Today was my last day of class in Copenhagen for a while. I officially finished my first Viking saga. It went much better than I expected, and I can’t wait for the next one. Egil’s Saga is a great representation of Viking life and their movements over Scandinavia. Norse poetry and story telling is something to admire, because most of this saga was passed orally through the generations, and the translation today is still a wonderful piece of literature.
After class I went over to The Round Tower or the Rundetarn. It is in the center of old Copenhagen and a very impressive piece of architecture. It was built for King Christian IV as an astronomical observatory. It is many stories tall and provides a great view of the city from the top. What is most interesting about the tower is the internal structure. There were originally no stairs in the tower, just a long, winding ramp. Christian didn’t want to climb to the top, so it was built to accommodate a horse drawn carriage that could take him up and down.
One of the newer parts of the tower is a small section of glass floor. The center of the tower is hollow, and visitors can go into a small alcove to look down through the center of the tower. It was wonderfully terrifying. I have yet to do the observatory deck at the Willis/Sears tower, but I imagine it would be a similar experience. It was a fantastic view, and we were lucky to have a beautiful day.
Later that night, Kelsey, Connor, Katie and I went out for a traditional Danish meal. Det Lille Apotek is a very old restaurant in the heart of Old Copenhagen. Hans Christian Anderson is said to have eaten there back in the day. We ordered old fashioned roast pork, with crackling on top and it was fantastic. It was easily the best meal I have had on this adventure so far!
The night ended with lots of house bonding and cultural exploring. Denmark is a very fun country, and Copenhagen is a very fun city, but all the drinks here are very expensive. It was a great night out seeing a different part of town, with some pretty great people. Tomorrow is sure to be an even greater adventure!