Copenhagen is a cool city, but I made a few mistakes there, and so, for this last look at my visit, I want to impart a little advice. (When am I not imparting at least a little advice?) 5 Things to Keep in Mind When Visiting Copenhagen 1. It rains… a lot. Copenhagen suffers from bad weather in much the same way that London does, just without the reputation, and with buckets of snow in the winter. I visited during the first week in October, and I spent seven days in Copenhagen. It rained on five of those days. Actually it rained six of those days, but on the 6th…
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A Perfect Sunday in Copenhagen
A recipe for a truly lovely Sunday in Copenhagen: Assuming it is sunny, begin your day at Rundetaarn — the Round Tower. This is a tourist attraction in Copenhagen’s Latin Quarter that offers spectacular views out over the city; plus it’s an interesting building in and of its own right. Rundetaarn was built between 1637 and 1642 and is 114 feet tall (34.8 meters). In order to climb to the top, you won’t take the stairs; instead, you will follow the tower’s unique spiral walkway. The tower was built to serve three functions for the scholars of the era: it housed a student’s church, a university library, and an astronomical…
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Statues of Copenhagen: A Photo Essay
The Little Mermaid is Copenhagen’s most famous statue. It has become an iconic symbol of the city and a major tourist attraction. Sculpted by Edvard Eriksen and unveiled in 1913, the statue is based on the fairytale The Little Mermaid, which was originally written by the Danish author and poet, Hans Christian Andersen. It’s a lovely statue of a wistful mermaid, but it’s hard to say why it became so famous. It’s certainly not because of its size — the mermaid is just over 4 ft tall (1.25 meters). And it’s not as if it’s the only statue in Copenhagen. In fact, as I wandered the city, I was struck…
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Copenhagen: First Impressions
I left Amsterdam at 11:00pm on an overnight bus bound for Copenhagen. The ride took 15 hours with a transfer in Hamburg. It was to be the first of many such travel experiences in Europe–in total, I rode two overnight buses and 4 overnight trains over the course of my trip. When I arrived in Copenhagen at 2:00 in the afternoon, it was sunny and I was exhausted. The bus dropped us on a random side street around the corner from the train station and it was some consolation that my fellow travelers looked as weary and confused as me. I hefted my backpack onto my back and started walking…
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Amsterdam: Last Look
Amsterdam and I had our ups and downs, but as soon as I bought a bus ticket to Copenhagen, I felt a pang of sadness at having to leave such a lovely city that I was really just beginning to get a feel for. Regardless, here are a few final photos from my trip to Amsterdam. Perhaps I’ve been a bit redundant in my posts about this city, but I’ll say one more time that the architecture and the canals were just stunning. When Amsterdam wasn’t wowing me with its beauty, it was making me laugh. The next photo encompasses beautiful architecture and questionable water sports. Plus, sometimes a city…
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What I Learned in Amsterdam
or, I Visited Amsterdam and Didn’t Get High I went to Amsterdam for Vincent van Gogh, and Anne Frank. I went because friends had been and spoke highly of this fun, cultural city. And I listened when people told me that Amsterdam was an amazing place to party. That’s where I went wrong. Amsterdam was the first place that I traveled to by myself, and although I had one contact in the city, he was in the midst of studying abroad and busy with classes and his own life. I stayed at hostels that didn’t facilitate meeting other travelers (no common room!), and I was new to this, so I…
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Tea Tuesday: Dobrá Čajovna
I first fell in love with teahouses in Barcelona, at a teahouse called Čaj Chai, which was founded by some Czech immigrants to the city. I have written, and waxed poetic, and gushed about this teahouse before, and I will do so again, but for now I want to tell you about a teahouse in Prague called Dobrá Čajovna, which I was pleased to stumble upon. It was so good, I went twice over the course of my five days in Prague. When I found it, I was surprised–an Asian-style teahouse in the Czech Republic? Apparently this isn’t at all an unusual thing. The teahouse in Barcelona that I so…
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This Time Last Year…
2012 is coming to a close, so, unsurprisingly, everyone is reflecting on the past year, and hoping for good things in 2013. I can’t help but add my own musings on this last year, particularly with regard to where I’ve been. This is a travel blog after all. And I have to begin with where I spent New Year’s Eve last year–in Ecuador. On December 31st, 2011, I woke up at 5:00 am to hike Fuya Fuya, a mountain just outside of Cotacachi, Ecuador. Although the hike itself was only a few kilometers, at nearly 14,000 ft above sea level, every step was a challenge. I barely stayed up until…
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Things You Might See In Vondelpark: A Photo Essay
This isn’t really a photo essay. Mostly because I’m not entirely sure what a photo essay is–other than a term that bloggers use when they don’t feel like writing and would rather post a bunch of pretty pictures. I’m not trying to discredit anyone who takes beautiful photos with quality equipment and writes a blog post to highlight the way in which their pictures tell a story. Okay, maybe I do know what a photo essay is… Regardless, here are some things you might see in Amsterdam’s beautiful Vondelpark. I know I’m harping on the prevalence of bicycles in Amsterdam, but you will definitely see some people riding bikes along…
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Weekly Travel Inspiration: Instagramming Paris
I spent last week in Paris with my mother. And I discovered a new obsession. Sacre Coeur Paris is an amazingly photogenic city. I felt like a wonderful photographer while I was there because I took so many beautiful photos, but I think it was less my photography skills and more the city’s innate charms that looked so good. Nothing can beat seeing Paris for yourself, but I hope you’ll enjoy this sample of the photos I took there. I found that as awesome as these shots looked on their own, they also lended themselves well to instagram. Winged Victory, at the Louvre What I’m really enjoying about instagram is…
