So on Friday, I went to some morning stuff and then hung out with Roger Altizer in the afternoon. The plan was to meet up with some people and go to Tivoli, but we were slow going and ended up just taking our time and going to Rosenborg, the royal palace where they keep the crown jewels, instead.
As soon as we got out of Roger’s hotel (Copenhagen Strand), we saw two city bikes nearby and grabbed them! We had to fiddle with the locks a bit (you deposit a coin to activate the unlocking thingie and then when you return it to various places around the city, you get your coin back), but after that it was pretty awesome. I am so not used to pedal brakes. It’s not really the braking that was a pain, though. After I stop, I usually rotate the pedals backwards so that they’re at a good angle for me to launch off when I start again, but since they couldn’t rotate backwards, I kept fumbling my take-offs. We must’ve seemed like two total dorks, grinning like crazy, on our beater electic blue bikes, wobbly starts and unpredictable paths, and all.
Once we parked and got to the park outside the castle, we walked around checking out the public sculptures and birds and flowers. We tooke a while, and by the time we actually got to the castle, it was closed! We did see a couple of camo-wearing guards with their M-16s and bayonets patroling outside though. Roger turned to me excitedly and exclaimed, “It’s Metal Gear Solid! Quick, figure out where their patrol goes and then sneak between them!” To which I replied, “Dude, they have bayonets; I’m not gonna piss them off!” I imagine, two random geeky Americans have this conversation at least once a day there.
Anyway, after that we went back to the Hotel Maritime (my hotel) and met up with a whole slew of people incl. Sal Humphries, Casey O’Donnell and Andrea, Sean Lawson and Cynthia, Hector Postigo, Keith Cormier, Cassandra Van Buren, Shira Chess, and one or two others who I’ve forgotten… hmm there was someone else from Australia I think and maybe Keith Massie was there…
We walked over to the main drag and a bunch of them decided to get dinner at the same restaurant I went to with Casey, Andrea, Roger, and Hector on Tuesday. So, some of us (Roger, Hector, Keith C., and I) decided to go meet up with Dmitri Williams and his wife Cindy, and Christian Sandvig (who I later found out is married to Lisa Nakamura, who, btw, is a fellow Reedie and games/online researcher that I met at last year’s AoIR conference!) at the Square Hotel.
On our way to the hotel, we passed by the main city square where we saw that there were a bunch of white legos that people could play with and make buildings out of. Not sure why everything was a building. Roger mentioned that here in the US, there’d be giant dildoes and shit like that instead. We’re crass like that.
Anyway, after we met up with the new party, we went to the Absolut Ice Bar. Kind of expensive for what it is, but, otoh, when the hell are you going to be in a room made of ice again? It was really cold. Cold even with the parka on. And the vodka drink I had was pretty good… a little too sweet maybe.
After that we walked over to Tivoli but didn’t go in. Instead we ate at a restaurant right outside of it (not the Hard Rock Cafe; the other one). Ribs were a mistake. I mean they were good, but what was I thinking? It’s not like they were slow roasted or anything.
During dinner, I think I over-exaggerated how awesome the Chinese food is in the bay area. I mean, it is really, really fantastic, but at one point I made a claim that you couldn’t find food like it anywhere else, even New York. I think it’s true, but, obviously, I haven’t been to a whole lot of places in New York. The corollary would also be true, though. There’s probably some awesome Chinese food in New York that you can’t find in the bay area.
During dinner, Christian told us about his experiences in Thailand and how amazingly surreal they were, while Dmitri and Cindy kept wowing at how they had completely different experiences of Thailand.
We asked a waitress what was something unique or quintessential about Denmark that we needed experience. She asked another waiter, since, as a native, she was having a hard time figuring out what was unique. The waiter, I think from Spain or Italy, said “porno.” Apparently, Copenhagen was once the porn capital of the world before LA and Florida took over (I’d guess with films and videos globalizing the porn market).
So, it was rather fitting that we took a walk down a famous street for hookers and drug dealers to hang out on. And, yes, we actually were greeted (“Hey”) by them as we walked down it and back. What’s funny is that it turned out to be the same street that Hanna Wirman, a visiting local (yes, that makes sense to me), led me down on the way to the train station after the In the Game dinner on Wednesday. Heh.
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