Eyjafjallajoekull and Queen Margrethe II
So now that I can finally finished blogging about each of the amazing cities I visited, I can tell you about what has been going on since being back in the lovely CPH. DIS is right when they said it would be a different place after travel break… over the two weeks we were gone flowers bloomed, restaurants moved outside, ice cream popped up everywhere, things turned green, the city bikes were put out, the sun came out, it broke 50 degrees, people came out of hiding, the streets filled… I loved Copenhagen before but now I love it ten times more. The city is alive and invigorating.
Last Friday was the Queens Birthday (Tillykke med fødselsdagen Queen Margrethe II) and it was a perfect day. We decided in honor of the Queen we would refrain from going to our morning class (shame on me, shame on me) and instead strolled down Strøget to join the festivities. First of all, I had no idea that you could possess so many Danish flags – they were everywhere – hanging out of windows, hanging on streets, hanging from the steeples of churches, in peoples hands, everywhere imaginable. We lined Strøget and waved to the Queen as she paraded from Amalienborg to Rådhuspladsen. I had never been so close to a Queen before and probably will never be again. Afterwards we picked up some of our new favorite ice cream (from a new ice cream “shack” in Frue Plads), grabbed some blankets, and went to lie out in Kings Garden. It is sad that we are able to bask in the sun in only 55 degrees but after months of being cold 55 degrees feels great. To make the day even better, later that night we played Taboo!!!! I LOVE Taboo and was so excited to find out there is an iphone application! It was a day full of sun and laughter and it couldn’t be beat.
Then the unimaginable happened. A volcano named Eyjafjallajoekull (only a ridiculous volcano like this could have a such a ridiculous name) in Iceland erupted and shut down Europe for the last 5 days. A gigantic ash cloud decided to make it’s way to Europe grounding all flights and closing all airports for 5 full days. People were and still are stuck everywhere. The stories of people being stuck (including two people visiting us who might as well just move into my apartment at this point) are ridiculous. We have obsessed over the news and sit in circles in our common room seeing who can find out the most recent information or who can find out the best routes to get anywhere by train. Friends are taking 40 hour train rides back to Spain and Parents are paying 5,000 dollars to fly back to the United States after 6 additional days of being stuck in Copenhagen. At this point it has stopped being ridiculous and starting being straight out funny. Who would have thought a Volcano could cause this problem for so many people and put airlines into 1.3 billion dollars of debt. On the bright side, exactly a week after the eruption, Copenhagen airport started to open this morning. WE ARE NO LONGER STUCK!
