train

was onboard the train today, from aarhus to frederikshavn (Denmark). pondering about a lot of things but thankful for the many things that have taken place as well (:

on a side note, i returned to sweden today - i am now in gothenburg, and have come to realize how much i like this country! (: beautiful architecture and most importantly, clean hostel rooms. muahahahaha. will be here till sunday morning and i'll head back to my home away from home in lulea (: yay can't wait. and i definitely need a heavy duty backpack. dragging a trolley bag in slush and 5cm thick snow isn't going to cut it. am gonna get one before i jet off to the UK & spain in march.

sometimes, when i'm able to catch my breath and reflect a little, i cannot believe that i've been given such a privileged and ridiculous opportunity to travel overseas (europe!) with lovely people! (: the ice is being broken, slowly but surely (:

ahh... many thanksgivings!

lest i forget, i'm gonna do a brief point-form summary of what i've done and seen (:

Copenhagen:

- visited an anarchic area, Christiania (go google!): graffiti all over and saw people selling and buying hash (weed) openly on tables! the whole place is without governmental jurisdiction, the laws don's apply there. it was a scary/intimidating area. guess we were quite conspicuously out of place. we got quite a few scares and were even warned by some people in there, not to take any photos :/

- went to visit the iconic mermaid (: nice old gentleman gave us a history of this maiden and of copenhagen in general. we were told that she's going to shanghai in august for awhile!

- checked out the palace and changing of guards with the full works - military band, marching et cetera, et cetera. we came on a good day because the german president paid the queen of denmark a state visit, and we witnessed it all! (: toes were completely frozen after though.

- ATE AUTHENTIC DANISH PASTRIES!!! (: yummmmmssssssssss. heaven (:

- visited Stroget, the longest shopping street in europe (!) but the things there were too expensive. our friend got scammed of 30euros = sgd100. yikes. the living standard in denmark is crazy btw. a meal costs SGD17. we almost died. thank God for supermarkets!

- went to the museum that exhibits the ruins of danish palaces. christianborg. interesting but a bit dry...

Aarhus:

- chked out the local university's architecture but it was a let down. not much to see :/

- visited an open air museum, Gamle By; it showcases a part of danish history and culture through architecture, more pastries and photos.

- went to cafe grene: amazing veggie pie/quiche! delicious! (:

- shopped a bit at H&M

- chked out the viking museum as well - that was good.

Gothenburg (Day 1):

today was quite a dramatic affair. we almost couldn't get to gothenburg because the heavy snow caused our train out to be cancelled. we had to take 1 train, get off somewhere and waited for another, which took us to frederiskavn, where we're supposed to catch our ferry back to sweden. we almost couldn't make it. and it wasn't a ferry! it was a cruisseeeee!!!! first time onboard a cruise (: but i was too lazy to walk about. felt a bit sick as well. oh wells. random note: AWESOME hostel room btw (: far cry from denmark's. let's not go there. expensive but good dinner at la gondola. carbonara for dinner. gelat.

***

thank You for always providing, for always being the faithful One even when i'm not.

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing."

- zeph 3:17