Journal #1 - Copenhagen, Denmark
8/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 4, 2003
The Air Force men's basketball team is currently on a 12-day trip to Denmark and Sweden. The team will play six games during the trip against professional basketball teams from the Scandinavian countries. Senior co-captain A.J. Kuhle will provide journals throughout the trip.
By A.J. Kuhle
After our last practice at the Academy on Friday, we left for the Denver airport and our trip to Denmark and Sweden had begun. It seemed to be a full day of waiting, first for the bus, then for the plane to take off given the bad weather in Chicago. After an eight-hour flight across the Atlantic Ocean, we finally arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the great escape ahead of us filled our minds. It was already Saturday afternoon in Denmark when we landed.
After picking up all of our luggage (yes, we brought more than just basketball uniforms) we were off on a bus tour of the city. The tour was great because we were able to see so much in a short period of time. Everyone on the team must have taken at least one picture of each castle, church, fort, canal and statue we saw, in addition to all the street activity. Most of the buildings have so much history behind them, from King Christian IV, who built so many monuments for the Danish Navy he supported so well, to the University of Copenhagen, which was founded in 1479 and is rooted with deep tradition.
A number of Danish Kings created parks and gardens. There are so many of them in Copenhagen, from the Kings' Garden, founded in the 1800s, to the Botanical Gardens, home to over 20,000 different types of plants.
After the bus tour, we arrived at the centrally located Palace Hotel. We dropped off our luggage and headed for the streets. Many of us were now getting our second wind, after being up for close to 24 hours, and walked the streets until our team dinner at the Bryggeriet Restaurant. The fan favorite seemed to be the spare ribs, although a few players broke away and tried something new and different. After our 2 ?-hour dinner, we were off in search of the nightlife of Copenhagen. McDonald's and the nightclubs (dancing) seemed to be the favorites of the 2-meter tall men from America. Then it was off to bed, at a reasonable hour, of course.
Sunday was a free day for the team and we walked around Copenhagen. Sunday evening we went to the Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park, and are getting ready for our first game of the trip on Monday night against SISU-Copenhagen.
