with my good company. Between warming up by the fire, we would bundle ourselves up and walk back behind the mountain lodge hostel towards the lake to check out the lights. We were not disappointed. The sky was filled with brilliantly lit stars - I have seen a lot of stars in remote areas of northern Minnesota, but have never seen stars this bright. I think the clean air helps. We also were successful in seeing the lights. Although the northern lights were not as spectacular as they are in some of the pictures I have seen, it was still an incredible and impressive sight. Around midnight, the Northern Lights filled most of the night sky. Thankfully Carrie had a nice camera and was able to capture some of it in photos and was kind enough to share them with me. Finally around 2 am, we decided to call it a night. Carrie was heading back to Stockholm on Sunday and I had big plans to do some hiking on the Kungsleden Trail.

I met up with Carrie Sunday morning and copied her pictures from the Northern Lights to my computer. We said our goodbyes, promising to keep in touch and I headed out to the Kungsleden Trail. The trail is 425 km long and it's northernmost point is Abisko. At the start of the trail, there were a few groups of snowshoers and hikers that I quickly passed and soon had the trail to myself. In the summer, it is quite a popular hike, but I guess the crowds are not as prevalent in the longest days of winter. All in all, I hiked about 10 km round trip - I decided to turn around after hiking for about 1.5 hours and when I got to the point that human footprints stopped. There are several small wooden bridges crossing over streams and I really didn't think it was a good idea to form the new path through the snow along those when I was alone. It was so quiet and beautiful with the snow, the trees, the mountains, and the river - half frozen, half running water. I can imagine that it would be stunning in the summer as well, but to be there and have the wilderness to myself was amazing (for lack of a better word). No pictures can really do it justice although I tried (with my very sad toilet-water-logged camera). I guess one good thing about going home so soon is that I can replace it with a new camera that will work a little better.

Sunday afternoon I saw in the lodge by the fire and relaxed and read while I waited for nightfall to possibly see the Northern Lights again. Unfortunately it was a cloudy night and was precipitating a mix of snow and freezing rain so there were no lights visible Sunday night.


Monday I got up and checked out of the hostel. It was a cloudy, dreary, and therefore darker morning. I caught the train from the Abisko Turiststation train "station" (a one-room structure with a few benches) to Kiruna. In Kiruna, I had a few hours before my flight and wandered around the center of town. It was snowing and I enjoyed looking at the lights and shops in center Kiruna. The town isn't very big and so unfortunately I was not able to catch a bus to the airport from town. There are only two flights out to Stockholm per day and only one bus to the airport which left before I even left Abisko. Sadly this meant I ended up paying $50 for a taxi that took me the 10km to the airport. The airport was small but cozy and we had to board the plane walking up a portable staircase outside. Although they didn't provide free beverage service on the plane, they did hand out  a goody bag with travel size bottles of shampoo, lotion, and body wash. I arrived back in Stockholm a little after 7 that night and made my way back to Jägargatan to finish packing up my stuff to head home early Tuesday morning. It was a great trip to end my time in Sweden - seeing snow and the Northern Lights - and although I am a little sad to leave, I am really happy to get home and be with my family and friends for the holidays. So, for the last time from Sweden, one final hej då! I'll be back again once I arrive in India in January.

Helsinki - A Hybrid of Scandinavia and Russia

Senate Square and Cathedral

Helsinki was my final Scandinavian capital tour as well as my final destination on my personal heritage tour. I took a cruise line to Helsinki and back which afforded me with one day (10-5) in Helsinki to tour. Good thing Helsinki is one of the smaller capital cities and is not too spread out as far as seeing the tourist sights goes. I would loved to have stayed longer, but as flights are much more expensive then the boat and would have had the added cost of finding a place to stay for a night or two plus transportation to and from the airports...the cruise line was easier. I had never been on a cruise boat before this and was quite excited to take a boat trip. My excitement was mixed with nervousness after this past week at the hospital though when I was informed that there is a reason my cruise line was so cheap - it was a total booze cruise and the Wal-Mart version of cruise stereotypes. Oh well. Chalk it up to a new experience!

Helsinki

I boarded the boat on Friday afternoon and was impressed by it's size. My cabin (the cheapest of the cheap) was on the anchor deck and was slightly reminiscent of James Cameron's Titanic. I comforted myself with the thought that there were several life boats on board and I knew where I could find the life jackets. Not that I was too concerned especially since the Titanic sank in 1912 in April and it is now 2011 in December and we haven't even had any snow yet, but the thought crossed my mind that if the boat went down and I was in the bottom of the boat when it started to sink, I may go down with it. During our departure, I stood on the boat deck and watched the Stockholm night skyline fade into the distance. As we traveled farther out, I could see the shadows of the islands of the archipelago that we were passing on our way to Helsinki. I was excited to be able to see them in the daylight on our return trip. I ate dinner on the boat at a tapas and wine place - I was impressed. After I went down to my room and planned out my tour of Helsinki for Saturday, read a little more in my book, and went to bed. I had no desire to see the "booze cruise" part of the cruise and fell asleep around 10 pm.

The following morning, I ate breakfast on the boat. The view was beautiful as the sun rose over the water. My breakfast was unfortunately disturbed by a group of guys sitting at a nearby table who would not stop staring at me. One thing I have discovered while in Europe is that European men seem to not think that blatant staring is a problem. I avoided their stares by staring out the window, feeling that my personal space was being invaded. I was glad that I chose to go to bed early instead of staying up to witness the party scene on the boat. If guys are going to stare at 730 in the morning, I would maybe have to actually deal with them flirting later on in the day. Ugh. 

I went up on the deck to watch our approach into Helsinki. I was standing next to a man from Finland who had a home in Helsinki and he was telling me about the sights we could see from the boat and a little about their history. Finland at one time was part of the Russian empire and there is a military base that was used during this time that we passed on our way into the port of Helsinki. It was a beautiful blue-sky day and I was looking forward to disembarking and spending time in the city.

Uspenski Cathedral

National Museum of Finland

I had made a walking route for myself and as soon as I got off the boat, I started my tour. Finland's national language is Finnish and it's second language is Swedish. All of the signs are listed in both Finnish and Swedish (neither of which helped me!) I first walked past the harbor where there was a large market. I went to the Uspenski Cathedral which was a beautiful on the outside as inside. I then walked down what seemed to be one of the main shopping streets and then to the Senate Square and Cathedral. The square was filled with the construction of small red shacks for the upcoming Christmas Market. A large Christmas tree was in the center of the square. The cathedral was stunning - it seemed to have some Russian flavor to it (although I have never been to Russia, the domed roof seemed to be rather Russian to me). I continued on past the railway station and the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art before making my way to Temppeliaukio Church - a church built into it's rocky surroundings. The inside maintained the rocky surface which made it one of the most unique churches I have ever seen. After, I walked past the National Museum of Finland, Finlandia Hall, and the Opera on my way to the Olympic Stadium from the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. I passed by one of the two lakes in the center of Helsinki - Töölönlahti - which had very pretty walking/biking paths throughout the surrounding park. The Olympic Stadium was impressive in the fact that it was an Olympic Stadium - the site where the best world athletes gathered and competed. The stadium itself was not as beautiful as some of the modern ones I have seen when watching the Olympic games, but it was still an impressive site. Unfortunately the Olympic rings were covered due to construction. Also, unfortunately, I realized after I got back to the boat that I had missed one of the sites on my list - the Sibelius Monument. It looks lovely from the pictures and I am disappointed that I forgot to head there from the Olympic Stadium . Instead, I wound my way back through the city and went to the Ateneum Art Museum - the National Gallery of Finland. The museum was in a gorgeous building that faced an outdoor skating rink. They did not allow photography within the museum, but I was impressed by the collection of Finnish art. Most of the art in the museum was Finnish and I felt like I got a good feel for the city and the country by seeing the history of its art. Thankfully, the museum listed it's information in 4 languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, and Russian. Finally, I made my way back to the boat and took pictures of several of the sites I had seen during the day again now that it was dark. The trees were filled with lights and the Christmas tree in the Senate Square was also aglow. I was sad that my time in Helsinki had been so short - I would love to return to see more of it and maybe also include a tour of Eastern Europe and Russia as well to see if my impressions of Helsinki are correct. 

1952 Olympic Stadium

The cruise back was fairly uneventful except for getting interrupted at dinner by a guy looking to pick up a girl. I am not sure what about jeans and a sweatshirt screams "Hit on me!" but apparently it does. I declined his invitation for a walk including a tour of his cabin by saying I was rather tired (at 8pm) and had some work to do and that I was sure he could find better company elsewhere. I quickly retreated to my room, did some reading and went to sleep. The boat was rocking most of the night and although I never felt sea sick, I still, after several hours of being on dry land, feel like I am on a rocking boat. This morning I had another sea breakfast which was quite good then stood on the boat deck in the wind watching our path through the archipelago. It was quite stunning and massive - we started passing islands at least 4 hours prior to getting back into Stockholm. I could imagine how lovely it would be in the summer to escape out to the islands and get away from it all. 

Temppeliaukio Cathedral

So now I am back in Stockholm and will be here this upcoming weekend. I hope to get a good feel of the Swedish Christmas over the next few weeks. Only two more weekends until I head home! One in Stockholm and one in Abisko, Sweden in the way north, far north of the Arctic Circle. 

Lake Töölönlahti

Christmas in Helsinki

Ateneum Art Museum

Archipelago

Archipelago

The Night Bus to Copenhagen

For my next Scandinavian capital tour, I decided to take the night bus from Stockholm to Copenhagen. My rationale was that it would save me the cost of one night in a hostel and would give me two full days in Copenhagen. Online, the tickets seemed cheaper than the train as well; however, the sj.se website does not like my American credit card so I had to go to Central Station and buy my tickets in person. For some reason, buying bus tickets in person is a lot more expensive then the listed price online. Since I went to buy my tickets before I had to be at the hospital one morning, I didn't have time to re-think my plan, so I went on the bus...and I will never take another night bus again if I can help it. The ride to Copenhagen was uneventful but terribly uncomfortable. I had two seats to myself which was nice but they were not ergonomically situated well for lying down comfortably in any position. I woke up about every 1-2 hours after some limb fell asleep and had to re-position myself. By the time we got to Copenhagen around 8 on Saturday morning, I was sore and felt like I needed a shower. Unfortunately I could not check into my hostel until 2 pm. I went to København H (Copenhagen's central station) and paid 5 DKK (slightly less than $1) to use the sink in order to brush my teeth, wash my face, and in general get ready to tour the city. 

My first stop after getting ready in the train station was to the tourist information center to find myself a map. I had made a list of places I might like to see while in Copenhagen, but it is always better to tour a new place with a map. The tourist center had a wonderful free map that highlighted the major tourist sights on it. It also gave a suggested walking tour route that hit most of the major tourist sights. I bought myself a coffee and a delicious Danish pastry while looking at the map and making my decision of what to do first. My pastry was amazing and so far I think Denmark is leading in my personal evaluation of the best Scandinavian pastries. After my delicious (but not so healthy) breakfast, I headed off on my walking tour of Copenhagen. 

The first sight I passed was Tivoli Gardens - an old amusement park and one of Copenhagen's major attractions. I had read about Tivoli Christmas in National Geographic Traveler who recommended it as one of the best Christmas lights displays in the world. It was on my list for Saturday night. I continued on my walking tour and saw a beautiful Town Hall with an "Occupy CPH" demonstration happening outside. From there I made my way to a few churches - Copenhagen Cathedral and St. Petri Church - and walked past the University of Copenhagen. Many of the roads were cobblestone and the buildings were large but very tasteful and fit in well with the neighborhoods of Copenhagen. The next stop on my walking tour were the King's Gardens and Rosenborg Slot - a 17th century castle with an actual moat surrounding it. Like Versailles near Paris but on a much smaller scale, the gardens were symmetrical in design and had many walking paths winding their way through the garden surrounding the castle. I then made my way to the Frihedsmuseet - a free museum about the Danish Resistance against the Nazis during WWII. It was a small museum but very well done with explanations in both Danish and English. After visiting the museum, I walked to the nearby Kastellet - a pentagram military fortress that is very well preserved. The grounds and the buildings were beautiful including a windmill and a church. From here I made my way to the Øresund strait where the famous Little Mermaid sculpture sits in the water. Walking along the strait, I saw the impressive Gefion Fountain as well as a statue of King Triton. Continuing along the shores of the strait, I passed the Museum of Art and Design, a Russian Church, and the Marble Church situated directly across from Amalienborg Palace where the royal family lives. I had a gorgeous view of opera house and the playhouse before I wound my way along Nyhavn and the Nyhavn Christmas Market. I bought my first glass of gløgg - a popular Scandinavian Christmas traditional drink of warm spiced wine. As it was nearing the time I could check into my hostel, I followed the map down one of the main shopping streets in Copenhagen that was decorated beautifully for Christmas with street decorations and window displays. I arrived at my hostel in downtown Copenhagen, checked in, and took a long awaited shower. I was comparing my map with the list I had made and discovered I had crossed off several of the sights that I had listed as wanting to see in Copenhagen. It was just starting to get dusky outside and I wanted to wait to see Tivoli for when it was completely dark and the lights were fully illuminated against the night sky. I walked to Christiansborg Palace and the Royal Library before making my way to Tivoli.

Tivoli Russian Christmas

National Geographic Traveler did not disappoint with its description of the Tivoli lights. Even though the entire gardens was bathed in Christmas lights, it was far from being over-the-top and gaudy as some of the light displays at home can be. Before I wandered too far, I decided to eat some dinner. I had decided on a place and was looking forward to having Varm Kakao and Risengrød - a traditional Christmastime dish that looks a lot like cream of wheat. Unfortunately, the man who took my order did not understand my horrible Danish pronunciation and instead of giving me Risengrød, I ended up with a glass of varm kakao and a glass of gløgg. Knowing that this would not help my hunger and instead would likely make me slightly tipsy, I walked to the neighboring stand and ordered some kind of burger. There were at least 3 different sauces put on the burger and typically I balk at any unrecognizable sauce since I have an extreme aversion to mayonaise, but I was so hungry I didn't care and scarfed down the burger. With my hunger satisfied, I started to wander through Tivoli in the misting night. I'm sure the light display is incredible any time of year, but there is something about Christmas that brings light displays to a whole new magical level. The entire gardens was decorated for Christmas and the special Tivoli Christmas theme was Russian Christmas. Beautiful stands and restaurants and rides were decorated in the theme of Russian Christmas and as I wandered through the gardens (twice), I couldn't stop taking pictures. Pictures do not do it justice and again, I must highly recommend that all of you make a trip to Copenhagen to experience a Tivoli Christmas. In fact, I have been quite impressed with all of Scandinavia's Christmas celebrations so far. They do so much with lights which I am sure stems from the fact that it is dark...all the time. But it's so beautiful and one can't help but feel joy and full of a Christmas spirit when surrounded by these beautiful lights. 

Copenhagen is a very green city as is most of Scandinavia from what I have seen so far. Tivoli has a policy of only serving beverages in re-usable cups. They charge an extra 5DKK up front when you order your drink and then have cup recycling machines in the gardens. When you return the cup, you get your 5DKK back. Genius.


I left Tivoli a little before 8 and made my way back to the hostel. I was exhausted and the weather was damp so I decided to head in and try to finish my book - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I didn't finish Saturday night, but I did finish by the time I left Copenhagen - one week to ready the 563 page final novel in Stieg Larsson's series. 

I slept hard and didn't wake up until my alarm on Sunday morning. I repacked all my things and ate breakfast at the hostel and planned my day before checking out. The weather was forecasted to be quite gloomy, rainy, and windy on Sunday - perfect weather to visit some museums. When I left the hostel, it had not started raining yet, so I decided to head towards the cemetery where Hans Christian Andersen is buried. It was a good long walk, but well worth it. I passed by a church near the cemetery and saw families biking up with their children in tow to go to church. Copenhagen is one of the bike-friendliest cities in the world and they do a lot to make it bike-friendly. The even have free public bikes - you insert 20DKK to take out a bike which you get back once the bike is returned. There are bike parking lots everywhere and bike lanes on nearly every road. The cemetery was beautiful - each grave was like it's own small garden. I have never seen such decorative graves. While Paris was artsy-decorative, Denmark was a much more natural/green-decorative and I enjoyed wandering through the cemetery to see all the graves.

I made my way from the cemetery towards Denmark's National Gallery which I mistakenly thought was free on Sundays. Even though I didn't go to the museum since I didn't really want to pay when there were free museums to visit, I was glad I wandered that way because I discovered another lovely park - Ørsted - that also doubled as a sculpture garden. By the time I arrived at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek - an art museum that was free on Sundays - I was quite wet and cold and ready to be inside. I dropped my stuff off in one of the lockers and wandered through the museum. After being to the Louvre in Paris, all art museums seem to be so small in comparison (which they are). Still, it was a very well done museum with a good mix of time periods, geographical regions, and genres of art. I spent around 2 hours wandering through the museum and stopped to eat a picnic lunch of trail mix and water before I felt ready to head back outside. Thankfully by the time I got back outside, the sun was out and the sky was clear. Instead of going to a second museum, I decided to walk to Christianhavn and visit some of the churches and Christiania (otherwise known as Freetown). I first went to Christianhavn Church and as I started to walk inside, a gentleman opened the door and informed me that there was a concert that had just started but I was welcome to come in and listen. I had forgotten that it was the first Sunday in Advent and I had stumbled upon an Advent Concert - a tradition in the Scandinavian countries. The concert was small but the singers were quite good and I really enjoyed listening to a combination of Danish and English Christmas music. About an hour later, the concert finished and the sun had just set. I stopped at a pastry shop that caught my eye and enjoyed another very delicious Danish. I wandered to Christiania and was at first impressed by the beautiful graffiti art on all free space within the commune. I didn't stay for long as it was getting quite dark and starting to rain and the winds were picking up. I made my way back across the bridge and had decided to head back to my hostel to eat dinner and check my email before heading to the night bus. The winds were blowing so strong, it was difficult to walk in a straight line across the bridge. The rain started coming down harder and by the time I got back to the hostel, I was quite cold and wet.


I finished my book and ate dinner at the hostel then got all ready for bed and changed into some comfortable traveling clothes before walking to the bus stop near København H. The first bus to pull up was an overnight bus to Oslo traveling through Göteborg, Sweden. I found out from the bus driver that my bus to Stockholm was not coming because the Øresund Bridge from Copenhagen to Malmö was closed due to the weather. When I asked what I was supposed to do, he told me to get on his bus and we would get to the bridge and "see" what happened next. I didn't feel like I had much in the way of other options so I borded the bus to Oslo. Thankfully the bus was equipped with free WiFi and I used Skype on my iPad to call my parents in panic. I knew it would be fine - I've managed this far in foreign countries and Sweden is quite easy since many people are bilingual with English as a second language. I was more concerned about getting stuck, missing a day at the hospital, having to foot the bill for a hotel room and possibly a train ticket. When we arrived at Kastrup Airport, we found out that the bridge was still closed. The new plan was to take a train from Kastrup to Malmö and then buses would meet us there to take us to either Oslo or to Stockholm. The bus driver had us wait until the train came then we all rushed to the train station where we then sat and waited because the train was delayed due to the weather. We finally borded the train and arrived in Malmö where the winds were even fiercer and I could not at all walk in a straight line to the bus. I finally did board the bus and had two seats to myself. I updated my parents that indeed I would make it back to Stockholm at some point and decided that I was done with the night bus. I slept similarly to my way to Copenhagen - waking up every couple of hours and needing to reposition. We made it to Stockholm about an hour after we were originally supposed to arrive and I got back to my dorm at 7:45. I took a shower and got ready probably faster then I ever have before and somehow managed to get to the hospital on time at 8:15. Now I am looking forward to sleeping in a bed and catching up a little on sleep. Next weekend I am headed to Helsinki so I need to rest up for my final Scandinavian capital city tour - this time traveling by boat :)

Christianhavn Church & Advent Concert

Christmas Market

Tivoli Christmas