living in the world's cycling capital

I HAVE BEEN COPENHAGENIZED.

drinking beer by the litre

Am off to Munich for Oktoberfest! (:

But before that, a 7-hour bus ride to Berlin, and a one-nighter at the Berlin-Schönefeld Airport, alone! But if I make it, I'm sure we'll have a damn damn damn good time (: Prost!

still your face is young

Am off to the Law Welcome Weekend (:

I know, 1.5 months after I arrive, 3 weeks after classes have officially started, and well, when its 1 more week to recess week for everyone else back home... But anyway, will be back on Sunday afternoon (: Hopefully I'll update this again before I'm off to Munich for Oktoberfest come Monday!

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

So it's like I'm down with a cold :/ It developed because of the stupid weather and because of my 3-day week which saw all the international students partying too hard :/ 4 nights out in a row with a lot a lot of drinks = everyone falling sick. I'm waiting for my teochew muay (with luncheon meat!) to boil so yeah, here's a damn long (seriously) and belated update, from 2 weeks back when, Desiree came to København to visit for a week! (:

25th August 2008, Monday

We went to the Zulu Sommerbio event at Søndermarken near my place to catch American Gangster under the stars (: It was nice, Desiree loved the free potato ships that tasted like tapioca chips but it was SUPER COLD, throughout the 3 hours :/ And we only brought a thin towel to sit on, unlike seasoned Copenhageners who had the foresight to bring mini foldable beach chairs.

26th August 2008, Tuesday

We had lunch at Ida Davidson for smørrebrød! It is, according to Lonely Planet, the epitome of danish tradition and culture. But well, being the epitome of danish tradition and culture, this meant that even though it was listed in the Budget Eating section of Lonely Planet, this place was not cheap — food in Copenhagen is never cheap :/ I think it cost us like 300 dkk in total, for 2 pieces of smørrebrød and a strawberry tart. Okay enough of being Singaporean, apart from the shocking price (they didn't have menus with prices!), the food was fantastic! They had every kind of topping imaginable that you can want on top of your ryebread — we had one with fresh shrimp, and another with smoked salmon and caviar! The strawberry tart was damn shiok as well, fresh strawberries, with custard and a crispy almond crust (:

After that I brought her on the Canal Tour (: And yes, I did go on it again. I seriously reccommend the tour, it really is damn worth it for 30 dkk (:

We crossed over to Christianshavn, for tea at Lagkagehuset (: We had another strawberry tart, nevermind that we already had one a couple of hours ago. We somehow just had an obsession with strawberry tarts that day, or something.

In between tea and dinner, we went to Christiania but there are no photos because you can't take pictures of all the interesting (hmmm) things in there so oh well. Then we found our way to Bang & Jensen in Vesterbro, which was a cosy little cafe in the day that turns into a restaurant and bar at night. Okay so by now you should be able to tell that Desiree and I were just hopping from one nice restaurant/bakery/cafe to another, and sightseeing in between heh.

27th August 2008, Wednesday

I think this was my favourite place — the Laundromat Cafe in Vesterbro (: Very colourful and cheery, perfect for brunch. Oh, and the second-hand books, arranged by colour, are on sale! Anyway the Laundromat Cafe really is a laundromat with washing machines, although I was too paiseh to go take a photo of these people using the bright red washing machines hurhur. Anyway brunch was great, will probably go back again one lazy sunday!

Then we made it to the Carlsberg Brewery! Anyway Joan, if you're reading this, we thought of you when we saw the Carlsberg tray and ice-bucket! (: We kinda rushed through the self-guided tour, because we wanted to get to the end, to drink our 2 free beers hahaha. So anyway there was this damn cool thing where you smell 20 aromas, and then pick out those that you like. And according to your preferences, the guy will pick out a beer that best suits you! Dam exciting lah, especially when I picked damn wtf/girly flavours like citrus, chocolate, coffee, caramel. But yeah they did haha.

Then we had dinner at Cafe Zirup, off Strøget. Okay shit I realise this really is turning into a food blog. Haha but hey, it was because Desiree was visiting okay. I, as a most wonderful host, tailor my guided tours around Copenhagen around the interests of my guests (:

28th August 2008, Thursday

We went to Lund! (: To visit Jgan, KT and Jingmin (: Lund is like super-duper near, around 45 mins by train? It's like how in Singapore, I drove all the way from Serangoon to Buona Vista to play monopoly at KT's place lah. It is thaaat near. Anyway the very kind boys (who wore sweaters that matched their bikes!!) picked us up at the train station,walked us to Jingmin's place, in exchange for a bottle of oyster sauce haha.

After a long trek (we got lost hurhur), we got our asses to Jingmin's place, for dinner with her SMU friends and 3 Germans they invited over (: Her apartment is damn nice lah, damn new and spacious.

28th August 2008, Friday

We left Lund for Malmö! (: Which is like... 10 mins away by train. Apparently a lot of Danes and Swedes live Malmö but work in Copenhagen because its so damn near, to take advantage of the lower costs of living in Malmö. Its damn JB-Singapore lah. The weather was perfect so we just kinda roamed the streets and spent a long time at the mega-H&M haha.

Got back to my place in time for dinner (told you Malmö was near), and we had damn fantastic soup! Carrots, fishballs, Corn and WANTON WANTON WANTON. The taste of Shrimp! (I was going to say fresh shrimp but obviously it was frozen shrimp haha.) It was damn... umami, my god.

29th August 2008, Saturday

TIVOLI ! (: Apparently, according to Wikipedia, Tivoli was a source of inspiration for Disneyland – "After a visit to Tivoli Gardens, Walt Disney was so impressed with the Danish amusement park, he immediately decided Disneyland should try to emulate its 'happy and unbuttoned air of relaxed fun.'" Anyway, Miss Desiree Tan dragged us up ALL the rides in Tivoli, making full use of our multi-ride ticket :/ We even went up the Demon twice, (the rollercoaster with the red loop below). And it was damn cold on the Star Flyer thing (top left picture), which is the world's tallest carousel (according to Wikipedia again yes) although haha if you don't have vertigo, it does provide a wonderful view of the City.

30th August 2008, Sunday

By now, we were damn shagged already so we just relak-jacked. Did a half-hearted stroll through the Statens Museum for Kunst but it wasn't that great without a guide, unfortunately. Then we just kinda watched the world go by, chilling at Baresso, which is kinda like Denmark's answer to Starbucks (:

Okay and that was it (: Desiree's week-long trip to Copenhagen, with our side trip to Malmö and Lund. Erm, and next up, soon hurhur, my trip to Århus (: I should try and do this soon, before I leave for the Law Welcome Weekend Camping Trip and for Munich!