The Things We Do To Get a Taste of Home

Now everybody got the game figured out all wrong
I guess you never know what you got till it's gone
I guess this is why I'm here and I can't come back home
And guess when I heard that when I was back home


(I'm comin' home again)
Do you think about me now and then?
Do you think about me now and then?
'Cause I'm comin' home again, comin' home again

"Homecoming" Kanye West

I've never been a huge Kanye West fan. As much as I love music, I don't really enjoy big ticket concerts. The live music never sounds as good, it's crowded, & runs late. Exceptions to this rule can always be made for New Kids on the Block. Just sayin'.

But yesterday I went to Tivoli & did the strangest, oddest thing. I spent 515 DKK ($97) on a ticket to a Kanye West concert in August, here in Copenhagen. In my defense, I still don't quite do the math properly & exchange rates confuse me. Had I known I would be paying more than my floor seats to the NKOTB concert 3 years ago, I may have thought twice. But I was lured by the prospect of seeing a famous d-bag American Rapper & bouncing along to songs I knew in a city where I know nothing.

I don't understand the language, the people, the customs of this place...But I do know the words to Gold Digger & in that moment, that seemed enough for me.

So on August 11, I will head back to Tivoli to find out if Kanye was worth my money.

Don't Be A Jaded American

It's so easy to travel or live abroad & quickly start thinking about how the U.S. is better at ....well everything. Suddenly, you find yourself saying that food is the best in the U.S. or that the clothes is the best in the US & nothing can compare to what our great country has.


But there's no way that I can be happy here if I keep holding on to that. So the other day, I was telling someone (a fellow American) that I wanted to go to Tivoli.


Source: Wikipedia
Tivoli Gardens (or simply Tivoli) is a famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on August 15, 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg.
Tivoli is currently the most visited theme park in Scandinavia and the 3rd most visited in Europe.


You had me at Amusement Park. I wanted to go on all the rides & scream like a little girl on roller coasters. But, the person I was speaking with said, "Don't bother. There are no rides like what you're used to back home. You're American. This stuff will be boring to you."


Undeterred, I made plans with another expat from South Africa & we headed off to Tivoli. At first, I saw this & thought "It's going to be a LONG day":

After all...What was that? So so strange.


A few steps later, I came across this & was ever so slightly disturbed:

Then, I went on my first ride. And I didn't understand why the Danish engineers that created these rides couldn't have been recruited by Disney imagineers who are visionaries in animatronics. You know I am getting old when I am on an amusement ride & those big words are what I am thinking about.


I was having quite a bit of fun despite being a jaded American who was going from one lame ride to another.


But then it happened. I went on a ride so intense, that no Universal Studios, Disney World, or Busch Gardens experience could ever replicate. And what was this ride you ask? It was just a little "propeller plane" that is swung in a circular motion, while the plane also moves in its own circular motion. I don't think I can properly explain the sheer terror I felt in being hurdled up & down while I went upside down, right side up, & back upside down. The city views come & go & you don't know what is up or down or if this is what is meant to be happening. This little plane gave new meaning to the word thrill ride...and just for a tiny second, I wondered if it was all too much. Suddenly, I am right side up & itching to get off the ride...But it's not over yet. Time for Round 2. Round & Round I go. Where I stop you'll never know. This time, the plane stopped at the very top, with us upside down. And that's how we stayed until the ride reached the bottom & the plane turned around just to let us out. Is it even good for our brain cells to be upside down that long?

And all I can say is...This little plane ride kicks the Incredible Hulk's (Islands of Adventure) ass!!

All in all....a great day indeed....And a newfound appreciation for what really constitutes a "Thrill Ride".

PS - Here's just a couple more shots from the day....