Denmark (and a little of Sweden)
We finally made the trip to Copenhagen over Columbus day weekend!! My best friend from College lives there. I've always known we would see her and her family while we were living in Europe... I just didn't know it would take us SO LONG to make it up there! Copenhagen was nice, but seeing all of them was really the highlight!
It's about a 12 hour drive (with kids) so we split up the trip on the way there. We stayed outside of Hamburg the first night.
Outside the hotel room. I love Fall!
We had to take a Ferry from Germany to Denmark
Seriously? We are in the middle of the Baltic Sea and they want to play the same video game they've been playing for the last 8 hours.
Thank goodness they had a vending machine selling sardines in case you got hungry on the boat!
After the ferry ride we still had a couple of hours to get to Copenhagen (or Kobenhavn). The weather was exactly as I had expected it for some reason. But, luckily this was the only time during the whole trip that it was actually raining. We lucked out with the weather!
We were surprised to see 7-11's and then realized they were everywhere here!
We made it! Aiden with their cute little boy. These two were buddies all weekend.
Whitney loved their little girl!!
And so did I!
They watched movies every night on the little DVD screen.Copenhagen
Our day to tour Copenhagen was a little disappointing. We had planned to spend most of the day at Tivoli, see the gardens, and go to the amusement park. We looked it up ahead of time online and saw the hours, etc... the boys looked at a map of the amusement park and got really excited for it!
Then... we get there and it's closed this week so they can decorate it for Halloween! We were so bummed. We had to regroup and quickly think of a new plan. The problem was that we already parked the car by Tivoli so we were limited.
Trying to put on a happy face
The birds helped to cheer the kids up.
French hotdogs were a hit (their version of pigs in a blanket)... those were real smiles!Stroget
Copenhagen's famous pedestrian street and the longest in Europe!** on a side note: everyone here really does have blond hair and blue eyes! We fit right in.
Home of the Legos
They were filming some kind of a show right here on the water.
We decided to take a canal tour on the Nyhaven
These are restaurants that the water goes right up to
The little mermaid statue - a Copenhagen icon
Church of our Savior. I would have loved to have been able to climb to the top and see the view.
The tunnels were just barely big enough for the boats to pass through
This was a great way to see Copenhagen. Really beautiful!
More walking and eating on Stroget. I had the best waffle here!
We had to go back to The Little Mermaid to get a picture of Whitney with her!
The mute swan is the national bird and symbol of DenmarkFrilandsmuseet
This is one of the largest and oldest (opened in 1897) open-air museums in the world! It consists of old buildings, homes, etc.. from all regions of Denmark dating from 1650-1950. All the buildings were moved here piece by piece, except for a windmill which is still in the original spot. It was really interesting... even the kids were into it.
This pose was totally their idea!
Doesn't she look like a little Danish girl here from the 1600's? (except for the clothes)
In front of the original windmill
A beautiful rainbow!!
Whitney begged me to take a picture of her being a jaguar! So cute.
Later that night back at home. These 2 got a little closer... :)
Vick served the most delicious dessert. It's a unique "cake" that this guy has gotten famous (and rich) in Denmark from. It was so good!
My sweet friends. They are making American pancakes with real maple syrup just for us.Malmo, Sweden
The next day we decided to take the longest road and rail bridge in Europe, the Oresund to Sweden for the day.
As you're crossing the bridge you pass by an off-shore windmill park. Denmark is actually the worlds biggest producer of wind power and gets more than 20% of it's electricity from wind power!
We are now in Sweden! (or Sverige)
The view of Malmo from the bridge and you can see the famous Turning Torso, the tallest skyscraper in Sweden
Connor taking a drink from the fountain
Mexican for lunch... in Sweden? Why not?
It was soooo good!
TGIF!!
I sooooo want one of these!
That night... hot dogs! Just like Ikea's.
My friend, Vick, and I went out to eat at an Indian restaurant (our favorite tradition from college) and on the way home we stopped by the LDS temple in Copenhagen.
The next day we took a nice stroll through one of the most beautiful forests I've ever been to.
People here have money!
It was surreal to be walking in the forest with my dear friend again but this time with husbands and kids in tow. It was good to see that our friendship hadn't changed even though everything else had!
Vikings museum in Roskilde
We spent the afternoon learning all about Vikings. This was definitely one of the biggest highlights for the boys. We all learned a lot about the Vikings.
They found 5 Viking ships dating back around 800-1100 at the bottom of the sea and had them on display (as well as they could put them together). They actually built a boat that looked exactly like one of them and sailed from Roskilde to Dublin and back in it. This is a model of that boat.
One of the original ships found
Picking out souvenirs from the gift shop
This was a culture shock - in Denmark the babies ALL sleep outside for naps. At the daycares all the strollers are outside at naptime. Outside restaurants the babies are all outside and the Moms are inside having lunch. There are baby monitors in the buggies so the Moms can hear when they wake up. Apparently the fresh air keeps them healthy all through the year... even in the dead of winter!
Bath time!
"Turn left and get on the boat"
One last Danish danish
Saying good bye to Denmark... I hope to see you again soon!
