Sunday, October 25, 2009

Kobenhavn






As we look forward to planning our vacation for the springtime, I cant help but reminisce about our travel a few years ago to beautiful Kobenhavn. Last night, as I lay in bed, I tried to piece back the memories of the vacation past, but was a little saddened to discover that try as I may, the chronology was lost to remote corners of my memory.
This morning, I went to take a closer look at the pictures from the trip, and then it all came back in bits and pieces, as I put it down here, more so to reread when I feel like it, I guess.

I remember the lovely flight from Reykjavik to Kobenhavn. Even more lovely, we had people to welcome us at Kobenhavn. Scotts parents, Mones and Elsabeth were at the airport. I should say that their family did make our vacation all the more special and personal, right down to the amazing lunch they made for us, which we tried to repay with a homemade dinner later in the week. It was such a complete vacation in that sense, to meet and spend time with friends and family, even if it was your first trip.

Wonderful Kobenhavn.. we arrived tired and jetlagged, the crisp winter wind not being too friendly, but we had little time to sit or sleep. A quick trip to our rooms to dump luggage, then off we went from Radhusplassen on our magical journey through a fairy tale land.

We walked through the pedestrian walking street Strojkt, gazing and marveling at the open piazzas. A quick dinner of falafel & hotdogs on the street, and then back our rooms we went, to prep for an early morning.

With the morning came a wonderful breakfast, then a walk through the wintry streets. We crossed the orange roofs, coated with snow, the parliament house, and on until we got to NyHavn, the harbor to see the brightly colored houses and the trademark anchor coated with snow, again.

It was freezing, and we deserved a treat. And what other one better than Marzipan chocolates? Marzipan is like our very own Kaju Katli, only made with Almonds. We feasted on a few, then went on to see the Malmokierke, the marble church. We had picked to a little Danish vocabulary by then, Kierke - Church, Gede - Street etc.

Then on we went towards the harbor to see Amalienborg castle, the queens residence. We passed the geiphon, the imitation statue of David, then reached Amelienborg, in time for the royal changing of the guard, A tradition like at Buckingham. As luck would have it, we got a glimpse of the queen herself, as she drove though the castle gates.

Then off again we went to the harbor to get a glimpse of "Den Lille Haffrue", the little mermaid on a solitary rock. We were not even able to spend fifteen minutes with the diminutive statue, as the wind bit us from all sides and pushed us to move on. And so we did to get tea and snacks at a little place with Henrik, Mones's first son before heading out to get dinner at Mones's place.

More in the next post..