CPH - the finale

We were unbelievably fortunate to catch the changing of the guard at the Queen's Castle! It was a HOOT! There was a band and big hats. Sophie was a little frightened by one of the guards who approached us looking stern only to wink at us! ;) Good fun!

Kronborg was such a fantastic experience! We walked through halls lined with beautiful tapestries that would average an entire year to be completed, intricately carved furniture, stunning painted ceilings, halls filled with priceless masterpiece after masterpiece, and fireplaces that our entire group could easily stand in! With all of this beauty surrounding us in the castle it was startling to walk the stairs into the dark dungeon below the castle with ceilings comfortable only for those 5ft 4and under. We could easily imagine rats scurrying around the shackled prisoners. It was cold, damp and CREEPY! We saw Holger Dansk up close and in person, looking every bit the Viking. We walked down to the sea and peeked at the Swedish shoreline over the tops of vintage cannons. We learned that men and women dined in seperate rooms, and that a few of the Danish kings often met unfortunate "accidents" at the hands of their siblings. One of the tapestries in the castle even depicts on king whose eyes follow you wherever you go, due to the fact that he was extremely nervous for his own well being after having his brother the king killed for the throne. ( I know I wrote down the names somewhere...I will add them soon!)

A castle worthy of a fairy tale if I have ever seen one! Just ask Shakespere...

Missing Pic from Copenhagen 2 :)

Ok, so this is the gargoyle Max was nearly riding!

I didn't realize that this picture was even missing.

oops

Copenhagen - Part 2

Max hugging a gargoyle at city hall. If there weren't so many people around I think he might have actually climbed on! ;) They said that this statue reminded them of the Spiderwick character that eats the bad guy!

Our group ahead of me again! Simone, Daniel, Finn, Max and Soph...Bailey felt sorry for her mom and walked with me! ;) Hunger was calling and as you might expect finding a restaurant that everyone would enjoy is sometimes an impossible task! ;) But wait...do we see Golden Arches in the distance...Ok, so four out of seven isn't bad! Simone, Finn and I held out for something less artery clogging! :) Finding food for this bunch reminds me of when my family and my cousins would go to Cedar Point in OH. Trying to please so many palates is challenging! The good news is that before I became a mom, I only remembered the good stuff! All I can say is THANKS mom and dad! Good memories are hard work! ;)

After everyone was fed we went into the Ripley's believe it or NOT museum. I just realized that this is the ONLY picture from this part. I think we were all so taken in with the cool and weird sights. The favorite was the world's tallest man replica next to the world's smallest man in a bird cage. Others were the wacky bridge, the real life prison recreations and the man made of money...oh and the woman with a live bee bikini.

Then we headed to the Hans Christian Andersen Museum with animated figures acting out his stories. We were all suprised to find that this was actually a really fun time! Sophie's face was so cool to watch...but then again so was everyone elses! ( I forgot to mention that we were relieved we were still allowed admission after I walked through the wrong door setting off alarms everwhere! Bailey nearly died laughing at me! It was actually really funny! Red lights were flashing and sirens going off! Leave it to me to find them! ;) Just call me grace!

Max checking out the Emperor! Not quite sure where to put his eyes! hee hee

I loved looking at Sophie's face listening to the stories. It doesn't really get much better!

Daniel checking out her face while she was listening to Thumbelina. That darned frog!

Ahhh, dinner a Jensens Bøfhus. The closest thing to an American chain restaurant with family friendly pricing and menus!

The walk back to the hotel was hilarious as we all stopped to watch the chicken laying eggs that spelled ZULU which is a Danish television channel! It was really funny to see!

Our trip to Copenhagen - Part 1

On February 13th we loaded up the rental van and headed for our vacation in Copenhagen. Now I have to say that the Danish winter so far really couldn't hold a candle to what we experience in MI...much less what MI has experienced this far at approx. 100 plus inches of snow this year! That being said, imgagine our suprise when we woke up on the morning of our trip and saw at least and inch and a half of snow on the ground! The kids were so happy to see the white stuff on the ground even if they could only see it from the car windows. I have to admit, I was a little tickled to see it too! Although, not so happy to know we would be driving in it! About 2 hours later, this was one of the first views of the Bridge.

Our fearless driver for this neck of the journey...Simone. Fortunatelty, our Simone has thick skin and could withstand the drving critiques and helpful advise from her big brother and dad! ;)

Soon after we arrived in Copenhagen we all needed to stretch our legs. So it was off to the city for us.

Maxie's first views of the city! He was so excited! The cold didn't seem to bother him a bit!
I was so focused on trying to get the pictures that I would forget every once in a while to keep up! Here the group is waiting for me to catch up...AGAIN! Bailey decides to do her best impression of a stone carving at Towne Hall in Copenhagen! The courtyard at Towne Hall was beautiful in the winter. So I can only imagine how lovely it is when the flowers are in bloom!