Pictures!!

The kids had a week off school for vinterferie (winter holiday).  Mark had to work, so no big trips, but a short trip to Roskilde to the Viking Museum.  Roskilde is a very pretty little town, and apparently they have a really awesome music festival there in the summer.  The Viking Museum has ships that we sunk 1000 years ago to clog up the harbor so invaders from Norway couldn't get through.  I didn't get good pictures of the ship remains, but here are the kids in their Viking getup.

In Viking dress.

Ready to fend off invading Norwegians.

This is the central garden in the Carlsberg Glyptotek museum (yes, the beer family).   We went one day so the kids could sketch.  They have a wonderful collection of sculptures, but also more contemporary French art as you see below.

We also went to the new Blue Planet Aquarium, which is in this amazing building:

Giving the world some love.

This guy is holding up the door around the Parliament building.  Doesn't look too happy about it.

In front of the old part of the Royal Library.

Inside the new part of the Royal Library, which is a really amazing building right on the harbor.  They call it the Black Diamond.  You can eat in the library here.  A great place to study AND you can grab a good coffee!

In case you need to anchor your ship.

Here is a better photo of the Merman and his Seven Sons calling for their mother.  Creepy every time. 

Here's a shot of the Opera House from the water (we took a little boat tour).  It is bigger than it appears in this photo!

Observations

1. No "radio edit" of songs here...ALL the words.
2. But French pop songs!  Yay!
3. Food generally comes in small amounts, e.g. milk only comes in 1 liters.  I've never seen a larger container.  This is a challenge for a family of four.  I dislike going to the grocery store every day.
4. Consequently, I don't think there is much preserving of food (which is fine with me!).  Therefore, if you think you are being clever by buying extra quantities, it will go bad.  (This could also have to do with our mini-fridges.)
5. They know how to make coffee here.  
6. And pastries.  
7. And bread.
8. All the cafés have free wi-fi, whee!!
9. The transportation system has a lot of "on your honor" built in.  There aren't turnstiles for the trains; you are expected to punch your ticket at little kiosks on the platforms.  Occasionally, a person comes through the train to check if you have done this or not.
10. Thus far, all the policemen (politi) I have seen have been...well...HOT!  I kid you not.  (I've seen one female officer, and she was cute, too.)  And they also look like they could take off and run a marathon without much effort.  With all due respect and gratitude to our American officers for signing up for a tough job, but you look like you spend a lot of time at the Double D.
11. The population of this whole country is less than the population of New York City.  That freaks me out.
12. I realize that Copenhagen may not be representative of the whole of Denmark.  Copenhagen is probably the New York of Denmark.  I'm hoping we can travel to the bigger island (Jutland) or north from here for a greater perspective.
13. They play a lot of American criminal dramas on TV, including CSI, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, Without A Trace.  I've never seen most of these before.  Of course, they also play ER.  
14. The UK version of Netflix (which we can access here) has a lot more on streaming than the US!  At least a lot more that we would want to watch. 
15. We have started watching Doctor Who (Christopher Eccleston years), and we are addicted.

That is all for now.

A birthday and some pics

Birthday celebration today!  She's 14!  Whoa...  We did some shopping for her birthday, mostly H&M.  

14 calls for double dessert!  A strawberry tart was procured, because, I mean, look at this thing:

 Not too old for the playground, though!

 A bike ride on Sunday, so we could find this place:

It was actually pretty hard to find, because Copenhagen is one big construction zone.  You really have to be seeking it out.  I was glad it was closed, because I doubt people inside paying beaucoup bucks for their meal would have enjoyed dorky tourists taking photos outside the window.

Noma is in Christianshavn, which has the most picturesque canal as its central feature:

 The Lego store did a giveaway in honor of the movie's release.  One happy boy:

The movie is very clever and cute, too.

Alternate activities with the beams in our apartment:

 A week earlier, another bike ride took us to HCA's grave:

 And also to Frederiksberg Garden:

We found the Heron Man there.  Apparently, he feeds the herons every day!

The kids are off of school this week for winter break, but we have settled into a routine of school and homework and music lessons.  It makes it feel like we've been here a long time in some ways.

I love a parade

Just in case you didn't see my post on Facebook or wherever I put it, this parade happens every day at 11:30am and 1:15ish pm.  The Queen's guard changes, and they parade right down the street by our house.  How can you not be charmed?

A Clear Day

This past weekend we took advantage of the weather: on Saturday, it poured all day, so we went to the Danish National Gallery of Art which is free!  We saw a Picasso and many old European paintings.  We will certainly head back there to see more!  We also found these dragons in the Rosenborg gardens.  

 Sunday it was beautifully clear, cold, and windy.  We walked to the fort nearby called Kastellet and walked to see the Little Mermaid.  

I am taken with this orange-washing that many buildings seem to have.

The windmill at the Kastellet.  We saw some soldiers changing the guard.

This is a gargoyle on St. Alban's Anglican Church.  I am very fond of gargoyles.

There she is!

More orange washing on these buildings.  Clearly very old.  The doors seemed tiny.

Another ridiculously cute street.

Since it was so clear and sunny, we climbed up the Rundetaarn (which is right around the corner from our house). This pic is from the top.

On the way up the cool spiral walk.

I think that was the last sunny day we had.  But it's OK.  We are getting into the school routine quite well, and the kids really like their school.  Sorry for the ultra boring text, but at least I'm getting some pictures up!  More soon!

Smørrebrød

Smørrebrød means sandwiches, and these open-faced sandwiches are a Danish tradition.  We tried four delicious varieties topped with pork, ham salad, potatoes, and cheese from the Hallernes stall at the Torvhallernes.  They are also beautiful.  Travelers' tip: we went close to closing and got a discount!  It's so difficult not to eat your way through a town when there are literally hundreds of restaurants around you.  But this meal cost us about $60!  At a discount!  Dinner at the vegetarian buffet the other night was $100.  Ooof.  It's worth it!

Copenhagen Week 1

Not that I will be posting every week!!  But we've been here since Friday (after adding a day of traveling due to snow, natch), and I have some things to report.  (Also, click on the pics to make them larger!)

1.  Danish is really just J's (my nephew) English, according to Max and Maggie.  According to the woman who helped us get settled, to speak Danish you simply don't pronounce any consonants, smoosh all the vowels together, then throw up a little.  I'm looking forward to learning more, and I feel like I can understand a little (written) already.  The kids have Danish in school.

 2.  You do indeed have to watch your head in our 4th floor walk-up.  We are living in the very heart of Copenhagen…a most amazing spot where we can easily walk a few blocks to things like:

 3.  Rosenborg Castle (c. 1600s) and gardens.  It has a moat.

 3.  Torvehallerne: an indoor/outdoor marketplace with the most beautiful food.

 3.  Many bakeries.  Danish pastries are delicious!  And you must go to a bakery that has the Queen's Royal Warrant symbol hanging outside.  Also, there is delicious bread everywhere you turn.  A bread lover's dream!!

 4.  They put stars in the cobblestones.

 5.  Nyhavn (pronounced New-how, translating as Newport) is as ridiculously charming as expected.

 6.  We get to walk through Diagon Alley on our way to the bus stop to school.  (Actually it's called Jorck's Passage.)  It leads to the Strøget, a long pedestrian area lined with shops, including about 34 H&Ms.

 7.   Max looks cute looking up our stairwell.

 8.  One Direction can speak Danish.

 9.  The Danish restaurants (which are absolutely EVERYWHERE in our neighborhood) put blankets on their outdoor tables so you can stay warm while you sit outside.  And people do sit outside even now.  Admittedly, it is generally in the 40s these days.

10.  M&M's school is very relaxed and accommodating.  They are letting Maggie use her math book from home (she needs to be sure she keeps up with her Grinnell class).  They don't manage every moment of the students' time like they do at home.  Rather, they seem to expect them to be more self-reliant and to exercise more self-control.  I had read about Danish children being more independent, partly because they are in state-sponsored daycare from the time they are small.  And it is clear…Danish kids are on the city bus to school alone at a very young age!  At the same time, it seems this is a very kid-friendly culture.  I also love seeing many, many dads pushing carriages around town (solo).  It's clear they are  either staying at home or taking full advantage of family leave to be the primary parent for a while.

There is more I want to write about the school and transportation and whatnot, but I'll wait for another post.

11.  Everyone does ride their bike everywhere, all the time, and it is awesome.  Very few helmets, though!!  I hope we can get some bikes!

12.  They make good coffee!  This is from Cafe Paludan, which is a really hyggelig (special Danish word…means cosy and warm; inviting, perhaps?; candles play a big part) cafe lined with books.

This feels like a really cursory introduction to being here.  It barely scratches the surface of my thoughts.  But it's already long and it's almost 10pm here, so more soon!  We  love and miss you all!