Copenhagen and the Crazy Danes

Copenhagen started out as a Viking fishing village in the 10th century. Our time in Copenhagen started early in the morning. We took a shuttle bus into town and then set out on foot. (Because we used the shuttle, we missed getting to see the iconic Little Mermaid statue, but that is fine.)

 

I fell in love with one of the first buildings we saw.  This was the old stock exchange building, built in 1640.  The steeple has dragons with intertwined tails and it is like something out of an awesome Viking movie and not reality.

 

On our walk we passed by the Danish Parliament building.  The sky was gorgeous this day.

 

And also these cute Danish houses.

 

And then we arrived at the King's Garden. These are the gardens and park established at Rosenborg Castle in 1606 by King Christian IV.

 

Walking through the park was lovely, but then our crazy kids saw this stone ball and all wanted to stand on it.  Rob managed to get them all balanced on it at once and hold them there while I took a picture. 

 

After that bit of silliness, we made our way to Rosenborg Castle. Also built by Christian IV in the early 1600s. this was his country Summer home.  Pretty posh.

 

It isn't actually that big, as European palaces go, but it is super cute.

 

I love the green copper roof.

 

Rob went to buy tickets and leave our bags in a locker while I watched the little ones by a willow tree.

 

Inside was very ornately decorated, though it did feel a bit vacation home like. But there were also super weird things like this.  I don't even know what this is.  It is like a shadow box with a model of a person inside, instead of a portrait.  Odd. 

 

I call this very fancy Danish country palace decor.

 

The royal thrones.

 

Back outside for a moment, we posed for a Princess selfie.

 

And then we went to the locked room in the basement level to see the crown jewels.  We have seen other countries' crown jewels, but never do they allow you to take photos.  But the Danes do!  Jake liked the "treasure room."

 

After touring the castle it was time to party like it's 1843!  We stopped by Hans Christian Andersen and then crossed the street to the second oldest amusement park in the world, Tivoli Gardens.

 

Tivoli is no Disney.  It is distinctly Danish and proud of it.  You pay an admission fee (kids under eight are free) and then you buy tickets or a wristband to pay for rides which are 1-3 tickets each.  We bought a few tickets and went on some rides.  We also had fish and chips and pork BBQ for lunch, and an ice cream cone before we left the park.

 

Charlotte and Toby rode their first loop-de-loop, floorless roller coaster with me, The Dæmonen. It was great!  Toby closed his eyes the whole time, and Charlotte screamed the whole time and started crying when it was over.

 

At the other end of the ride spectrum, we have Jake loving this old timey car ride. He is so big, sometimes we forget that he is still a little bear.

 

Rob let Amelie chauffeur him around, although it was a tight squeeze.  She loved it.

 

Pretty fountains. We also went to the fun house, the big kids rode another roller coaster, and Amelie and Jake rode a couple of rides that go up and down that they enjoyed.

 

And we used our last ticket to put Amelie on the carousel.  (The giraffe in the background is awesome but Amelie insisted on the fox.)

 

On our walk back to meet the shuttle we took a break in front of this building.  I am not even sure what it is, we were very tired by this point.

 

Then Rob sat with the sleeping Amelie and watched the boats go by, while I took the big kids to pick out souvenirs.

 

We picked one out for Amelie too, and she loved it!  Our very own crazy Dane.

Cruising the Baltic- All aboard!

This last week we did something entirely different for us, and went on a cruise. We decided to do this because we wanted to see Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, and St. Petersburg, but there was no way we could afford the time or money to fly to each of those destinations individually. Also, due to visa requirements, this was the only way that we could visit Russia. After asking around, we decided on a budget Italian cruise line, MSC, that had a departure out of Kiel, Germany and also lets kids travel free (if they are passenger 3 or 4 in a room). We didn't even have to buy plane tickets! We thought, "we will just drive up there, park, and off we go." Easier said than done.

 

This was our ship, the MSC Musica.  The cruise was sold out, so the place was packed. We left our house at 7:45 am, fifteen minutes ahead of schedule, for the 6 hour drive to Kiel.  "All aboard" was at 5 pm.  Well, the traffic and road construction were horrific and about 1 pm we started to think we would not make the ship and told the kids there would be no lunch stop. Around 3:30 pm, we were making plans to take the train to Copenhagen and meet the cruise there. At 4:30 pm Rob dropped the kids and I off at the terminal and went to park the car and run back.  At 5 pm we were in line to board the ship and after an issue with Toby's cruise card not quite functioning, we were literally the last people on the boat.  It was such a stressful day!

 

Once on board, we went immediately to the mandatory muster.  We were all just so happy to be on the ship.

 

Because there are six of us, we booked two rooms side by side.  Me with the girls, and Rob with the boys.  This had the added benefit of us having two bathrooms to use.

 

We took the kids to two shows while on board.  This one was aimed at kids specifically and was so surreal, Rob and I were completely dumb-founded. What you are looking at here is Snow White and Prince Charming singing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin while Cruella DeVil, a clown, and a dalmatian sit in front of them.  At the bottom left you can just see the Beast from Beauty and the Beast twirling to the music. It was so weird, and made no sense at all.  

The last night on the ship there was supposed to be a Ninja Turtles themed show, so we thought we'd try it again. Well, there were four guys dressed as Ninja Turtles, but they didn't actually do much besides stand around, and the rest of the act was people dressed as geishas and ninjas doing acrobatic acts, contortions, etc. These acts were interspersed with a "Sensei" giving instructions on how to become a ninja.  My favorite was "Step 8. Know everything about every profession." What?!?  Who wrote that? And finally to top it off, in the middle there was a singer performing "You Raise Me Up" and the finale was accompanied by "We are the World."  Salvador Dali would be proud. 

 

Most of our time on the ship we spent trying to entertain ourselves and avoid the crowds.  We watched the Olympics in our rooms, we played Uno and taught the kids War and Slap Jack. We sat in the hot tub, and played on the little playground and in the arcade.  Despite being August, the highs were in the low 60s and it was really windy on the decks.  We did send the three big kids to the kid's club one day (Amelie was too young) but they didn't like it and refused to go back. And we ate at the buffet.  We tried the restaurant the first night, and the service was so slow (European style 3 hour dinner anyone?) it was completely painful. So after that, we ate all of our meals at the extremely crowded buffet.  Sometimes we went to dinner 30 minutes early to find a table that would seat six, and sat and played cards until the food line opened, because it was so difficult to get a table.  

We also got to meet the medical staff on board when Amelie's fingers accidentally got pinched (badly) in the hinge side of a cabin door.  Luckily they were not broken, but all four of her fingers on her left hand were bruised and bleeding.  She got cleaned up, bandaged, and an ice pack, and then they made me fill out an accident report while she sat in my lap screaming.

So, in summary, cruising is not our speed of vacation.  But we are glad that we did it, and we still think it was the only way for us to see all of these destinations. But we don't plan to do it again.  I will do a post on each port: Copenhagen, Denmark, Stockholm, Sweden, Tallinn, Estonia, and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Jakey Bear turns 5!

Birthday season has begun for our kiddos with Jake's fifth birthday! 

 

For his birthday Jake asked for a Ninja Turtle cake, a balloon, and to go to Ramba Zamba. I also asked him to plan the dinner menu, and he requested, "hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, watermelon, and as many Cheetos as we want to eat!"

 

 

Dino Kart rider at Ramba Zamba.

 

At the top of the speed slide at Ramba Zamba.

 

After dinner, Ninja Turtle cake as requested!

 

I asked Jake what he thought we got him for his birthday and he said, "maybe a little Lego person?" He was SUPER excited to open a remote control truck and a little Lego set.

Jacob is still our Jokester, and makes us all laugh with his belly laugh.  And he is still the most cuddly kid on the planet.  On Sundays at church, he drapes all 50 pounds of himself over my lap and I feel like I am being attacked by a sloth!  But I love it. In a few weeks he will start Kindergarten at the same school as Charlotte and Toby and what a great adventure that is going to be!  He is looking forward to learning to read, riding the bus, making friends, and talking to EVERYONE.

We love our Big Bear!

 

Jake's birthday interview:

(20 questions style)

1. What is your favorite color? Green

2. What is your favorite toy? Video games and my remote control truck

3. What is your favorite fruit? Apples and bananas and strawberries and grapes

4. What is your favorite tv show? Super Hero Squad

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Tortillas with cheese (quesadillas)

6. What is your favorite outfit? My pirate shirt that has my name on it

7. What is your favorite game? Uno, Ticket to Ride, Super Mario... I like all of those

8. What is your favorite snack? Cheetos and popcorn

9. What is your favorite animal? A cheetah

10. What is your favorite song? Book of Mormon Stories

11. What is your favorite book? Ninjago books

12. Who is your best friend? J.J.

13. What do you want to be when you grow up? A cowboy

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play in the pool or gather snails in the yard

15. What are you really good at? Playing Super Mario Galaxy

16. What is a food that you hate? Food that is spicy and very yucky

17. What do you like to do with Mom or Dad? Cuddle.

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? "Cereal and toast with Nutella and I like every kind of cereal."

19. What is your favorite dinner? Lemon juice (lemon pepper) chicken and mashed potatoes

20. What makes you happy? "If you laugh, you'll make me laugh and if there is something funny to look at, it will make me laugh."

Summer time

We are now more than three weeks into Summer vacation, and I am just starting to feel like we are settling into a routine again. The better part of June was spent at recitals, sporting events, end of year/season parties, field trips, and so on. And since school has been out we have been working on de-cluttering the house and purchasing a new minivan. But I didn't want to neglect to post at least once in July.

 

Toby had his viola recital in June.  He wore his baseball uniform as we had to rush directly from the recital to a game.  He loves playing the viola and I am so glad that we were able to find him a wonderful teacher.  Looks like he'll be getting a bigger viola for his birthday this year, as he has already outgrown this one!

 

 

He also completed his first grade German immersion.  His class put on a play, the 

"Town Musicians of Bremen" or "Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten," (auf Deutsch of course) in coordination with their Music teacher.  Toby was one of the narrators, and the entire class sang a couple of songs in German as part of this as well. His German might be better than mine already, and he gets to continue in the German immersion program through second and third grade with many of the same classmates which is so great!

 

Amelie has been trying very hard to keep up with her three older siblings and resents being asked to take a nap.  So most days she falls asleep to a "quiet time" movie between 1-3 pm.

I am a firm believer in unstructured play time, so that has been the major focus of our Summer so far. (It has also been undocumented.)  With the yard, garden, trampoline, and sand box they have plenty of activities to occupy them outside.  And indoors they play school (Charlotte LOVES making worksheets and crafts,) Legos, video games, and board games.  (Toby has recently beat Rob at Monopoly and thinks he is hot stuff now.)  

But we have also been doing weekly Library visits and participating in the Summer reading program.  We went to Kaiserslautern one day to have lunch out at Chili's (Charlotte sighed that eating in a chain restaurant made her homesick for Georgia) and see Finding Dory (on the US Air Base there.) And we have had a few pool days, bike rides, German Fest days, berry pickings, jam makings, picnics, playground playdates, and so on.  Summer is flying by!   About six more weeks and I'll be sending them back to school.  So the blog may be a bit quiet as I put away the camera and soak up the sunshine with my babies, but we have BIG plans for August and I will have loads of photos to share then.

Happy Summer!

Norway in a Nutshell: Gudvangen-Voss-Oslo

We woke up for our last full day in Norway and headed for the bus stop. We had to take a 45 minute bus ride to the town of Voss to meet our train back to Oslo. It was sad to leave those beautiful waterfalls.

 

We had 2 hours in Voss before our 6 hour train ride back to Oslo so we went for a walk by this lovely lake, explored the downtown, and bought some provisions for the ride.

 

Cute little church.  

I didn't take any pictures on the train ride back to Oslo because we had already passed through 90% of this exact route, and because we were not seated in a family car, so we had to more closely manage our children.  This included taking turns walking them to the family car at the other end of the train so that they could play for a half hour now and then with these two adorable, but loud, little British boys.

 

We got back to Oslo around 7 pm and I felt that we hadn't really SEEN Oslo yet, so I insisted we try to do that before heading back to our apartment for the night.  (With suitcases in hand. Thankfully we packed super light- just 2 carry-ons for all 6 of us, for 4 nights.) Rob wasn't sure this was a great plan, and it didn't make it any better that we were turned around and initially set off in the exact wrong direction, but we managed to do a whirlwind tour anyway.  Here is the Domkirke, which dates from the 1690s.

 

And here is the view down Karl Johans Gate to the Royal Palace.  The flag was flying (though it isn't visible in this photo,) which means the King was in the country.

 

Parliament.

 

Kiddos still hanging in there!

 

City Hall.

 

Along the courtyard pictured above are these carvings of stories from Norse mythology that I really wanted to see and thought the kids would enjoy.  Each had an explanation in Norwegian and English.  This was Jake's favorite- Thor on his chariot with his hammer in hand. 

Near City Hall Rob found an Indian restaurant which cheered him up considerably.  He ordered takeaway for all of us while I slowly headed toward the tram stop with the kiddos.  We met up there and headed to the apartment for another 10 pm dinner followed immediately by bed.

 

The next morning we took our time getting up and heading to the airport.  We crammed a whole lot of Norway into a few short days and we came home exhausted... but we are super happy we made the trip.  And I feel like we should get a sticker or badge or something for managing all of those transit connections with kids and luggage in hand in a country we had never been to before.  But I guess that is just how we roll!  

Happy campers in Gudvangen

I had fairly low expectations of the Gudvangen campground, but it delivered big time.

 

We had a two bedroom cabin with loft and pull out sofa.  And 3 channels of TV. (The kids loved BarneTV- the children's programming.) And wifi.

 

We used the sofa because we couldn't feasibly have 2 of our kids sleep in that loft with nothing to stop them from falling 8 feet in the middle of the night.

It also had a pretty great kitchen.  So Rob walked to the nearest grocery store/gas station and bought some provisions. (Our standard travel fare: yogurt, granola, sandwich stuff, milk, bread, fruit.  In Gudvangen this bag of groceries cost us $50, but I digress.) Meanwhile I made up the beds with the rented linens and showered the children.  We finally ate dinner at 10 pm.  It was still completely light out.

 

The next morning we woke up around 8, ate breakfast, and let the kiddos check out the playground in front of our cabin, while we sat on the porch and soaked up the scenery.

 

We could see 9 major waterfalls and countless smaller ones just sitting in front of our cabin.

 

This was our home for two nights, the one farthest to the right.

 

Swinging.

 

Soccer.

 

Then we headed out to explore the area and look for a decent hike.  We walked along the river back into "town." Gudvangen has been around since the middle ages, but I read somewhere that everyone died during a plague in the 1200s and the town wasn't re-inhabited until the 1400s. Besides subsistence farming, it was a stopping place for the mail carriers back in the day.  Now, of course, the main economy is tourist driven.

 

And took some more photos by the fjord.

Viking (Ninja Turtle) Bear.

 

Anderson is a great Norwegian name... except it isn't.

 

The only problem with these spectacular cliffs is that there wasn't a clear place for us to hike up them.  We did however find a lovely walk past this sheep farm.

 

To the base of the waterfalls that we enjoyed looking at from our cabin.

 

And we loved being away from the crush of the Nutshell tourists and out on our own.

 

Back in Gudvangen we ate lunch and drank hot chocolate at the only restaurant/cafeteria in town.  We also asked someone to take this (comical) family photo for us, bought some souvenirs, and experienced the two things that happen to us everywhere we travel in Europe.  Someone counted our children "ein, two, dre, vier." And several Asian tourists smiled and waved at our children and took photos of them like they were celebrities. Everywhere we go.  

After lunch, we headed back to the cabin and ALL collapsed for 3 hour naps. We were so completely exhausted!  When we woke up it was raining again, so the kids watched some BarneTV while Rob and I sat on the porch.  Then we ate some basic dinner and ice cream bars from the campground office's shop and went back to bed for the night.  We had a bit more traveling to do the next day and needed our rest.