Copenhagen, part 2

It's a little before 7 PM on Saturday. I'm in Toronto, waiting for my flight back to Philly. With the six-hour time difference, I got up at 7 AM in Copenhagen and now have been up 18 hours. Flight doesn't leave until 9:20 PM.

Anyway, the soccer game on Thursday night was awesome! I got a little lost getting there 'cause I hopped off the bus about four stops too late. Fortunately, I asked a guy about to hop on his bike (that's so Copenhagen!) how to get to the stadium.

The location of the stadium reminded me of the Sports Complex in South Philly -- it's surrounded by a mainly residential area in the city limits. That's the cool thing about Copenhagen, how everything isn't in the suburbs . . . even the airport is in the city.

It was a playoff match, so there was a bit of crowd: at least 20,000, I'd say. Once inside, I grabbed a bøfsandwich, which is Denmark's version of a hamburger. It had roasted onions on the bottom of the burger, and ketchup and gravy on top of the burger. Really good!

I wasn't in the front row like in Malmö, but in the eighth row, about halfway between midfield and a corner flag. The game started promptly at 6 PM with The Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays" playing but with reworked lyrics and the crowd sang. Here's a pic I took before or after that song:

And here's another pic, this one of the supporter before kick-off:

It was a good game, with F.C. København (FCK) getting a clean sheet. They either scored three or four goals. After every goal, the PA system blared the "woo-hoo!" part of Blur's "Song 2". On the first goal somebody on the upper level threw their beer on us -- a little wet my Hertha scarf and my neck.

Oh, and another cool thing was that when FCK had a corner kick, a lot of the fans fished out their keys and jingled them.

After the match, I headed to the shop. I had tried buying something before the game, but it was jam-packed. I wanted to get a training jersey because it doesn't have their sponsor, Carslberg, on it, but they didn't it in my size, so I got their secondary jersey with Carlsberg on it.

Once again, I got a little lost heading to the bus stop. I actually passed the U.S. Embassy with its abundance of security cameras and high walls.

I eventually found the bus stop. There was some guy waiting there already. Nice chap. He's from Lawrenceville, NJ.

As I was waiting for the bus, my hay fever started acting up. By the time I got back to the hotel, my eyes itched like crazy and my nose ran like a runaway bike.