It's Still All Danish to Me... Days Two and Three in Denmark

After a good night's rest, Nathan and I got up to hit some more sites. We took the meto back to the old part of town and started with the Royal Navy Museum, which we honestly did not find terribly exciting.



Next, we headed over to the old hippie part of town. There was a village created called "Christiania."



It was an area where people who no longer wished to live in the EU gathered and lived. The area was filled with free art, unique people and a lot of interesting living conditions. Not to mention the smells of drugs everywhere. In fact, we weren't even allowed to take pictures inside (even though I snapped this one shot posted below)! It was an interesting stop.



Throughout the day, Nathan and I were amazed by the number of bikes we saw. There were certainly more bikes on the roads than cars. With flat terrain and easy to access bike lanes on every street, Copenhagen is a great city to live in for people who love to bike.



To close up the day, Nathan and I headed to Tivoli Gardens, where we walked around, saw the copy of the Little Mermaid, and saw some of the free shows they hosted there before heading back to the hotel.



On Sunday morning, it was already time to head back in our own directions. I had to leave to Norway and Nathan for Germany. The weekend certainly flew! However, it was great to see Nathan again, hear a bit of Danish (even though I obviously understood nothing) and explore Copenhagen.

It's All Danish to Me... Day One in Denmark

The night of July 1 I headed to Denmark. I was to embark on an 8 hour journey by bus before I would meet my little brother, Nathan, in Copenhagen. Since he is currently living in Germany, it was the perfect opportunity for us to meet up in a place he'd always had dreams of traveling to... the land of our Grandpa Nygard (my mom's dad).



It was an early Friday morning when we met up and neither of us had slept at all that night. However, we got to work finding the tourist information, found a free walking tour, and began making our way through the main sites in the old part of the city.



We first headed to the city center, which is the beautiful building posted above. Then we checked out the museum of Hans Christian Anderson.



Carrying our Copenhagen guide, we walked the streets filled with old landmarks and stories, taking lots of pictures and learning lots of neat things.



After that, we headed to the National Museum, The Prince's Palace and The Royal Chapel. We spent several hours touring them all and learning a lot about Danish and world history.



Finally, after attempting to figure out the Danish metro system, we somehow managed to take the metro to our hotel and find where we would be staying the night. We relaxed, watching the Brazil soccer game, going shopping at the nearby mall and hanging out.

160 USD...Is That All?

I had heard the rumors that Norway is expensive. However, while rumors are rumors, there is usual some foundation or reason why they began. So I came prepared to not be sticker-shocked. The second I stepped off the plane in Norway, I was ready to accept the prices as they may be and brush it off saying, "Well... it's Norway..."

Haha... brush off the prices? How naive I was...

My first price scare was my taxi from the airport to the university. After a 25 minute ride, I was charged 160 USD. And that was at 1/2 the cost it would have been had I not booked the taxi ahead of time. I almost cried as I handed over 3 full days' salary.

Scared by the prices, I refused to buy anything. However, leaving for Denmark to visit my brother, I was dying of thirst and needed to buy something to drink. Browsing for the cheapest item, I came across two choices: a 12 oz bottle of water or a 12 oz bottle of Coke... both for the low price of 4.35 USD. ALMOST FIVE USD!!!!!! Was this place insane?!? 5 USD for a bottle of Coke?!?

For 8 USD, you can buy a can of beer. For 5.79 USD, you can have yourself a McDonald's Big Mac (the highest price in the world). And for only 6.27 USD, you can fill your car with a gallon of gas.

This is no cheap place to vacation. While to Norwegians the prices are completely normal, they are almost unbearable to the rest of the world. In Norway, however, pay is very high. The lowest salary workers (street cleaners and deliverers) make over 24,000 USD year. Norway doesn't even need to have a minimum wage because those who earn the least are still able to earn enough to live.

As I struggle to buy laundry detergient, bus tickets and bottled water on my Brazilian wages, it's incredible to think of how rich the country of Norway really is. So rich that even the poor have the money they need to purchase the things I can't even afford here.