Tori's European Travels: The first of many weekend trips!

Last weekend I left Sweden for the first time since I arrived a month ago. Three of my friends and I went on a weekend trip to Malmö, Sweden and to Copenhagen, Denmark. We left Thursday morning and after a 3 1/2 hour bus ride we arrived in Malmö. We left our bags in train station lockers, which was a very new experience for this American. The German and Spanish people I was with couldn't believe this was unheard of for me.

After leaving our bags, we began to walk around Malmö. Malmö is the third biggest city in Sweden besides Stockholm and Gothenburg. The city center is pretty concentrated and has really gorgeous architecture. After we saw the sights in Malmö, we had dinner in one of the main cute little restaurant squares and headed to our host's apartment for the night.

The next day we slept in a little and were off to see the sights in Copenhagen. We took the train in over the bridge that connects mainland Europe to Scandinavia. The bridge was built in the early 2000's and made the trip from Sweden to Copenhagen 30 minutes long. After we arrived in Copenhagen we pretty much had a whirlwind day of sightseeing. We went to the castle, the waterfront where the Little Mermaid statue normally is (however it is currently on display at the World Exhibition in Shanghai) and Christyiana (a hippy commune in the center of Copenhagen). One of the highlights was eating the most delicious pastry I have ever had on the waterfront and watching the canal boats go by. The other big highlight was going to the Tivoli Amusement Park. My fantastically loyal friends waited patiently as I indulged my childish love of amusement parks. I went on over six different rides, many of which I have seen nothing like in my life. My personal favorite was a spinning airplane ride. The airplane was attached to the end of a giant pole and the pole swung around and around getting faster each time. It was fantastic! Another personal favorite was the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale ride. The ride was set up very similarly to a storybook ride in Disneyworld. It was filled with scenes from my favorite Hans Christian Andersen stories like Thumbelina!!!

The following day we stayed in Malmö. We got a pretty late start and walked around the city. However, we had one mission for the day: to eat falafel. We had it on very good authority that the best falafel in Sweden was in Malmö. The falafel was fantastic and was a great start to our relaxing day in Malmö. We spent a long time in this gorgeous park just sitting around watching the weird Swedish ducks and talking. We also made an adventure out to the Turning Torso, which is the tallest building in Sweden.

Copenhagen was a great city. It was a lot more cosmopolitan than the other cities that I have seen so far in Northern Europe. However, I really loved Malmö. It had the perfect charm of a Swedish city while having a very diverse and trendy side as well.