Monday, September 01, 2008

Booze cruise to Copenhagen

I have been in Oslo for almost 3 years now and have never been to Copenhagen so far. So me and some friends decided to take a weekend trip to CPH. There is a ferry service between Oslo and Copenhagen which is highly recommended. So we decided to take the ferry for the onward journey and take the night train back to Oslo.
I have heard a lot about this ferry being the booze cruise and fun trip. The reason for the booze being associated with it is due to the fact that the ferry is operated by Danish company and booze sells at Danish prices and the moment it starts steaming the booze sells at duty free prices. Since taxation in Norway is quite high, anything lower than Norwegian prices are great for the locals. Hence, the booze cruise..
So we boarded the ferry and started steaming from Oslo harbour. It was a good experience to view Oslo from the sailing ferry. You get a totally different view of the place. we just explored this huge cruise liner that has about 12 or 13 levels (floors). They had outdoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, cinema, lots of bars, dance club, discotheque and even Karoake bar. The moment we went on the ferry half the people were already through to their 2nd or 3rd drink. So being on top deck and watching all these people acting funny was an interesting experience. After a while it started getting cold and then we went indoors and started getting ready for our dinner. We had pre-ordered a buffet dinner at 7 seas restaraunt which was supposed to be good. It was indeed a good buffet with so many vareities to choose from even for Vegetarian like me. After the dinner we went to check out the duty free shopping on the ferry. It was quite a vareity of stuff. Then we were just hanging around in the bar that was playing some 80's pop. Most of the people on the ferry were so drunk by then they didnt have a clue what they were upto and looking at some of these people dance on the floor was very funny... Although I shouldnt be making fun, it was quite funny to watch... then we just went to bed to get some good sleep before 2 days of roaming around the city.
The next day we got off the ferry around 9:30 and caught the bus to the city. First things first, we had to check out the famed Danish pastries:-). So we picked up some for breakfast and went to a cafe to get some gourmet coffee to kick start the day. After a tasty breakfast and awakening strong coffee, we headed to our hostel which was like 4 km from the city to drop off our bags so we can walk around with little stuff and a map ofcourse..
We started off our Danish tour by taking a Canal cruise or Canal boat that goes all around Copenhagen's canals and Harbour. The guide was quite good explaining all the historical landmarks and it was definitely worth our money and was quite cheap too. They compare these canals to be as good as Amsterdam's canals.. Lots of nice boats along the canals and intersting landmarks to see from the canal view...
Then we stopped by one of the city squares to grab some lunch. Some had a quick hot dogs and some others had a nice gourmet salad topped with cheese :). After being in Oslo, we could see that Denmark had plenty of options for food and quite cheap too. Guess going from Oslo, any place would be cheaper. Then we just walked around trying to figure out where we were going next. We decided to hit the Ice bar. Aquavit has a nice Ice bar, which is fully made of Ice blocks and you also get the drink in a Ice cup. It was interesting to go into it wearing a big warm wooly jacket and have a drink in a ice cup.
The gimmick was "Why bother putting ice into your drink, when you can drink from the ice" :). I made that up. Isnt that cool ??
Then we went to check out the Tivoli gardens which is the oldest amusement park right in the middle of the city. There were so many games and rides to choose from and we headed for the Roller-coaster ride. Since I was refusing to sit in the 1st row, my friends made it a point to make me sit in the front row. Since this was my 2nd time, I didnt have much of the 1st timer fear, but still... its roller coaster... Halfway into it, i was just hanging on it to it and too stunned to even open my mouth and then it all came screaming out loud... :)... It was lots of fun... It was total adrenalin rush.. After that we were stuck having to choose between nice dinner at a mediterenan place and laser show at Tivoli gardens... we had to settle for a greasy not so exciting chinese dinner and Laser show... But atleast the Laser show on the lake at Tivoli gardens was well worth the sacrifice for the good food... After we had another day to have a good dinner.... Then we went back to our hostel for a decent night's sleep.. atleast we didnt have to deal with annoying n screaming drunken booze croose tourists... :)

Next day started with us wanting to go and see many interesting landmarks... We did a walking tour to go through some of the intreresting landmarks in the city. It was nice day out to be walking and we had quite a few stops for drinks, ice creams etc. Then we headed off towards Christiania .. If you are in Copenhagen you should go to this place.. it is like the free town.. where they have their own rules and regulations or atleast try to have it that way... it is like the hippie town.. full of graffiti everywhere... 60's or 70's rock playing on and ppl rolling and smoking joints on pusher street and gives u a feel of woodstock.. it was meant to be a free town with people of free will... pretty interesting place to visit while you are in Copenhagen and should never miss out on that... After that we had a good dinner buffet at a nice Mediterenean restaurant and wound off the day and headed straight to the train station to catch a long over night train back to Oslo... So much for a wekend... We didnt really manage to see many touristy places though because we spoent so much time on the streets trying to decide where to go, we never actually got around to seeing many of the place :)... Nevertheless it was a fun trip with friends and good way to spend the weekend in a different city... and when u have Danish pastry shops around every corner, you dont have complaints.. :)