Norway and Denmark

Oslo, Norway:

A 55 minute flight took us from chilly Stockholm to the surprisingly warm Norwegian capital of Oslo. We were under an extreme time crunch of roughly three hours. How do you explore a whole city in three hours?! You don't... But we sure tried.

Oslo has its own version of Arbat Street. It's called Karl Johan Street, and that's where we spent the majority of our time. Due to the high cost of living, we were worried how much lunch would cost. But once again fate smiled upon us and we scored free Indian food. Twice. 

Indian food on Karl Johan.
What more could I ask for?

Two types of "nan-bread"
Mild green sauce (with chicken)
Spicy Red sauce (with chicken)
Small scoop of this sweet mango sauce

 When I say we scored that food twice, it's because we went to the stall on the way down Karl Johan, and on the way back. There was plenty to see and we spent a few minutes on the waterfront. 

National Theater

City Hall

Copenhagen, Denmark:

We arrived bright and early in Copenhagen. Our hostel claims to be the largest (and I reckon most expensive) hostel in Europe. We had to pay extra for bedding... Seriously? Anyways, it was Jenn, Elizabeth, Madison, Jessica, Jordan, and I in a room. Bailey and Alexa had to share with some weird old guys. Haha. Denmark was the country we spent the most time in. I reckon it's my favorite for that reason. :)

Day 1 was spent in Copenhagen. 

Park where we ate lunch

City Hall

City Hall

City Hall

City Hall

City Hall

City Hall

City Hall

City Hall Courtyard

"Bastions" of Copenhagen

The closest thing we could find to a Danish

Catacombs Jenn and I explored for a bit...

Old Town "Nyhavn"

Added my name to the #happywall

The new midwives would come dance
around this stork fountain for good luck

MY FIRST BELGIAN WAFFLE.

 Day 2 was spent in Copenhagen (morning) and Helsingør (afternoon).

Posing with my 1,5 litres of water

Belgian Waffles for breakfast too?
....Yes

As close as I could get to the Christus statue.
The church was closed for a baptism.

Rundetaarn

Rosenborg

Rosenborg Palace

For those that didn't know, my family currently has a Danish foreign exchange named Sebastian. His family invited me to visit them. They live near Helsingør, which is home to Kronborg Castle (where Shakespeare based Hamlet). Nikolaj and Willads provided a delicious lunch of smørebrød. Following lunch, they gave us a tour of Kronborg Castle. :) 

Helsingør

Helsingør

Helsingør

Helsingør

Helsingør

 Nikolaj's Office where he hosted the lunch

Smørebrød!

Nikolaj, Willads, and myself
(Helsingør)

Willads, myself, and Nikolaj
(Kronborg Castle)

Main Entrance

Holger Danske

Shakespeare!
The castle does a Hamlet reenactment every year. 

And this wraps up my "long vacation" blog posts. Expect oodles of pictures to fill your Instagram and Facebook feed the next few months though. Nostalgia and wanderlust walk hand in hand. ;)

-Paul