The week of March 12th through 18th I was lucky enough to have my parents visiting Copenhagen. The entire week was a treat, getting to play tour guide and show my parents around a city that I have come to know and love.
My parents arrived in Copenhagen a few hours before I got back from Brussels, so they were ready and waiting for me to jump into their arms at Central Station when I returned. And jump I did! After two months of not seeing them it was a very happy reunion indeed.
They had rented a small apartment at the Ascot Hotel, which is right in the city center near Central Station and near DIS. I had the pleasure of saying with them all week and not having to schlep all the way from Roskilde to school for a week.
On Saturday, my parents' first full day in Copenhagen, we went to Rick and Helle’s house for brunch. We were served a decadent Danish brunch spread, complete with lots of lox, three types of herring, and Danish pasteries of course. Helle and Rich instructed my parents in the proper way to eat Danish smorbrod (the traditional Danish open face sandwhich), starting with fish on a piece of rugbrød (Danish rye bread) and ending with a course of cheese and maybe coffee and tea. Helle and Rick took us on a tour around Roskilde, including a stop at the Viking ship museum. Watching my real parents and my visiting parents bond was one of the sweetest things – they warmed up to each other right away and nothing could have made me happier than seeing these four people, all of whom I care about so much and who have been so kind to me, getting to know one another.
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| Helle, Rick, Dad and Mom at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde |
Despite what started out as a grey day, on Sunday we hit the tourist sights. We started at the museum of Danish resistance, which is near Østerbro, and then walked along the harbor from the classic tourist attraction The Little Mermaid statue all the way past the opera house, Amalienborg Slot and ending at Nyhavn. It was sunny by the time we got to Nyhavn and we sat at one of the outdoor cafes, covered in the fleece blankets that they provide for extra hyggelit of course, and enjoyed a sandwich with salmon and some homemade Danish pancakes. Nyhavn looked beautiful and we felt very Danish. As soon as the weather becomes even remotely warm, the Danes flock to these outdoor cafes.
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| Me and my parents in front of the Little Mermaid |
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| Me and my mom at Nyhavn |
On Monday morning I had to go to class so my parents walked me to school. It was so sweet, since I haven’t had my parents take me to school in quite some time. During my lunch break, we walked around center city, seeing Strøget and shopping at Tiger. My parents immediately understood why Tiger is such an amazing store. For those of you familiar with the western Massachusetts area, Tiger is like a cross between Faces and Acme Surplus. Really cute, funky items with dirt cheap prices. Every time I go into Tiger I realize that I need 10 things that I didn’t know I needed, like a plaid scarf for 30 kroner, a change purse shaped like underwear or paper plates with pirates on them. It’s that kind of store. After my second class, I brought my parents to Christiania, which, if you’ve been reading this blog faithfully, you’ll know is a free city with legalized hash in the middle of Copenhagen that was started by a group of hippies in 1971. My parents enjoyed taking a walk around. Whether or not you agree with Christiania's continued existence or not, it is interesting to observe what it says about Danish and culture and society that such an alternative society has largely been allowed to exist for so many years.
Tuesday I had classes and group meetings nearly all day, so I sent Gladys and Stan on their own to Helsingør to see Kronberg Slot and to Humlebæk to see the Louisiana, a contemporary art museum. They did a great job managing the trains and had a wonderful time at the Louisiana, which is supposed to be quite stunning. And for people who claimed that they were really not castle people, my parents were pleasantly surprised with Kronberg.
Wednesday I had the day off from classes and just one field study, which I brought my parents along to. We were getting a tour of the parliament building at Christiansborg slot for my Danish Politics class. Our class, trailed by my parents and a number of educators there from the US for a conference, got to speak to a member of Parliament from the liberal party and then get a tour of the building including the parliament chamber. After our visit at Christiansborg we made the short walk to the Royal Library and the Black Diamond, had lunch overlooking the water in library's café, and then headed to the Danish Jewish Museum. The Danish Jewish Museum is interesting – worth a visit once but I probably wouldn’t go again. The whole thing is designed to look like the world “mitzvah”, which is an interesting idea artistically, but it leaves the whole museum with these slanted walls and confusing passageways that make the intended path of the exhibits hard to follow. We learned about how Jews originally settled in Copenhagen because they were invited by the king in an attempt to bring wealth and trade to the city. The first Jewish immigrants in Copenhagen were mostly Sephardic Jews and only later did Ashkenazi Jews from eastern Europe begin to migrate to Denmark. Of course most the Jews who were living in Denmark is the 20th century were smuggled to Sweden during the second world war, when Denmark was occupied by Germany.
Wednesday evening was a big treat because we went out to dinner, something I’ve done very infrequently since I’ve been here, and we went to SUSHI! something I hadn’t done at all since I’ve been here. Sushi is tremendously expensive here compared to the US, (as is the case with many things in Denmark), and isn’t rumored to be that good, so I had held off on trying some of my favorite food until now. We researched good sushi places on the internet and decided on Sachi Sushi, a restaurant in Vesterbro about a 10 minute walk from central station. Yes, the sushi was expensive, about $10 for a simple tuna roll, but it was DELICIOUS! I forgot how much I had missed sushi. We tried regular tuna roll, a shrimp tempura roll, and a mafia roll, which had tuna, crunch, spicy sauce and then tuna, advocado and masago on top. At home we eat sushi quite frequently from a local place that is cheap but I hadn’t had it in months. What a special treat!
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| The sushi dinner we had at Sachi Sushi |
Thursday I had two classes but during my lunch break Gladys and I tried a great Turkish restaurant, also in Vesterbro. Ankara cafe has a lunch buffet for only 45 kroner (about 9 dollars) filled with perfectly cooked lamb dishes, cold salads with chickpeas and spinach and and so much more. I really enjoyed getting to try authentic Turkish food, which I had never tried before, because although Copenhagen is majority ethnic Danes one minority population very prevalent in the city are Turkish immigrants. Thursday night we headed back to my Kollegium in Roskilde and had a potluck dinner with my friends. The food was plentiful and delicious, of course, and it was really fun to have my parents get to meet my friends and vice versa.
Although we got decent weather most of the week, it started to rain and then sleet and then snow on our way home from town to my Kollegium. Unfortunate, but now as least my parents didn't get any delusions about Copenhagen always having blue skies.
My parents left Friday morning, so I bid them a fond farewell as I walked off to school that day. The whole week was an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Besides all the delicious food, hanging out and watching of The West Wing, my favorite part about having my parents here was just being able to give them a picture of my time here. They’ve now seen my school and my Kollegium and my friends, and when I skype with them and tell them about my adventures they can really picture it. I also enjoyed showing them around places that I love in Copenhagen and in doing so really realizing how much I have learned about this city in the short months I have been here. I wish my parents could come every week :)
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