Copenhagen- wandering the city of bikes! (9/10/16)

Copenhagen is absolutely beautiful. We stayed in a downtown hotel, so we were right in the middle of everything. I think the best weather to visit Denmark is probably October, when it's not too cold but still cold enough to wear a thin layer. The thing about Denmark though, is that the cold is chilling to the bone, because it's a wet cold, not dry like Calgary. But wearing sweaters is so much fun it was worth being a little chilly. And the photos just come out a little better in colder weather I think. So let's get to the actual post now, no more babble...
The hotel was nice, even if it was tiny, with 4 people cramped in a room more fit for 2 people. The bathroom! It was minuscule! The whole room got soaked after the first person showered! I do think the hotel was better than the home-stay though. I generally feel pretty awkward around new people and felt really pressured to act 'normal' to their expectations. Basically just trying not to make any mistakes. And that's pretty tough for 6 whole days! At the hotel, there were people I knew better, because they were from the same place and I didn't have to work to talk with them. Anyways, I did really enjoy the home-stay, with the experiencing a new culture and all. It was fun to see how they lived. Also their food was a 1000x better than the hotel food. The breakfasts at the hotel were awful. But Copenhagen street food is so good! It's pretty expensive, and probably where all my money went, but it was worth it. The roasted sugared almonds from the street vendors...I would go back just for those. Also the churros we found at this little churro shop a few blocks from the hotel! The Scandinavians do food quite well. And desserts and chocolate! I brought back so many marzipan chocolate bars for my family! (Not really, they were mostly for me, ha-ha.) The first full day of the home-stay my host family took me to this cheese and cake place, and it was fabulous. The cake was made perfectly, with just the right amount of sponginess, the cheese was great, and the coffee was just so good. It rained that day and it was probably my favourite home-stay day. I found this special type of danish cake crumble thing and it was amazing, with a coconut flavour, but I haven't been able to find out what it was called. Sad. That day had all the elements of European life that I love and wish we had in Canada.
In Copenhagen, we saw tons of castles. Or was that during homestay? It's all such a blur. No, pretty sure it was Copenhagen. We got on a coach bus and went to one castle after another. I don't really understand why we had to see so many castles- they all looked pretty much the same- but they were beautiful nonetheless. One thing I really regret from the castles is not getting a crown from the gift shop. They were selling them at every castle and I had so many opportunities to buy one! I also regret not writing down everything that happened every single day but oh well. It's in my memory and that's all that really matters. 
Copenhagen is often called 'the city of bikes' and it actually lives up to the name. There were bikes EVERYWHERE. There were even special bike lanes on all of the pathways, although some places it was hard to distinguish where the bike lane ended and pathway started. I almost got run over by a bike like five times!
Downtown was probably my favourite thing to see in Copenhagen. I was really looking forward to the Tivoli Gardens, but unfortunately we weren't able to go. We saw a movie in a danish cinema instead, and that was pretty cool. I really liked how everything was walking distance from where we were staying, so we didn't have to keep getting on and off the bus. 
The Viking Museum was pretty cool, I liked dressing up as a Viking and imagining living in those times. The maritime museum was a similar experience. I really liked the freedom we got here, we could just wander wherever. 
The canal tour and downtown are tied for favourite places, I think. It was really cool to experience the city sitting in a boat. I also got some cool pictures, so that was an added bonus.
This wasn't one of the big things, but I really enjoyed the street food market we went to for lunch, I believe it was on an island called  Paper Island (Papirøen). It was very interesting to see how Danish people had interpreted different cuisines from all over the world. Admittedly, the butter chicken was horrible. But the desserts were to die for. I was feeling a little homesick so I got the butter chicken. I should have sprung for something a little more classic Danish, I realize that now. Some of my  buddies got the duck and waffle combo and that was apparently very good! So next time, definitely getting some duck and waffle. So that is all for now. Check out the photo album page!