I came back from Denmark saying grazie.

I just got back from a wonderful 3 nights in Copenhagen, Denmark. I was visiting an old friend, Tamira, who studied abroad with Nettie and lived with us for the summer of 2005. I hadn't seen her since that summer: she was just learning Italian for her then six month old relationship. I remember her saying "I'm just not funny yet in Italian." She is now fluent and has since earned a second BA in London, worked in Milan, and is now getting an MA at a school in Sweden (only 40 minutes from Copenhagen by train). Her boyfriend, Adriano (same one!) and her now live together in Copenhagen and were very generous hosts. It always felt like I had been friends with Tamira for ages, and the same went for this weekend. It was great to see her and finally meet Adriano and see Copenhagen.

I got in Friday afternoon and we spent a few hours catching up (Tamira: "Whatever happened to that guy who had come in from somewhere in South American that August?"). We all went for dinner at a restaurant near their apartment called Bio Mio - all organic, etc. and they even had sugar and gluten free carrot cake that was extremely tasty.

Saturday we went on a day of sightseeing. We took the bikes and headed to the harbor, the shopping area, a contemporary art museum called Charlottenborg, had lunch in a cafe in Christiania (a self-proclaimed autonomous commune in an old military area), and lastly to the Royal Palace with views of the Opera House (we were FREEZING by then and had to ditch the bikes because of a minor accident. Which, may I add, had nothing to do with me. Adriano skid on some ice when standing up on the little green bike and fell flat on his face and the handlebars broke off! He is okay, the bike, not so much. Fingers crossed).

Before the incident: Cutest Bike Ever. Adriano schlepped it all the way from Italy for her.

At the old Harbor:

A guard at the Queen's Palace:

Tamira cooked dinner and we were joined by some of Adriano's colleagues (who are both Italian as well). Not much English was spoken but between Tamira translating and some words being similar to Spanish I did pretty well. We then went to a bar and met up with some more of Tamira's friends. Fun night out ensues.

We slept in on Sunday, I made some breakfast, and around 2pm we piled into the car to go to Louisiana, an art museum about 40 km north of Copenhagen. It is an amazing space and right on the Øresund, the body of water that separates Sweden from Denmark. You can see Sweden when you are driving up the coast to get there. The cafe was amazing too, good snacks and great atmosphere. Warm candle light and cool ocean vistas, what could be bad?

Giacometti's at Louisiana.