Copenhagen, Denmark

Hello everyone!
I have not kept my promise in updating...I apologize! I finally have a chance to sit down and write down my overdue thoughts. Settling back in America has brought many challenges, finding a job is one of them. As much as i'd like someone to hire me immediately, I have learned it takes time and patience to hear back from a potential employer.
Anyway, as promised:
A little over a month ago (weekend of August 3-5th), I was in Copenhagen, Denmark with my friend Tricia. We took the train up, which took about 4 hours. It was a little frustrating at first, because it was an actual Danish train, the signs said "Kan være reserviert" which translates to "could be reserved." This never would happen on German trains, since you either reserve it or you don't. Honestly, I didn't expect to be wowed by Copenhagen, but I was. It had so much history with it, and it was a pedestrian city. We stayed in a hostel that wasn't too far of a walk from the train station. On a side note, Copenhagen had some of the best and nicest underground trains i've seen. They were wide and told you the estimated time to get somewhere. They were also very colorful. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of one. Sorry!
Some of the highlights of Copenhagen was the weather...it was so nice while there (unlike this 95˚ weather in Houston). There was a really cool moat that we went through when we followed a marked path on the maps we got.

There was also a castle we went by, that housed the royal family of Denmark. They, like Buckingham palace had guards that stood completely still. We arrived during the changing of the guards, and it was very peculiar.

And of course, the little mermaid statue:

It was put there in the 1940s I believe, and has become a must-see when visiting Copenhagen. Copenhagen was the home of Hans Christian Andersen. The story of the little mermaid is actually a sad one; in short, she saved a prince from drowning at sea, left him at a temple, and another princess took the credit for saving him. Long version, short summary, scroll down.

My friend and I also took a canal/harbor tour of Copenhagen, and we got to see a lot from the water. I learned that Andersen had an apartment in Nyhavn (New port):

They also had a peculiarly interesting dessert: churro with ice cream:

We also spent a lot of time at the National museum of Denmark. They had all sorts of neat things dealing with excavations around Denmark. (Fun fact, Copenhagen is actually on an island). One of the exhibits that I liked was dealing with more modern events, they had things from the last 100 years in one exhibit. It was a blast from the past, they had walkmans, nintendos, old tvs, old chairs, things like that. Another thing that I liked was that there were the remains of a viking ship.
We also visited an area of town called Christiana. It's a hippy town where they have a "green light district." Marijuana is illegal in Denmark, but the police have sort of turned from the Christiana, because it's safer to know where you can get it rather than dealing with violence of drug turf wars.

One of the highlights of my trip is that I finally met a good friend of mine in person. I'm glad I could finally put a face to someone I had been talking to for years!

Copenhagen was a fun city, especially during the summer because the days are longer. Denmark uses the Kroner, so I had to exchange my euros there. I recommend doing it beforehand, because the rates at exchange houses are a little ridiculous, they also take a business approach to exchanging money.

Well, those were my adventures in Copenhagen. Coming up soon: details about my mini Eurotrip!