Tivoli Garden

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Tivoli garden is a wonderful theme park in the center of Copenhagen, it is the second oldest theme park in the world and home to the oldest wooden roller-coaster.  It is beautifully kept with many original rides, games and attractions all still working and maintained.  The whole atmosphere and service is second to none and both Corban and Leo had a fantastic day, Taylor opted out of today (fear of roller-coasters).  Walt Disney got his inspiration from Tivoli Gardens for creating Disneyland.  We were not sure how Corban and Leo would handle the rides and what they would be capable of, to our surprise they did absolutely everything they were tall enough to do (which was a lot).  We all went on the worlds oldest roller-coaster, 100 years old.  It was a bit bumpy and driven by a man in the middle.  We didn’t get photos of all the rides, we were just to busy having fun!  Allan got a little motion sick so I had to do double the rides as the little kids weren’t allowed on many rides unless accompanied by an adult next to them, so I spent my afternoon spinning, twisting and twirling double, plus a few extra adult rides that I just couldn’t miss.  Fabulous day and a must do if you are ever in Copenhagen!

Danish Folk Song - Medieval Village

Loved listening to all the different folk songs that this Duo were playing and singing, some were very catchy and Corban managed to sing along to a couple of them as well.

Danish Cultural Heritage Museum

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Today we visited the Danish Cultural Museum, which an open air Medieval Village museum about 30kms from Copenhagen.  The village is one of the largest and oldest in the world.  It is spread over 86 acres of land, there are more than 50 farms, mills and houses from the period 1650-1950.  Each of the farmhouses and sheds were full of furniture and equipment from different reigns of Denmark during this 300-year period.  It really made us appreciate the quality of living that we have, even the kids weren’t keen on spending a night in one of the houses or beds.  Everything about the place was amazing and preserved so well.  Leo discovered about stepping through the little doors onto the uneven stone floor the hard way today by tripping through and banging his head on one of the floor cobbles, nothing a plaster couldn’t fix.  A nice day for exploring, the rain held off and we weren’t to hot.

Home Exchange - Copenhagen, Denmark

Another successful Home Exchange!  This time we are staying in an apartment block about 15 minutes via bus to central Copenhagen.  We are surrounded by a variety of supermarkets and useful shops, all within walking distance.  The apartment block also comes with a play park and friends for the kids.  We are finding it tricky getting used to the daylight.  It is not dark until about 11.30pm and the sun rises again at 4am, we are all going to bed late and have restless morning sleeps because the apartment is so light.  Leo is suffering the most, so he was off to bed early tonight to try and catch up on some sleep.  Another thing that we find funny is having dark hair!  Sounds crazy but the ratio of blonds must surely be 60:40 we have never seen so many long blond haired people in one place.  It is also amazing how easy it has been to communicate, it feels like pretty much everyone here speaks English and without an accent.  The Danes are also very friendly and kind, shopkeepers and the general public are so nice (slightly contrasting to the Czech Republic).  Overall we have a great first impression of Denmark; lovely people, clean water and good public transport :-)    

Copenhagen - Canal Tour

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Another day in Copenhagen and another tour, but this time by boat.  It was great getting out on the water.  The tour covered a few things we learned about in the walking tour plus some extra info like how the Danish Navy sent a missile inland to Denmark by mistake in 1982, oops!  Luckily they only destroyed some holiday homes where no one was staying at the time.  It was lovely seeing Copenhagen city from another view, passing through lots of canals and past lots of riverboats.  After our canal tour we wondered through the Botanical Gardens, Leo and Corban loved pretending they were in a Jungle in the big hot house.  Lastly we stopped at a little Danish candy store called Sømods bolcher which was started in 1891.  Unfortunately we were a little late in the day and didn’t get to see the candy being made but we all picked out a lollipop to try.  Another fantastic day!

Dragor, Christiania and Church of Our Saviour

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The forecast today wasn’t brilliant but the weather did hold off for us to do a couple of things.   We began the day with a drive to Dragor a cute little village by the coast; you can actually see Sweden from the bay.  We visited the Dragor Fort which was built between 1910-1915 as a way to protect Dragor and also to control shipping vessels.  Now it is this grassy hotel/restaurant.  We enjoyed walking around the top and looking at the left over remains of the fort.  We could also see the Øresund Bridge, which is an 8km long bridge and 4km tunnel under the Baltic.  On Saturday we will cross the bridge on our way to Oslo, Norway.  After this we drove to Amager Strandvej (beach) were Taylor, Corban and Leo all had a swim.  The water is beautiful and clear but also freezing cold so no one went very deep and didn’t stay in long.  Because the rain didn’t come we ventured to Cristiania, a hippy enclave/alternative community were you could buy local handicrafts, art, alcohol and drugs!  Basically we walked though pretty quick and wouldn’t recommend it, but it did take us to Church of Our Saviour, which has a very cool spiral spire that we walked to the top of.  To reach the top of the spire you had to walk up some rickety stairs, past all the dirty dusty bells and hope like anything the kids didn’t fall to the bottom off the side of the stairs.  A guy who was a little scared of heights even grabbed the front of Corbans jacket in fear when we were on our way down and he was on his way up, he didn’t mean to and she didn’t mind it certainly wasn’t for the faint hearted.  Taylor stayed at the bottom but the two little kids loved it.      

Copenhagen Day 2

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Today the sun came out and we packed heaps into our day.  We started with the city walking tour, which began at the Copenhagen Town Hall.  The building is a replica of a building in Seville, Italy.  The only changes to the building were statues of polar bears that were added to the corners of the roof.  When Greenland was part of Denmark polar bears were significant to the people.  We also visited the Copenhagen Opera House, Royal Danish Theater, Hans Christian Andersen house, Nytrov, World’s oldest royal family (an Australian girl married the prince), Nyhavn Harbour, Marble Church and the Danish Royal Palace.  We learnt about the many aspects of how Copenhagen was a trading route before becoming the capital city, the prosperity of the city due to the triangular trade, Viking warriors, Royal family, how Carlsburg beer came about, about H.C. Anderson’s life in Denmark and the proposed future of the city.  There is a lot of construction currently happening in Copenhagen from building more bridges, building of the city circuit rail track, extending the metro system and developing the extensive harbor front.  After the tour we wondered done to the Little Mermaid statue which is a tribute to H.C. Anderson and one of the main attractions of the city.  Next we headed for the Rosenborg castle where we looked at the royal gardens and castle.  By now it was late afternoon and everyone was keen for waffle ice cream, nothing like a Copenhagen Cone in Copenhagen!  We had spotted a shop earlier in the day along Old Harbour so we headed there for before sitting on the dock and enjoying our waffle and sorbet ice creams.  Finally we ended our day with a stroll through Stroget shopping mile where were brought a couple of souvenirs.  The days here are so deceiving, it feels like 2pm in the afternoon but it’s actually 8pm.  Our bodies are definitely not used to this extended daylight!