John Mitchbryson (Part Three)

Not only did I manage to learn a lot while I was in Denmark, but I also broke a record. I believe I hold the record for the shortest amount of time ever between walking into a Salvation Army corps on a Sunday morning and taking a seat in the band. Seriously. I stepped into the hall and my first view around the building was from the second euphonium seat. It was an absolute blur. But I had a fantastic time. It was a great corps from what I could see, and the people were so friendly. Next time I’m in Copenhagen I’ll definitely go back there. Those guys were a credit to The Salvation Army.

I took this picture on the way to the corps. I made it look like I was taking a picture of Wayne's Coffee, which I kinda was, because it's where we used to hang out when I lived in Sweden, but I was actually taking a photo of the most stupidly designed floor in the history of flooral design (see what I did there?). The black slabs were so unbelievably slippery, so every other step I took nearly sent me reeling. (Admittedly, my Army shoes have no grip whatsoever).

That afternoon I decided to catch the train to Sweden. That’s one of the things I love about the Continent – if I had land access to other countries I’d go there all the time. I remember when I lived in Germany I had a free day so I caught the train to Poland (not as sunny as we’d been led to believe) which was only two hours away. That evening my friends had asked me what I’d been doing so I told them and none of them had been there. Two hours away!? I digress again. The Swedish city of Malmö is only 35 minutes away from Copenhagen by train, and as someone who lived in Sweden, studied Swedish and had never been to Sweden’s third largest city, it seemed a good opportunity (the National Library was also closed). Aside from being absolutely ripped off on the train (I’m sorry, but nothing led me to read the tiny, tiny Danish print on the reverse of the ticket that told me I’d have to have the ticket stamped in order for it to be valid) I had a great time in Malmö. I saw a big flag when I arrived...(I don't think you'll need a translation) but unfortunately I’d missed the Sunday meeting (I thought attending two Salvation Army meetings in one day in two countries would be kinda cool, but I won’t get to experience that just yet). Malmö is a beautiful city. I had time to see all I wanted and visit SubWay (which they don’t have in Denmark. Argh.) Malmö has quite a famous tower which I wanted to see. And it’s massive. I kept thinking I was getting closer to it every time I turned a corner (I’d been able to see it for ages), but I eventually got there. And it was pretty impressive too. A lot of people seemed to have the same haircut in Sweden too, but I came to the conclusion that these were just lost Danes.

The time in Denmark was massively useful – both in terms of what I managed to get out of the 32 hours (yes) I spent in the Danish Library and how I got to know a city a little better that I’m probably going to be spending a fair bit of time in over the next few years. I also learned some stuff on the plane too, from the in-flight magazine. Did you know that Portugal is the only European country not to dub foreign films into the native language? I suppose that’s true if you ignore Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Cyprus, Estonia, the Netherlands and Romania.

And I know I shouldn't find it funny and I know I'm just a big kid, but it's like they got all the funny things together and put them on one sign: