Hold Up, Wait a Minute

I am a firm believer in the gospel of Willy Wonka. And I quote the Good Book when I say, "so much time, so little to do! Wait, strike that. Reverse it."

My plane leaves Copenhagen airport at 12:20 on the 17th. I have only just now realized how much I need to get done before I leave, so I will be hitting a museum/monument/place of note a day until that time comes.

Studying abroad is strange, because you are not a tourist, not yet a local. There is a limited time to see and do anything, yet you don't feel pushed like you do on vacation to get out every morning. Although I have done a LOT in CPH (read the blog if you don't believe me! Plus other things that I forgot to mention), I have missed a couple of necessities. The next few days will be spent remedying that. Plus studying for finals. Plus packing. Plus eating at St. Petes every day so I can experience the 12kroner special in sequence. That is a necessity.

Today was the National Museum Day. The National Museum is HUGE, dense with artifacts from the Stone Age to the Baroque period. You can't possibly absorb it all, but that didn't stop me from trying! I found the sections on thoughts, beliefs, religion and mysticism the most interesting. Cro-magnon man had imagination, as evidenced by the fantastic cave drawings. Huh. Who knew?

The Prehistoric section was crammed with various tools and weapons and jewelry and skeletons. There was gigantic elk skeleton that was weirdly well-preserved, thanks to a peat bog which was so gnarly. My favorite part was the photos of burial mounds and funerary caves, along with skeletons of people from various social positions. This is probably due to the fact that I just read that book about dead people, but it was still fascinating. Why did prehistoric man do such things? What was the point? How did burying or burning the dead become a global practice? Why didn't they just, I don't know, throw them in the river or something? Food for thought, people. Food for thought.

Next I visited the replicas of 18th century interiors. Frankly, once you've seen Versailles, you've seen every fancy Baroque/Neoclassical residence. It was still amazing and beautiful, though, especially after the Stone Age stuff. I find it so unbelievable that man felt the need to create social institutions. Walking around the fancy dining area, I couldn't help but wonder, who invented "manners"? How did we go from Neanderthals ripping apart the freshly-killed moose to, I dunno, Puritans? Why? I know we have evolved, but what does that mean? Are we always moving up, or have we gone laterally in some respects?

Anachronistically, I checked out the Middle Ages section afterwards. There was an odd clock with a mechanism that pulled a stone upwards every minute or so. Gears clicked with the seconds, but I couldn't figure out the hours. There were lots of creepy Jesuses and icons all over the place, so I didn't spend too much time in the Church rooms (read: most of the exhibit), but I did learn a fun new tidbit: Did you know that some people believe in the Virgin Mary's mother, Anna? Apparently, Anna married 3 times and had 3 different daughters, all named Mary. Each Mary had children, so Jesus had a few cousins running around. There were reliefs of Anna and her family on the walls of several churches at the time, a few of which are now in the museum.

I really need to learn more about Christianity. I think I am pretty knowledgable about the basic tenets and stories, but reading more about it would absolutely enhance my understanding of world history, art and literature. Any book suggestions? (Besides the Bible. I don't think I'm ever going to find the motivation to hunker down with the King James for a relaxing evening of reading)

After the museum, I wandered around the area by the canals between Kongens Nytorv and Christianshavn. I got a hot dog from one of the pølser carts. (Copenhageners take their hot dogs very seriously: if you order one 'with everything,' you will receive ketchup, spicy mustard, remoulade, chopped onions, fried onions, pickles and - sometimes - honey mustard dressing. Its ridiculous, messy and makes your breath reek , but very tasty) Copenhagen really is a beautiful city, different than any other place I've been. It has more charm. I think that's it. It's very charming and quaint, with the lovely, colorful buildings and canals. The cobblestones don't even bother my feet anymore! How strange it will be to come back to the rowhouses of Boston...

Tomorrow, I'm taking myself out on the town all day. I plan to visit many of the free art museums and do some shopping. In the evening, we are having supper at Norrebro Bryghus and then drinks at Bar Celona. It should be a classy and cosmopolitan affair with lots of hygge. A perfectly Euro 21st. Dejligt.