City Lights.

On the 15th of October I went to Copenhagen. That weekend my host family took me to see a good majority of the attractions the city had to offer. The picture is of part of the Queen's castle.

Den lille havfrue- She is a very famous statue of the the little mermaid in the HC Andersen fairy tale.

Christiansborg Slot- This is the castle where elected politicians meet to discuss and adopt the laws of Denmark. It houses the Prime Minister's office, the Supreme Court, and the Danish Parliament.

Kronborg Slot- This castle is located at a very narrow strip of water between Denmark and Sweden. You can look across the water and actually see Sweden. It was originally built to help medieval kings regulate import and export. It also allowed them to enforce taxes from incoming ships passing through. This castle is also known for being Hamlet's castle. It was the one Shakespeare wrote about in the play.

Christianshavn- This is a neighborhood in Copenhagen. My host parents and I took a boat tour so i could see all the sights of Copenhagen from the water. Within Christianshavn is Christiania.

Christiania- I was not allowed to take pictures in Christiania. Google images has provided me with the following images:

Christiania is an independent society. It is a community run by it's people. There is art everywhere. There are few rules, and the rules are independent from the Danish government. If you want to go and paint on a wall, you go and paint the wall. However stealing, violence, guns, knives, bullet proof vests, hard drugs, and biker colors are forbidden. Christiania has a very controversial past.
Personally i loved it. I have never felt more at home than i did when i visited.

Tivoli. It's the Danish theme park. It's not the largest i have experienced. But i ate a very good candy apple. And the rides where entertaining.

The guards infront of the queens castle.

Holgar Danske. He's a stone viking in the basement of Kronborg. Legend says if Denmark is ever in any real trouble he will wake up and save the country.

I also went to Rosenborg Slot. There there were all the crown jewels.

I think...that was all. I'm not entirely sure. It is very easy to overlook something. There were so many places.

So that was...Saturday-Monday afternoon.

Then Monday afternoon I went to stay with my friend Caitlin.
We made ginger grapefruit cheesecake and watched Cabaret. Then in the morning we took the train into Copenhagen. Later in the evening we went back to her home and cooked for her host family. We made pad thai. It was scrumptious.
Then we went back into Copenhagen and met up with Vicente from Chile. We watched a movie.
Then i ran into another guy from Homer. He was camped out at one of the Wall Street protests. I went over to warm my hands and talk to some of the protesters. And he was one of them. It was very exciting.
The next day i met up with Emily. We spent the day together in Copenhagen. Then Caitlin, Emily, and Maria (Caitlin's second host sister who went on exchange to India last year), and myself all went out. I went to stay at Emily's house.
The next morning we woke up and biked around so i could see Emily's town. We grabbed coffee at Mr.Chicken and then biked to this big park. Emily's host dad said there was a mountain at this park. It was really beautiful. Lakes everywhere, bike paths, autumn colors. The mountain was a hill. Not even that large of a hill. Though i suppose it's pretty substantial considering the country i am living in.
Then it was time for me to get on the train and truck on home.
I got home on Thursday. Friday i went to a birthday party for one of the girls who goes to my school. It was a good time. Then Saturday i went to another birthday party for a girl in my class. It was also fun.
Then on Sunday i met up with Elisa from Italy and Ayca from Istanbul. We went to a cafe in Odense and had good conversation and cappuccinos. Then we went to a park and had a bit of a photo shoot.

It was the perfect end to my Autumn Holiday.