Day Four: Free History, Free Coffee and Expensive Cheese

Today was awesome.  First of all, it was not raining outside when I woke up which was an automatic good start to the day.  Secondly, I got free Danish for breakfast. But most importantly I actually got to see the Center of Copenhagen and learn it's history.
I embarked on yet another scavenger hunt, except this time it was to historical sites throughout the city.  However, we first had to stop and retrieve our free danish from the Studenterhuset .

My first official stop was Amalienborg, which is the Royal Palace.  Think not of the white house or the palace in England... this palace is completely different.  The royal family moved there after their palace burnt down.  It was originally built to be mansions for the elite upper class in Denmark.  When the Palace was engulfed in flames the royal family moved and were never quite invited back to their original residence.  As they were residing in Amalienbord, a change occurred and the parliament was created.  It was the parliament that took over the land that used to house the Royal Palace.  Also interesting is that the palace is not gated, you can walk right up to it.  Almost as awesome as the palace and guards was the fact that DIS provided free coffee at this stop.  As we listened to a professor talk about the history of the palace and royal family we sipped on our free coffee.  In 1940 Denmark changed their constitution to allow a Queen to rise to power if the current royalty had no sons.  In 2004  they changed it again allowing a Princess to be next in line to the thrown if she is first born even if the King and Queen have a son.
The second stop was to Kongens Nytorv, which is the King's New Squre.  Oddly enough, the King's New Square is actually a circle, but a beautiful circle none-the-less.  From this circle we saw the Royal Ballet Theater (which we get 50% discounts at), the first mansion in Copenhagen, the most expensive hotel in Copenhagen, a department store that looked like a palace, and Nyhavn street which is the street with all the pretty colored houses off the canal.  However, despite these amazing sites nothing beat seeing the Queen's guard change.  As the Queen's guards processed through the streets along to the sounds of drums and trumpets with the occasional flute interlude here and there I watched in awe.
After there we strolled down Stroget (which is pronounced stroll) and made our way to our third stop, the parliament building.  All three branches of government work out of that building, and a fun fact for everyone is that the building (which if you remember is built where the old palace burnt down) is made out of granite stones sent from every county in the Country.  All the stones are labeled and the royal archives can tell you where each stone comes from.  Located near the parliament building is the old stock market building and all the important government departments.  Also located near the parliament building was more free coffee which I eagerly ordered in hopes of it warming up my hands.
The last stop was a local grocery store where we bough food (paid for by DIS) and when we got back together at the school, had a smorgasbord of authentic danish smorrebrod... thats right people I ate liver paste... and I didn't even hate it! I think that means I'm growing up :)

I finally took my bike out tonight with a few friends and explored Trekroner, the small town I live in.  I also found a cat that seems to live by the bike stands, I named it Simba, and it's adorable. 
I know this was a long post, but how else were you all supposed to learn your Danish history?!
Now I have to start my homework, which, despite the fact I got my books today and haven't started classes, has already seemed to pile up.

Til tomorrow, Lis