Fri-Man (Cont.)

As promised, I've returned now to finish off last night's escapade through Tivoli Friheden. I mentioned last post that while we Tigers were free to roam about the park and prey on unsuspecting rides and attractions, these things themselves weren't exactly 'free.' At your average American amusement park, admission covers the cost of pretty much everything inside, with the exception of course of food and tacky souvenirs. Here though, such is not the case; admission is merely your first opportunity to fork over some dough. Once you're in, these opportunities continue to present themselves, at each ride for example (pretty ironic, since Friheden means 'freedom'). You have to buy tickets that are good for x amount of rides, or pick up a wristband that provides you unlimited access to most of them. The contingent of dedicated ride-goers that was Bysted, Stefan Meyer, Thomas Pedersen and myself opted for the bands to enjoy ourselves to the fullest (thanks to Anders for generously treating me to mine). In a moment, I'll get to those rides, but first I want to show you some of the scenery inside:


As I said yesterday, both this park and the one in Copenhagen borrow part of their names from the ancient Roman township, Tivoli, famous for its gardens and impressive landscaping (though I'm pretty sure it didn't have a roller coaster). Friheden does have some pretty nice hedgery though and a lot of neat fountains and decorative pools like the one pictured above.


Pictured above is a portion of the entrance way. The arched branches continue down the path a ways and it looks pretty cool. If I had stood about fifteen feet to the right, you would've seen a rather large mass of people pouring in, assumedly for the Kashmir, but more likely for what's in the next two pictures:



Though this wasn't the restaurant where we ate, what self-respecting American could resist taking a few photos with one of his own? "Eating the American Way," at least in the mind of the Danish amusement park designer, is eating typically-Danish foods (i.e. hot dogs with the bun on the side) that are just much larger than usual. Bysted told me they used to have a giant sausage that nobody really cared for because it was just too big and gross. I was just happy to get a shot with the man himself.


This was taken from the very back of the open-air amphitheater where Kashmir played. Pretty good crowd despite their set being played during the night's heaviest period of rain.

That's about all for scenery, on to the rides!

First off, we went on a rather small roller coaster (the name of which escapes me at the moment). I realize this isn't the best shot, but I can assure you there wasn't much more to it than this. It did however feature one inversion and served as a tasty appetizer to some of the others to come later.




The next one was a pretty excellent coaster called 'The Cobra.' It was much larger than the first, featured two inversions and had a great little mascot (pictured above in some kind of a water-themed variation of the ride, to take place later in the summer). This particular ride actually broke apart in 2008 and injured four passengers, as the car came loose and struck the ground. We experienced no such misfortune last night.


Our favorite of the night was probably 'Pegasus.' This twisted variation of the 'Tilt-a-whirl' has you seated in a gondola while its arm rotates about 360 degrees. Meanwhile, the arm inverts up and down repeatedly, while each gondola rotates independently on its own axis. This was pretty comparable to an astronaut's G-force simulator as you are literally thrown upwards, downwards and side to side for a full two-and-a-half minutes. This is strange because I always figured flight on a real winged horse would be a pretty smooth go. Proof that we got our money's worth here: Bysted's nose started bleeding halfway through the ride.



The 'Tyfonen' (Typhoon) was probably the weakiest of the night in our estimation. It was sort of like a Turkish Teacup on a roller coaster track with only a fraction of the amusement of each. Still though, expert cameraman Morten Sehested was unsuccessful in snapping a halfway decent picture. In the one at the top, you can see my hand sticking up. The one below it was supposed to be the best shot of us ... until this guy walked right in the path of the camera.

No one managed any pictures of the next ride, a giant kiddie swing set that Stefan and I managed to squeeze into. I liked it so much I almost stayed there for the rest of the night. That was also due in part to the fact I was stuck in the seat. I was eventually released by the guy working the ride (Danish carney, minus the meth addiction).


The last ride of the night was a tried and true classic, bumper cars. The Danish equivalent though featured a ratio of way too many cars to bumping area. It was more like a simulated traffic jam, but still fun nonetheless. Pictured above, you see me destroying a twelve-year old (him and his buddies were eyeing me from the start - I had to show them who was boss). Pedersen is pictured just above my left shoulder and Stefan is next to him.

That's about all for now. Great times at a fun place; I know I'll be back there again sometime before long. For now, time to go pick up a few things at the store to avoid cleaning up around here. Be back either later today, but definitely tomorrow with a game recap of our clash with the Hurricanes of Esbjerg. Until then, adios.