...Kaksi: Going Back to the Future

After realizing that turning left from the hotel leads us down Fifty Blocks of Gray, we opted to go right when exploring our first night in Copenhagen. To our welcomed surprise we were staying only one block from everything we could possibly want! There were restaurants, shops, even an amusement park within a few minutes walk. And located between all of these restaurants and shops were bars and more bars. Danes like beer and so do we. This was going to be a glorious communion and a night for the books! Let's go...



...Where do you want to go? I don't care, where do you want to go? I don't care. Okay, well, what do you want to do? I don't care, whatever you want to do. GAH!!! This is our usual decision making process. Pretty much awful. We are just like these guys, only not as cool because we aren't British: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGTWmrnPdgk

Drink beer. That's our common agreement, so Dust and I wander into the first pub we see, Something O'Irish. It was dark and randomly had a Mexican themed dance floor. It was confusing, but the beer tasted the same. While in Copenhagen we made an agreement to drink only Danish beer, so Carlsberg was our go to.

A few beers later and an interesting conversation with the bartender where he explained to us to disregard all we had heard and read about no tipping in Denmark, we were ready to move on to a more lively joint. Still not knowing where to go we just walked out of the first place and into the next a few doors down, which was similarly named Something McIrish. (The details of the names are a little blurry, but you get it).

This second place was not well populated, dimly lit, with giant green and red plaid patterned wall paper. But, the beer still tasted the same and it had an authentic looking singer playing some music.

Not sure what authentic means because I couldn't really tell you where this guy was from and what the real theme of the bar was, but I do have one question, will the real Doc Brown please stand up? And speak up? And en-un-ci-ate?

Yeah, Doc Brown was performing right there in McSomething O'Irish! The wild gray hair shooting in all directions along with the crazy eyes that never seemed to look at you or focus on anything other than the wall just passed your right ear gave this guy an authentic Doc Brown look. He was absolutely nuts, singing songs we recognized as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, but we could never be quite sure. The lyrics were generally mumbled and we could only decipher about every third or fourth word.

It was awesome. And super weird. I mostly just smiled, nodded, and laughed when he was talking because I had no freaking clue what he was saying , but Dustin actually had conversations with Doc. He had been to America and apparently all of his friends ended up in San Francisco in the 60s...big surprise there.

A few beers later, again, we were talking to all sorts of people and received a ton of information to lead us in the right direction for the rest of our trip. These two American men recommended walking to the Carlsberg brewery, which was on our to-do list. They must have had too many liters (not pints) because that is a joke of a walk and I am so glad we did not take their advice. Brewery was great, walking would have been not so great!

First night down and such a great success. Meeting Doc Brown at a random pub in Copenhagen...who would have thought?

Dustin and THE Mr. Doc Brown 

...Hippies, Beer, and Love: Yksi.

The screen said "Arriving, 5 minutes." Then, why was I still waiting 45 minutes later? I got there in plenty of time. Time enough to be thoroughly reunited with a beloved Starbucks, chew and spit out 4 sticks of gum, check the monitor at least 17 times, and nearly lose my mind.

My heart was racing and  I couldn't tell if it was nerves, excitement or too much caffeine. Either way I needed to run, I needed to scream, I needed to dance. I needed him to walk through those doors, but mostly I needed to pee. Standing in Terminal 2 waiting for Dustin to walk out of customs was the longest part of his 10 day visit. 

Finally, the doors open and it's him! His blood shot eyes gave away his 24 hour sleep deprivation (which  was due to his cornering window seat and his narcoleptic neighbors), but he still looked great. Hugs, kisses, tears, blah blah blah I'll spare you the details, but it was all very Nicholas Sparks and I loved it. 

The 10 day adventure started as soon as we got home with a wild and crazy nap for Dustin. His goal was to make it until 8 pm, he lasted till about 6 only to wake up to drink or eat, then go back to sleep. I didn't care though, he was with me so I was happy. The next day he was able to sleep more while I went to morning practice, then we cruised Helsinki a little bit and I showed Dustin my keen understanding of the Finnish bus system. It was a quiet night again since Dust was adjusting to the time difference, which he managed to do like a pro. I was very impressed since it took me a solid 2 weeks. It only took him about a day--whatta man!

Sunday I had my game where we won 2-0. I had an assist and a goal and I was lucky to receive the "gold medal" for the match. We have this medal system for every league game where the top 3 players of the game are picked and receive a bronze, silver, or gold, respectively. It was super confusing at first since it is always done in Finnish. I still don't know what's going on unless they say in English,  "number nine," then I know it's me. I'm a fast learner, right? Anyway, I was excited to get a win and play well since Dust was here. Poor guy though had to suffer in the sun the whole game and it really wasn't a great game for him to watch. The second half was long, very long. One of those halves that you check the clock, sigh, check again and only 3 miserable minutes have passed. When asked what he thought of the game, Dustin's always creative response was, "I felt bad for the other team. They all had a look on their face like their dog had just died." So eloquent, isn't he? But he summed it up pretty well. At least he got beautiful warm weather and a PK-35 win!

It might have been a tad too hot actually because about half way through warm up I looked up to where he was sitting and he had moved up into the shade and taken his jacket off. Whoops- guess I should have checked the weather a little bit better. Which, by the way, does not necessarily help because as Rachel on my team taught me early on "Finnish weather is like women, you never know what you're gonna get." We're mysterious, spontaneous, and always a good time? I think that's what she was trying to say.  

We remembered to check the weather that night for Copenhagen since the next day we were leaving for a 3 day trip. Though we knew it was going to be nice it turned out to be much warmer than we thought. By the time we got to the bus stop, Dustin was hot and a little cranky. He so courteously carried the bags though, so I'll give the gentleman a break. (Sidebar in my defense for a later story, note here of Dustin's less than stellar mood when he was physically uncomfortable, thank you. Proceed.)

Airport and flight went smoothly. Dust was so excited that this flight he would be with me and have a companion to talk with, aww...so the two of us shared a riveting conversation about contemporary social issues like how to be beat his latest iPhone game.

I didn't understand it, therefore I was a bad companion. Sorry for my incompetency, Dust.

We land in Copenhagen and first things first, get another Starbucks. You know how I know you're American? You order an iced-coffee then ask for more ice. The drink is an enigma here. However, I still give every coffee shop I go to a chance to redeem the under achieving European performance on iced-coffee making, so of course I order one. I got a relatively satisfying luke-warm iced coffee. And poor, naive Dustin, so new to the coffee world, was persuaded into a Orange-Mocha-Frappuccino! (or something like that) And as the loving with a sometimes cruel sense of humor girlfriend I am, I  allowed this persuasion to happen only to see his reaction. He rocked the frap and totes loved it! Obvi.

Coffee in hand we meandered the airport for awhile heading toward the buses, then metro, then finally discover we needed a train. We still must have looked lost even once we were in the right place with the appropriate ticket because a friendly Dane asked if she could help. She directed us onto the right train and told us when to get off, which was not what the map said. Not that we could really read the map anyway, it was all in Danish. We decided to go with her directions. And good thing we did.

Central Station was right down the street from our hotel, Hotel Nebo. So it didn't take long to find where were supposed to be. It was a cross between a hotel and a hostel. So it was cheap, nicer than a hostel, but without the hotel amenities. Our two twin size beds pushed together to create the offered "queen-size" room was perfect!'

We got settled and decided to head out since the night was still young, plus I was getting hungry, which seemed to be a theme throughout the trip/ my life. Giddy to see all the beautiful architecture and sights of Copenhagen we practically skipped onto the side walk hand in hand. A few blocks into our walk and we saw "love shops" everywhere!! The words "erotic" flashed with neon letters in the otherwise blacked-out windows from the storefront of every other door. I heard Copenhagen was liberal and sort of hippie, but this was taking free love to whole new level. Dust held onto my hand tighter as we passed sketchy dive bar after sketchy dive bar after EROTIC, EROTIC, EROTIC. I kept trying to reassure him that the dive bars look great!...Everyone loves a dive bar!... Do as the locals do?... He wasn't buying it.

Red light district. We were staying in the red light district. Think Amsterdam just toned down a few hookers. Of alllllll hotels in allll of amazing Copenhagen, I find us one that is in the red light district, on the out skirts, but nonetheless we were in scary sexyville. Typical. Welp, here we go...