In Brussels now

Quick post because we pay for internet in this hotel and the time is running down. We came to Brussels today from London and have made it safely to our hotel. Internet use might be rare here so it might be 3 - 4 days before I get new stuff and all the London photos up. In short, London was awesome. I got to meet Joy's friend Eva who took me out on the town and even got into Wimbledon like Gabe said. I went Friday night on a whim (Pun intended) and queued up in the general admission line. After 30 mins I got in on a general ticket that lets you watch matches on the 17 smaller courts, but not on Centre Court or #1 Court. After watching a bit a random dude came up and offered me his ticket for court #1 since he was leaving. The seat was awesome and free. Just wait until I get the pictures up. Bye.

Now With Video!!!

Alright so I have figured out how to post video on the blog now. This is going to add a whole new dynamic to Onion Rings and Root Beer. I think we're going to be a worldwide sensation in no time. The three videos below are from the top of one of the tallest structures in Copenhagen- the city hall clock tower. Please note that my spac-tac-u-lar narration was made before I was sure whether or not the mic could even pick up my voice and that I could successfully upload the videos. A special cameo appearance is made by my room mate and travel buddy Mr. Gabe Dadi.

We also have reason to celebrate here today.

I finally found onion rings in Copenhagen. Well, okay that's a lie. What this delicious little treat actually is is some sort of faux-crab meat ring that has been deep fried by my good friends at the China Box kiosk near our class building. But hey, they LOOK like onion rings and taste darn good so I won't complain.

We finally received our itenerary for the next week or so. We will depart Denmark early Friday morning and I will march onto the Brittish Isles like a triumphant Caesar. We remain in London through Monday when we then travel to Brussels, Belgium. They have planned most of our time for us in both cities unfortunately but I will do my best to see the sights I wish to see. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships will be underway while we are in London and I'd sure like to partake in the legendary strawberries and cream. We will attend a presentation by the London 2012 Olympics Association and I will probably complain to them that baseball is no longer an olympic sport. I know less about Brussels but am assured that the food will be delicious. We will be meeting with people from the European Union while there and it will also be the first country where I may find some use for the modicum of French I have retained from my high school language courses.

Don't Make Me Come Back There!

Ok seriously guys. I leave the country for barely a week and a half and already things are falling apart. First Tim Russert dies and then George Carlin too!? And now I read that Ferd Grisanti's is kaput. Honestly, I don't want anymore bad news for at least a week.

It's Sweden

As promised here are some photos from our weekend in Stockholm. The red and white boats in this picture are two old boats that have been moored and converted hostels. We stayed on the bottom floor of the white boat. You can see from the picture how impossibly small our room was. Thanks to my astute decision to throw the paper sandwhich (paper-rock-paper) I beat Gabe in best of three rock-paper-scissors to win the right to sleep on the roomier bottom bunk. We avoided seasickness Friday night and then went to explore Stockholm on Saturday. Stockholm is a city of connected islands separating the inland lakes with the Baltic Sea. We took water taxis to the various island, the most interesting of which was the "Old Island" with its ancient buildings and narrow cobblestoned roads. The other highlight of the trip was seeing the Vasa. This was a warship from the 1600's that they recovered from the harbor and now have reconstucted 95% of it. It was amazing how large the ship was given that is was constructed 300 years ago. You can find out all about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_%28ship%29 .

That night was went to a pub to watch the Russia vs. Holland Euro soccer match and befriended a Texan businessman who bought all our rounds and a Scottish bartender with whom we argued the superiority of Kentucky bourbon and Scottich Scotch. The soccer match was actually entertaining, but I am really missing american baseball.

I bravely snapped the picture of the young Swedish guard in front of the Royal Palace. His helmet was just so cool.

Bork Bork from Sweden

We successfully managed the european train system and made it to Stockholm, Sweden today. It's even farther north than Denmark and that means the daylight is crazy. As I type this it is just about 10:30 PM and the sun is just setting, with plenty of light still. Our hostel is a boat moored in the main river here. Our room even has a porthole and everything. I'll post pictures soon. Computer time is short now so I gotta go. I'll recap Sweden on Monday.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to prosper." -Ben Franklin

Wednesday after class we finally made it to the famous Carlsberg Brewery. The Carlsberg Company seems to be to Copenhagen what Coke and Budweiser are to Atlanta and St. Louis respectively. The brewery has many old and very cool buildings including one with four giant elephants holding up a walkway. The swastika on the side of this one makes for an interesting picture, but was in place at least 60 years before WWII. As I explained to our group, the swastika was for years a symbol of good luck used in many cultures before the nazis used it and forever tarnished the image (Thank you history channel.)

After a tour of the origional 19th-century brewery and education in the histroy of beer we were treated to two free brews of our choice in the large lounge. The bottle in th case was from the hall of 10,000 beers and they claimed that it was the most expensive beer in the world, being one of only 600 ever produced and costing thousands of dollars. Now it just collects dust in a museum - what a waste.

It's easy to see why they like beer so much here. In many cases it is less expensive than the bottled water or soft drinks in the grocery stores and 7-Elevens (By the way, 7-Elevens are EVERYWHERE here! Honest-to-god I stood at a street corner yesterday and could see 3 of them at the same time. Soft of like Heine Bros. on Bardstown Road I guess.) They also have a great approach to recycling all the bottles here. One danish crown (about 20 cents) extra is included in the price of a beer or soda. Then when you are finished with the bottle you can take it back to just about any store and feed it into an ATM-type machine that instantly reads the barcode and then gives you a voucher which you present to the cashier and then get your crown back. Needless to say I have yet to see a single can or bottle litering the sidewalks or filling garbage cans.

We are going to try and visit Stockholm, Sweden this weekend so this might be my last post ofr a few days. This weekend is a big holiday in Sweden celebrating the summer solstice. They say it began as a pagan holiday but was assimilated by the church sometime in the middle ages. Yeah, I could tell the solstice was nearing because the sun doesn't set until around 11 o'clock here and then rises again at about 4:30. It's ridiculous but I'm glad I'm here in the summer and not during the 18 hours of darkness in december.

Pictures from our 6 hour walk

Short post today because I really need to go to bed. We had a short class today and afterward all 16 of us walked all over the city to see sights including royal palaces, opera house, library, and King's Garden. The shirt in the photo above was from the gift shop for the local futbol team Futbol Club Kobenhavn. Bruce Springsteen is actually playing in that stadium this Saturday. Sold out though. They should just let Americans in free. I'll try and add more stuff soon. Bye.