Denmark to Krakow to Terezin.

Well it certainly has been about 82 years since I last updated this crazy party machine, and boy oh boy do I have a lot to tell you!

At the end of last season, Mary-Caitlin was immersing herself in the cultural offerings of the city. Now we follow her trek across Europe in search of adventure, or at least better food. (UGH if I have to eat one more pot of gulash you will have to roll me home...)

So two weeks ago, on the morning of Friday the thirteenth, my FAVORITE day for flying, I boarded a Czech air flight to Copenhagen to visit former roommate and all around crazy person, Laura Beth Kazprzyk.

The flight was a short 92 minutes and I spent all of it passed out across my seat with a stuffed lobster as a pillow. Upon landing I realized that I didn't have Laura's cell phone number... or address, so were I not able to find her, I was essentially stranded in Scandinavia all by my lonesome. Hmmm.... oh well. I waited fifteen minutes, no Laura. Twenty minutes, no laura.

So in the meantime I got a Starbucks coffee to calm my frazzled nerves and plunked down on a cold metal bench in the center of the arrivals terminal, where I essentially looked like a lost child in a department store, with my old checkered backpack and giant Middleburuy sweatpants dragging across the floor as I walked. A half an hour had gone by and still, no Laura. And the suddenly, out of no where, a bouquet of tulips appears under my nose, "Happy Valentines Dayyyyy!"

Oh thank God.

So we take the train/bus back to her house in Norbergade (spelling?) and catch up on the past two months of eachothers lives. I spill coffee all over myself, people speculate that we're dating (what beautiful flowers!) and I stare in awe at the immaculate beauty that is Copenhagen.

Seriously, the city is gorgeous. The streets are clean, the air cleaner, and the people very, very good looking. Prague has a darker kind of beauty, its medieval, a little dirty, a little communist, a little underground. Copenhagen on the otherhand is Disneyland. The buildings are white and well maintained, people bike EVERYWHERE, and people leave their babies outside when the go to lunch?! Ok this last part I found absolutely bizarre. I guess the city is just that safe, but really? I saw at least twenty infant filled strollers outside of coffee shops and restaurants in the cold February air. People are crazy. This tops parents who leash their children.

Anyway so Laura had class an hour after I got in, so I decided to do what I always do when I'm bored and alone, dye my hair. And so, a life long dream has been fulfilled. I, Mary-Caitlin Hentz, am a Jenny Lewis redhead. Oh god. (Yeah it looked great for the first week, but now I'm beyond tired of it) Anyway, post hair disaster, Laura K picked me up and we wandered around the center of the city, ducking into quirky shops and buying bags of candy to munch on. (Disaster number two: the Danes are super hot on black licorice, which would be perfect for me, had I not bough a pound of black licorice covered in SALT.)

After the wandering Laura K and I grabbed some food and got ready for the evening. That night was pretty tame, Laura and her roommates had a few people over for drinks and then we made our way over to The Student Bar, a crowded dance party not officially affiliated with any institution but the go to haunt of all danish students. This was, I think, my favorite part of the whole trip. I have never experienced a bar quite like this one. The place was crowded with every subgenre of music nerd and grandma dress wearing film major I have ever seen. Sweatervests, suspenders, bowties, bad perms, high waisted pants and sixties throw back music. Laura K and I spent the whole time doing the twist on the crowded dance floor while her friends drank $10 beers at the bar. (Oh yeah, and Denmark is ridiculously expensive.)


To be continued....