Jeff Visits his Homeland

Ha, that title makes me think that Jeff is an alien. In all seriousness, Jeff's ancestors are from Denmark on his grandmother's side...so heading to Denmark for us was a "no brainer".  Although, we were only in Denmark for about 48 hours, so there was not enough time to travel outside of Copenhagen. We really wished we had time to rent a car or take public transportation to this small town, but we were cramped on time given Jeff has to be cautious of how many days we are taking off to travel.

We woke up early (3:30 AM), to head to the airport. I do have to admit, Jeff and I are slowly getting tired of these early morning wake ups to hop on all forms of public transportation to get where we need to be.  They are exhausting to say the least. We flew out of London, and in an hour and a half we were in Copenhagen. A quick ride on Copenhagen's metro and a brisk walk...we made it to the hotel.

After checking into the hotel, which was harbor-side, we headed out exploring.  We didn't really have too much to check off on our lists, so we sat down for a nice lunch and then headed to the Christiansborg Palace.  This was probably the coolest thing we did while we were there. We took a tour that included the stables, ruins, and the palace itself.  We started our guided tour in the stables, which was about 45 minutes long. The horses are still in use by The Royal Family of Denmark and only horses that are white can be used.  It was really interesting to learn about how all white horses are born black or grey and eventually become white.  There were a few in the stable that still had a little black on them.  I think the stables has approximately 16 horses, although we did not see that many when we were there.  Along with the horses, we were able to see all the various carriages The Royal Family rides in, including the one with real gold!  I could go on and on about the things I learned, as this was my favorite part of the tour.

 Very sweet horses, although there were signs warning us that they bite...

 Every morning they train the horses at 8 in the morning.

The carriage that is used now by The Royal Family.  There was another one nearby that used to be used just as a toilet. Gross.

Next up, was the palace itself.  This was quite funny given we had to put these bright blue plastic shoe covers on our feet.  It was probably best, given the majority of the people on this tour just came from the stables like we did.  We had a tour guide that was full of life, although at times was difficult to understand.  Which was surprising, given this was the most English-friendly country we have been to so far that their native language wasn't English.  But I think it was her passion and excitement that made her a little hard to understand.  We walked around the palace, learning about The Royal Family and the uses of the rooms.  A couple of my favorites were the dining room, which they do not even use for eating.  And the ball room was fabulous, as it was the first time I actually enjoyed looking at tapestries.  They were modern, colorful, and I actually understood the scenes within them because they were things in my lifetime or within the last 70 years.

 The Palace

 Our super cool booties! 

My favorite room, the ball room where they have state dinners. 

 One of the coolest tapestries.  Not only did it have people like J.F.K, Einstein, and MLK on it, but famous pop culture and history scenes as well. The guide was telling me when she showed this to Michelle Obama on a private tour, she easily pointed out MLK.

 The large dining hall they do not use to eat at because it would be too hard to converse. #excuses

 Struttin'  around in the booties.

 No guards on duty today..or any day actually

We walked down to the ruins, but we were not overly impressed. I think we're becoming snobs now given we were able to see so many beautiful and ancient ruins in Rome.  We walked around the city a bit more, enjoying the sites and heading to the far north part of the city where The Little Mermaid was located. On our walk there, we walked past this famous area known for the bright buildings and ships in the canal.  It was definitely a beautiful backdrop (see below).  We finally made it to The Little Mermaid where people were fighting to take turns with pictures.  I finally had Jeff sneak up on the side to snap our picture.  People were not playing nice, and cutting us...so we took matters into our own hands. The statue was cool, and I learned that many of the arms and legs have had to be replaced over the years.  We enjoyed the hour long walk back to our hotel afterwards to prepare for another full day tomorrow.

 Definitely the best view/photo spot in Copenhagen

Jeff with The Little Mermaid.

We decided to get up, grab some breakfast at a local bakery, which was amazing. We got the "Danish specialty" which reminded us of a cold cinnamon roll with a tiny bit of custard within it. Pretty yummy! We took a long stroll around the city, saw the outside of The Round Tower (observatory) and ended up at Rosenborg Castle.  This castle's grounds were beautiful, and still had a working moat.  We went in the castle and the treasury, which were neat given they still looked like a working castle.  Our favorite room was on the top where their was a ball room with these golden lion statues in front of two elaborate thrones. We walked to our last royal building, Amalienborg, which was four large identical palaces in this one large plaza area.  We walked around in a really lame museum, then watched The Changing of the Guards.

 So yummy! We got the one on the middle shelf, second from the left.

 Very quaint little castle

 Our favorite room in the castle. These lions were awesome. As always, the picture does not do them justice.

Another photo in front of the castle before heading on our way

Up very close to see the Changing of the Guards for a moment. Then they went to the opposite side where I could see nothing but the back of heads. 

Afterwards, we walked towards the main street of shopping and restaurants with a hope to find a place to eat lunch before getting to the tourist areas.  We had an amazing lunch with too much food. We both left feeling very sleepy and full! We ended our last night in Copenhagen enjoying the nightlife, people watching, and grabbing some dinner.

 Temporary art that was placed outside of a construction area.  We added our initials, took a picture, and before I put my camera up people had already changed the S + J.

Another quick plane ride home, and we had a nice relaxing Monday afternoon to enjoy together.  Overall, we had a great trip.  It will always be a special one to us, as we will be able to share the experience with Jeff's grandparents who visited years ago.  We are looking forward to the next time we see you, Grandmother & Grandfather! We have lots to talk about!

Sidenote: Since Daylight Saving Time happened for many of you already, therefore we are on a 4 hour time difference now until March 29th...then we'll be back to 5 hours.  Keep that in mind Skype family and friends!

On to the next adventure...

Rain or Shine...Paris in 36 Hours

Tuesday morning, my mom, dad, and I (Jeff stayed home and worked) grabbed some lunch and hopped on a train to London.  We got to London and then jumped on the Eurostar and traveled to Paris.  We were able to go in the Chunnel (a tunnel going under the Channel) to get to Paris within 3 hours.  It was a really enjoyable ride and went very quickly.  We got into Paris, walked to our hotel, and got ready to go hit the town.

We went on a fairly lengthy walk to see the Eiffel Tower at night.  We stopped and ate a great dinner where we tried the local pints, wines, and crepes.  We got to the Eiffel Tower, and I really enjoyed seeing my parents reaction to how large and beautiful the tower is, especially at night.  We were able to get a few photos, watch the light show that happens every hour for a few hours, and then walk back to the hotel.  We had a late night, and didn't get back until around 1:00. We were tired, sore, and ready for bed.

Despite our lack of sleep, we got up early to head straight to the Louve.  Although the weather was not cooperating at all.  After being completely soaked, we hopped on the packed metro to ride to the Louve. Funny story, because the metro was so packed, I got on and the doors closed...my parents didn't make it on with me.  Luckily, we communicated our next stop well, and they just met me there on the next available metro.  We finally made it to the Louve, hopped in line for a few minutes and explored the museum.  We were able to see the majority of the museum, and even places I had not been when Jeff and I went there in May.  I think we all enjoyed the museum, and I was amazed at how much more packed it was in August than in May.  We went and grabbed a quiet lunch and then headed to the Love Lock Bridge in hopes to find Jeff and I's lock.  You may or may not have heard, but in June part of the Love Lock Bridge broke and fell into the river.  They took extreme caution as they boarded the majority of the bridge up.  Needless to say, we did not find Jeff and I's lock.  After the bridge, we headed to the Eiffel Tower.  We stood in line for quite a while, but it was nice to just stand in line and talk. The three of us traveled to the top level and back down again.

 All the buildings surrounding the pyramid are part of the museum. It is huge!

 Mom & Dad

Some of my favorite pieces from the Louve.  

 

Pretty sad to see all the beautiful locks covered up. 

 Hold on tight...we're up on the highest level of the Eiffel Tower!

Beautiful city! 

After a few more pictures with the Eiffel Tower in the background, we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, which my dad taught me that it was the final location of the Tour de France.  That made the arch much more memorable than the first time we saw it.  The arch was at the top of the street of some great (and expensive) shopping. My mom and I went into a few stores to look around, dream about buying something, and then leave.  Not very eventful, right? We stopped by a bakery to grab a few chocolate macaroons, and to bring a few home to Jeff.  We slowly finished our day by finding an even fancier shopping street.  You know the guards at the doors, guarding the five items they have on display to sell.  On our walk towards our hotel we found a spot for dinner.  We found a fantastic place and definitely enjoyed one another's company.  We sat for a long time talking about our day's adventures.  We made it back to the hotel to rest up for another day of traveling...back to England.

Great shot of the Eiffel Tower in the background. One of the best spots to take a picture with it. 

We were able to see a lot in our short amount of time in Paris, although there are some things we didn't have time for. I'm glad my parents were able to experience a city that did not speak our same language.  They did a great job adjusting to that and the culture.  We got back at a reasonable time on Thursday, and were able to eat dinner with Jeff to tell him all our stories.

Onto the next adventure...