Copenhagen, Denmark

We arrived in Copenhagen on Wednesday, July 8. During our orientation walk on the way to dinner, we happened onto a square where our tourguide, Dave, had arranged for an actor portraying Hans Christian Anderson. He was in full period dress from his tophat and high collar to his long purple topcoat. After passing out shots of Gammel Dansk (the Danish firewater that smells like honey, but goes down like razor blades), he regaled us with his biography as well as a telling of the Little Mermaid story along with other amusing anecdotes.

After dinner, several of us walked to Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park from 1843 which is illuminated with over 100,000 lights and nearly as many ice cream stands. It certainly isn't Disneyland, but it doesn't try to be. We arrived before dusk and it was truly magical watching the park transform into a twinkling fairyland.

The next day the group took a canal boat tour. It mixed some of old Copenhagen with the new. Afterwards Cindy and Mike walked through Christiania, a community established in 1971 when 700 squatters took over an abandoned military barracks to establish an ''alternate living'' utopia. Today it's a mixture of a flea market, commune, homeless encampment and tourist mecca.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring other areas of Copenhagen including Nyhavn (New Harbor) built in the 1670's. While the sidewalks are lined with a collections of cafes, bars and jazz clubs, the canal hosts a collection of boats of every description. We rested our tired feet while quenching our thirsts with a local Danish brew, Tuborg Classic. The people watching in this area was some of the best of the trip. In Copenhagen it is perfectly acceptable to buy a can or bottle of beer at the 7-11 (yes, they have them on nearly every street corner here, too) and sit in the parks or along the streets while drinking it. It's not a rowdy or drunken thing, it's just an alternative to the higher prices charged by the cafes and bars.