Going to the Movies

In my earlier post, I mentioned my expensive habit of going to the movies & realized that this is an experience worth sharing.

First, let's begin w/ the joys of trying to find a movie to watch in a country where you don't understand the language. I finally found that the easiest way to do this is to google "Movies in Copenhagen" & I get a list of movie times. Trying to use Fandango or MovieFone is a futile effort. I know there is a website that you can purchase tickets in advance but this is apparently for experts or people with levels of education beyond me b/c I can't figure it out.

The average cost of 2 movie tickets is just over $30 (yes, that is US Dollars) & when you buy your ticket, you are assigned a seat. You read that correctly...assigned seating. (there is a story about this....read on)

When you go to the concession stand, it's a full blown candy bar. You know, the kind where you walk around & fill a bag w/ every candy that you can imagine. You just walk along, scooping candy into your bag, oblivious that your entire month's salary is about to be given to this theatre. There's soda, which is self serve, along w/ wine & draft beers.

Now, last night, I made the mistake of not getting to the theatre on time. This is not really a problem because just like the US, there's a good 15 min of previews. However, don't forget the assigned seating factor. My friend & I chose seats in the back but no one told us that we'd have to cross over almost 10 people who were already in their seats so that we can get to our seats in a back corner.

Being the sweet, polite, considerate Americans that we are, we decided to just sit in the front & not disturb the people in the row we were so ridiculously assigned to. Ok, that's a bit of a lie. My friend decided to sit in the front & I followed. I felt like I was breaking some cardinal rule & that somehow the movie theatre gods were going to descend upon us...like somehow the film would stop & a voice from above would call us out for not following the rules.

This may have been ok, except that sure enough, the seats we sat in were assigned to someone else who came in less than 5 min after us. The people stood in front of us holding out their tickets because it was apparently imperative that THEY sit in THEIR assigned seats...Not the empty seats next to us, in front of us, or prob even behind us. Nope. The rules clearly state that they must sit in that seat. So, off we went in search of another set of empty seats. This time, I sat in the corner & said to my friend that if anyone came for those seats, they were not going to be coming to me first! I was already full of guilt & shame that I had broken a rule as sacred as the assigned seat rule.

The rest of the movie night went without incident but you can bet your bottom dollar that next time, my bag of million dollar candy & me will be sitting in the correct seat!