Finally it was time to visit Copenhagen and meet the family. Aunt Alice picked me up when I arrived by bus and we caught a taxi back to her place. I could tell she had been reading this blog because despite only just meeting me the first thing she did when we got inside was to offer me a beer. Over the course of the week she was a great host. Always had breakfast ready and cooked some extremely delicious dinners. Gave me privacy when I just wanted to relax and sort some stuff out, but was always making sure I was comfortable and never needed for anything. Though sometimes I think she was worrying about me more than Mum and Dad back home.

I had some Danish pastries and bread for breakfast on my first morning (and actually every morning) before heading out to just give the city a wander without any real goal in mind. I saw the castle there which wasn't particularly impressive. Probably the main thing of interest was actually the student who had just graduated. They go around dressed in white with these sailor type hats on in trusts and busses with music blaring. Almost like a Mardi Gras type parade, except without the actual parade, they just randomly drive around. At one point while I was in a plaza with a fountain in the centre a bunch of them ran up, starting blowing their whistles and then stripped naked and started dancing in the fountain. Both guys and girls.

After some more wandering I found myself at Nyhavn which is the harbour area with colourful buildings where people like to go and sit and drink. So that's exactly what I did. I only had a few beers on me, but I happened to meet a couple of Danish guys who were more than happy to keep offering me more, as well as test tube shots of various liquors. It was during this type that I also had a hotdog with pickles and dried onion which is apparently the Danish way to do it and it was delicious. It was quite late when I said goodbye to these two guys but as I was coming out of the public toilet I happened to run into them on a rickshaw and they invited me to come along. So I thought, "what the hell, why not?" We stopped by a 7-11 and grabbed some more beers for the road and then headed to a bar. What the didn't tell me was this bar was of the more "adult" variety. It was basically a small bar above a adult DVD store where the bartender was topless and you could get a private dance. I just stuck with the beers they were still buying me and then eventually walked home.

So as many Sundays before it, this one was spent rather hungover. It was raining anyway, so it was a day off to actually do some research and see what there was to do in the area. One thing I found was the Viking Boat Museum in Roskilde which is where I went on Monday. I actually met Charlotte there and we spent most of the afternoon together. The museum was small but interesting. I learned quite a bit about Viking history and the boats they had on display were original from about 800 or so years ago, though they were no longer in great condition. After this museum we took a bit of a drive up to Hillerod to check out the castle there. This one was much more interesting than the one in Copenhagen and also had some pretty impressive surrounding gardens.

I didn't really do much on Tuesday due really to nothing more than being lazy. I did that night go out and meet some Couch Surfers at a bar though which kicked on pretty late to an Aussie bar after the first one we were in closed. It was something like 5am by the time I got home which meant that Wednesday was another hangover day of getting nothing done. I had already decided to stay until the weekend to meet more of the family anyway, so I was in no rush to do things.

The next day I visited the National Museum which was free entry but not as interesting as I had hoped it would be. Really lacked anything about Vikings which I was most interested in and the rest of the history stuff was really about humans and Europe in general, which I've seen plenty of before.

There was a free walking tour that at some point I wanted to get done, yet managed to keep sleeping in for. I finally did manage to do it on Friday and the guide was an Aussie guy who had lived in Copenhagen for something like 8 years. He was quite entertaining and the tour was pretty decent. Copenhagen seemed to really have a bad history of the city burning down a lot. The Danes also didn't have much luck holding on to all the land they had been able to obtain throughout their history.

Saturday was finally the day to spend with a bit more of the family. Unfortunately most of them ended up being busy so I didn't really get to meet that many at all. Just Uncle Calle, Gitte and Katrine and her boyfriend Simon. We had a great day though. We had a nice lunch and then headed down to the beach to do some sail carting, or whatever it was called. Basically go carts powered by sails. Took a while to get the hang of it but it was awesome fun. Then we played some soccer golf, which is basically golf but you kick a soccer ball around the course. Then we had what Simon called "the best ice cream in Denmark". I'm not sure of the validity of that statement, but it was nice.

After this I went with Aunt Alice to Christiania which is the part of Copenhagen that is kinda separate from the city and they sorta govern themselves and all sorts of things go on. If you want to buy weed for example, this is where you come. They have some interesting rules too like no photos and no running. All in all it was one of my best days in Copenhagen.

My last day in Copenhagen before leaving to Stockholm I met up with some guys from Couchsurfing and we went to Tivoli Garden, the second oldest theme park in the world. It was quite expensive, having to pay for both entry and rides, but I figured it was something that had to be done when in Copenhagen. I got a pass they gave me unlimited rides in the park for the day and made good use of it. Three roller coasters (one with a loop and a couple of corkscrews and one 100 year old wooden one), bumper cars, and a few other rides later we had had enough and left. The plan was to go to a microbrewery but it turned out to be closed, so we just found another pub instead. Then next day I had a nice long train to Stockholm.