Country Castles and Gardens

(ludlow day ten)

Another lazy morning in the country afforded us the luxury of warm showers, red pepper omlets and a nice cup of English tea with a dash of milk.

While Ben got Rae ready, Aunt Beckie let me drive to the post office! On the wrong side of the road! In a stick shift no less! Adjusting to having the gear shift on my left was more disconcerting than driving on the left side of the road. 

We survived the adventure, picked up Ben and Rae and headed out to visit the Ralph Court Gardens which consists of twelve themed gardens ranging from Alice In Wonderland to parts of the world like Japan or African Safari.

We enjoyed strolling the gardens and discovering various statues and water features.

The girls loved all the chickens. Kay was too mesmerized to even look up for a picture. 

Rae and Aunt Beckie explore Alice in Wonderlands Garden walking through the Cheshire Cat’s lane.

I got too close and got sprayed with a face full of water by the local green giant (a motion activated fountain) while these three giggled at my expense. Thankfully it was only a bit of water but I was surprised. I had misread the sign and didn’t realize I was getting closer to the water’s spray.

We had a nice lunch at the Ralph Court Gardens and decided to leave once the bees noticed our juice glasses and refused to find other entertainment.
The girls and I enjoyed a nice nap as we drove to Ludlow. We woke up just in time to take in a view of the next attraction we were to visit.

Here is the view of the remnants of a castle, behind the yellow house, in the middle of a lovely country town. This is a real castle, it was used for real castle things. We decided to forgo the fake castle visit since we could see a real one.

I had been naughty so I got put in the stocks first. 

This is the round Chapel. Still mostly left standing.

Kay seemed to enjoy having a castle to play in.

We managed to climb to the top and I realized that the stairways were far too narrow and steep for ladies in dresses to attempt, so I assume it was used by guards and servants only.

As you can see the town continues just past the castle. There isn’t much separation between where the ruins end and the town starts. It has been built around the ruins.

More views of the lovely and green English countryside. Aside from the castle, the green reminds me of the PNW. To be fair there are a lot less mountains. But the weather and greenery are similar.

It amazes me just how much of the castle remains standing.

Just before being kicked out, they rounded us up like cattle with large bells. Ben got a turn in the stocks. It was short lived on account of it being his birthday and all.

And just outside the castle entrance you look out into the town. If you can make out the tents you can see the market we walked through. We bought some fresh fruit, blueberries and plums, and enjoyed them as we explored the castle square. The market stands where the original 12th century market began.

Despite the rain in the morning, the afternoon cleared up and we had an enjoyable last day in the country. 

We retired home for an early dinner and some ice cream cake in honor of Ben’s 32nd birthday. A friend of Aunt Beckie joined us for dinner and we were able to learn a bit about Norway.

And to continue our tradition, after the girls were put to bed, we popped out for a cider at the pub. Our trip is coming to an end. In hindsight doing two cities in a row was a bit much for our girls, but ending in the countryside was refreshing. We finally were able to rest up before the journey home.

Rachel is looking forward to heading home. She’s had as much adventure as she can stomach, and we’ve realized she’s a bit of a homebody. So tomorrow takes us to Copenhagen for one more day and then we fly home.

Hopefully this time we won’t forget any water, suncreen or iPads in our bags so we aren’t told our gate is closing not opening. I hope we’ve used up the misadventures possible on this trip and have an easy and uneventful trip home.

Land of the Wisps

(wales day nine)

Not surprising, but time slows down in the country. It was a much needed respite to sleep in and enjoy the morning before our adventures took us to Wales for a hike and waterfall sighting.
The girls spend breakfast chasing each other in the backyard to their utter delight!

After a tasty second breakfast  of toads in a pond (sausage in Yorkshire pudding), we left for Wales.

In less than an hour we were in a green fairy land. It was a nice, short, little hike that even the girls enjoyed (being carried throughout). 

We saw lots of sheep and cows reminding us a big if New Zealand as we passed rolling hills.

The hike itself reminded me of home and all the endless green trails ending in water falls in the Pacific NorthWest.

The change of scenery was a pleasant difference from the hustle and bustle of the cities we had been traveling. It was lovely to hear nature quiet and full of music in all her glory.

Even found some mushroom for my mother!

Although Welsh is being taught once again in schools (as is a Cornish), the signs are still seen in both.

Kay has decided to try her hand at photography.

A typical Welsh countryscape.

Kay fell asleep in the car and managed to nap right up u til the food was served. She enjoyed some of the peas from my steak and mushroom pie and her sister generously shared some pasta and chicken from her plate.

We returned home in the early afternoon, another pleasant change from the pack d itineraries of the cities. Kay and I took a nap. Afterwards the girls went to the playground for a bit with Daddy.
When it was time to go pick up our fish and chips for dinner, I wrangled the girls for ice cream at the pub we had been to the night before. Ben meanwhile got to drive on the wrong side of the road and go pick up our dinner.


After dinner, with the girls tucked in bed, Ben and I returned to our favorite England’s Gate Pub for some more ciders and child free time.

Until tomorrow then! We are off to see an fake castle (fake because it was built as a castle in the 18th century long after a castle was actually needed).

Off to Cider Country

(hereford day eight)

With a 10:22 Hereford train to catch from a Paddington Station, we slept in a bit, packed the last of our items and headed towards the station.

With a few minutes to spare, Ben ran into the grocery store inside the station and got us some provisions for the train. 

When we boarded the train I was reminded that Aug 28 was actually a bank holiday in Britain, and as a result the empty Monday train I was expecting, was actually quite full.

We managed to find seats together and set in for the ride. 
Between country view, ready internet and tasty snacks we had quite the comfortable journey. The only hiccup was hearing from Alla that she had forgotten her phone after locking herself out. So I made arrangements to run to the flat on our way back through Paddington on Thursday.

We made it to Hereford, and Aunt Beckie was there to greet us. Hereford is the county seat of Herefordshire. It was quiet and quaint.

A quick trip from the train station got us to the town center in a backwards car (the steering wheel is on the right!).

Kay Kay immediately found someone who would be more than happy to carry her as we walked to the cathedral. 

We passed by another church that has now been remade into a cafe. Looks like New York isn’t the only city trying to keep the history of old buildings by repurposing their spaces.

En route to the cathedral, we passed by the Green Dragon which was the operative base of American Allies during WWII.

This cathedral is rather majestic for a smaller county. It was built in penance for a murder. Evidently, the mother of the betrothed was unhappy with the choice for her daughter so she had him killed. The husband was so distraught he went all the way to Rome to visit the Pope. The mother was sent to a nunnery and the father built the cathedral.

Kay is ready to be our guide. Though we may end up going through the tour backwards.

The organ.

The Stanbury Prayer Chapel within the Cathedral.

Eastern Passageway.

After the cathedral we made our way to a Coffee One, the local version of Starbucks. We passed the oldest building in Hereford. This used to be a butcher shop, thena tannery then a haberdashery and now a museum.

After a nice afternoon in the coffee house with some refreshing smoothies and milk shakes which ended by Rachel shattering an entire glass of juice on the floor, we made way to Aunt Beckie’s home in the country about eight miles away.

After a week of traveling it was nice to just set foot in green and quiet. The girls tried and failed to take a nap. I succeeded. Wasn’t very difficult with birds chirping out my open window and a quiet summer breeze. Bodenham, thankfully is not quite as hot as London.

Rachel loved having a backyard to explore. While I was napping she and Daddy managed to catch some crayfish in the creek out back.

And so we spent a lovely evening eating biscuits and tea in the garden while the girls rolled around in the grass.

Aunt abeckie provided the much loved story before bed time and then we put the kiddos to bed.

With the kiddos asleep we went in search of wifi at the local pub. But since there are. I street lights we depended on our handy dandy key torch (flashlight).

And the most surprising and lovely fact to end the day,was learning that Hereforshire is know for making cider. Including the well know Strongbow. Since we have Strongbow in the states we tried the other local ciders. I truly enjoyed the Robinsons Cider. Tastes like applesauce made into cider.

London Views From Up High

(london day seven)

Today it was my turn to forget something. We were nearly to Paddington station when I realized I had left my Oyster card (the London metro card) in my other coat pocket.

We ended up being a few minutes late for our fast pass time of 11 am, but no seemed to be informing the time. Although it costs more, I definitely recommend the fast pass if traveling with small children.

Here we have Rachel enjoying being first in line in the very first corrral. 

Not too shabby a view.

The girls both enjoyed being way up high. Rachel even recognized the boats from the day before!

The ride was just under 30 min, comfortable, not too long and able to keep all of our attention spans.

We were quite satisfied with our first experience of the day.

On our way in towards the Eye, we noticed a playground, the first of its kind without sand! So Rachel got to play for a few minutes after everyone was slathered with sunscreen.

We walked across the Golden Jubilee bridge towards the National Gallery. After passing along an artists rendering some truly beautiful images of the sights both Alla and I bought one.

We decided to take a picture of the view from our recently bought painting.

With an hour to peruse the paintings at The National Gallery, we made it a priority to hit some of the more famous works. Rachel went about looking for princesses and their things in all the pairings.

In an effort to make it ontime to Eve Song services in Westminster Abeby, Ben, impressively, carried both girls.

The service was beautiful. It was free and I think worth the visit. St. Paul’s Cathedral also has regular services you can attend. The earlier you show up the better seats you will get, but we arrived just as services started and there was not much of a wait. 

It was very clear you were there to partake in services not play tourist. The entire service lasted about an hour. As we left I lit a candle and said a prayer for Khal, my friend who had passed away the week before.

After services we walked over to Buckingham Palace. We took a break in St. James Park to snack on some pastries Alla had picked up when she bought coffee just before we had set off for Westminster Abbey.

Sunday afternoon ended up being a great time to see the Palace. It was not too crowded. Rae tried to convince me that we needed to go inside to find the princess.

We lucked out and got to see the changing of the guards. I was surprised they let us walk right up to the gates.

After the Palace, we continued on through the park towards the bus stop to finally make our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum. This Memorial with this maple leaves is in honor of those Canadians who fought and died along their British brethren in WWII.

As we waited for the bus, I figured I would use my time to verify that the museum hadn’t already closed. And unfortunately by the time the bus arrived and got us to the museum it would close. So we decided to walk on to Hyde Park and take a different bus home.

With the girls in bed relatively early for once, we had a few hours to ourselves. I wanted to go grab some snacks and decided to take the long way through Paddington. 

I walked in the opposite direction we tend to go in, and came across this beautiful bridge.

Which led me straight to the canals and I stumbled upon Little Venice. 

Most of this end of the canal consisted of restaurants, but further along I found some private house boats.

And that concludes our day. I wandered pasts Sheldon’s Square and came full circle to Paddington Station, where I went to the Mark and Spencer’s mini mart and got some snacks and wandered back home.

Princess High Tea

(london day six)

Our only official plan for the day was reservations at the Milestone Hotel for little princess High Tea at 1 pm. I had read they were kid friendly but still produced the high tea experience for adults.

Here you see Rae trying on her new Princess Dress for high tea.

With that in mind we had planned on a boat tour since our tickets from the the night before were still good until 2 pm. 
Of course we missed the boat we were aiming for by 2 min, because we had to go back to the apartment for our tickets. But we were able to get on another boat a few minutes later.
We got on at Westminster Pier. The view on one side includes Big Ben. The chariot statue is of a Roman general I believe, but she lost a war and rather than surrender to her enemies she killed herself by poison.

And on the other side includes the London Eye. For those of you who haven’t been to London, the Eye was only meant to be a 5 year installation and has stayed much longer because it generates a quarter million pounds a day!!!

The OXO building!!! We love their organizational boxes! Although they sold the building a long time ago, and now probably regret it considering how much it is worth. 

A replicated pirate ship. You can go inside. And it’s been around the world twice. So though it is a replica, it’s functional.

London Bridge framing ‘the Shard.’ Up top people can walk through the upper chamber with glass floors! The draw bridge won’t be working again until Monday.

The dungeons! Queen Jane and Anne Boleyn were beheaded here. The facilities have also been rented out and attempted for refurbishment but nothing sticks. Restaurants with ghost evidently don’t mix well.

The return trip from Tower Pier to Westminster Pier took longer than expected so we jumped into a classic London black cab and booked it to the Milestone Hotel for our Princess High Tea.

Rachel had a chocolate tea which she reject once Momma and T. Alla got a print cinnamon and apple tea.

The selection was delicious and filling. Too filling. We ended up boxing most of the desserts and half the scones with two miscellaneous sandwiches that didn’t get eaten.

The Princess High Tea experience included a decorate your own cupcake portion. Rae enjoyed the decoration aspect and the minion gummies but she didn’t end up liking the cream or cupcake itself.

Our lunch was pleasant except for Kay’s refusal to sit still followed by piercing screams. So we played musical chairs with Kay, each taking a turn to walk with her while the others ate.

The is is the Milestone Hotel just on the other side of Hyde Park.

Since we had boxes our desserts we couldn’t go straight to the VA and chose to walk through the park on our way back to our flat to drop off the boxes.

Here we see Kensington Palace.

And we explored the gardens for a bit.

Ben dropped us off at the Princess Diana Memorial Playground while he went home to drop off our items.

It took considerably longer for Ben to come back to us, and so we decided to book it to the Victoria and Albert museum. We walked along the pond and stared at the Swans for a little bit.

Rae all of a sudden needed a potty, so without one in sight she got to experience the lush grass and trees Here you see Kay Kay encouraging t. Alla to move along.

We walked by the Royal Albert Opera House and people were dressed us for the opera so Rachel saw a lot of princess dresses.

Unfortunately we did not make it in time to the museum. We had spent too much time at the playground. So we took a minute to refresh ourselves and decided to head to Trafalgers Square for fish and chips.

On our way to the South Kensington tube station I remembered that I used to get red velvet cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery close by.

Sure enough the bakery is still there. We got a red velvet and a carrot cake cupcake to share for dessert.

Rae for a key chain with Big Ben, a telephone booth, a double decker bus and the London Eye on it.
We made it to Trafalgers Square, took a picture with the lions and mermaids and set off to the pub for famous fish and chips (french fries not to be confused with crisps which are in fact chips).

Kay Kay enjoyed the fish and chips while I enjoy a nice honeydew beer.

And that was our evening. The London Eye had closed, so we put that off for the next day and meandered towards the train to get home.

Kay celebrated the entire walk by refusing to hold anyone’s hand.

And this was the last photo of the night. Both girls had had a long day. So had the adults. In fact I got us on the right train only to get off two stops before our Paddinngton Station because reading the Circle Line map was confusing.

Unfortunately, no additional circle line trains came for a good 20 minutes when Alla finally suggested we take a cab back to the apartment.

And that’s it folks. Stay tuned for our last day adventures in the next post.

London Town

(london day five)

With a 7 am flight, we were up early. Kay Kay was happy to be woken up early, Rae on the other hand became rather cranky. But we had a plane to catch so she had no choice but to come along.

We made our way to the metro and caught a train to the airport. I love that trains are predicted down to the half minute. We could use that Kind of accuracy with the MTA in NYC. 

We got to the airport with Planey of time to spare. However, with no airport wifi I wasn’t able to pay to check our bag online so we had to go to a teller. It’s was a bit more than expected but it seemed like the airline was serious about bags not being wider than 20 cm.
Having deposited our bag, we made our way to security. We thought we made it through ok until we noticed all of our bags got pulled aside. I wasn’t too worried as we had 45 min before boarding began.
As we step up to claim our bags, the agent responsible for verifying our items takes a look at my boarding pass and makes sure we understand that our gate is “closing, not opening, closing” in 45 minutes…. I didn’t seem to be ruffled enough so he kept pointing out the time as if we weren’t going to make the flight. I started to worry that he would take the full 45 minutes to check our bag. 

After giving us shit for not pulling out the iPad in a separate bin, “it’s a computer. Electric readers, iPads, kindles… all computers.” And then told us it was our fault we would be late because We didn’t follow the rules.

I was blown away. I mean, yes we made a mistake, we left some sunscreen and a small bottle of water in Kays diaper bag, but you can see that we are traveling with two very uncooperative children, maybe cut us some slack?

Needless to say the couple behind us was also a family of four with two young children. Don’t know what was wrong with that guy but we grabbed our stuff, noticed a complementary stroller, dumped Rae in it and sprinted for our gate which was a good 15 minutes away.

We made our gate and it did not close at 6:45 and we really hadn’t needed to run, but after everything that had gone wrong since day one we didn’t want to risk it.

Here we are waiting to board. 

Rae like walking out to climb into the airplane. This was our first Ryanair flight and it went well. 

The two hour flight went swimmingly. We made it to Stansted, got on the train, after grabbing sandwiches and crisps (chips) at a deli, and headed out to London. This little one went asleep for most of the trip. 

We made it to the flat without any complications. Alla had gotten there a few hours before us. We dropped off our bags, got tickets for a double decker tour bus and set off in the direction of Hyde Park.

Just down the street from our flat in Paddington. I have now been to London during sunny weather 3 for 3. And each time was in a different season. It was really lovely to enjoy London in bloom. And after Copenhagen it felt almost too warm!

Obligatory telephone booth picture. 

No surprise, but rae lov s all the parks. 

Finally made it onto our double decker tour bus. It was nice to rest our feet that first day. And the kids loved sitting in the front seat on the second level. It really is a great way to see the city with young children. 

Our first, but not last, sighting of Big Ben. 

We got off in Covnent Garden and walked through the markets on our way to dinner an an Indian place called Dishoom. It’s so popular there is a line out the door. We got a dinner reservation and we’re thankful to just walk up and get seated.

The reastiarant was good, but our seating was amazing! We got a back booth which was perfect for noise control for the girls and just feeing like we had all the privacy we needed. Also the mango lassi’s were amazing!!! 

On our walk back to Covnent Gardens, Kay Kay figured out walking!!!! She’s done steps before but if finally clicked and she didn’t walk to hold anyone’s hand or be picked up anymore. She walks now with her hands permanently raised in victory. 

Flower display in Covenant Gardens. 

There are a lot of performers and artists in this area. We saw magic tricks, opera singers, tumblers, fiddlers and more. Rae’s favorite park was giving them a pound afterwards.

We got on the bus, finished the rest of our tour and headed home. A good first day!

The bus tickets also came with a ticket for a river tour. Since the tickets were active for 24 hours from the time you get on your first bus, we decided to do the tour first thing in the morning.

Rapunzel’s Crown Jewels

(københavn day four)

Day four started off with the girls going back to sleep multiple times, so we didn’t even get out the door before noon. Not sure if it’s jet lag or adjusting to a new time zone, but today they were cranky.

I finally got Rae excited about going to see the “princess castle.” She was very clear that while the dress she was wearing was a princess dress she would like another better princess dress.

Rosenborg Castle is only a 10 minute walk from our apartment. We got there just in time to meet up with our canal tour buddies.

This is the line to buy tickets. Ben used the castle’s wifi to buy tickets online, allowing us to avoid this long wait.

Rae got an ice cream and was kind enough to share her “pink one” with Kay while daddy organized our tickets.

This is probably one of the more modest European castles I’ve been to, however in being more homey, I enjoyed it more. Somehow, it felt more realistic. Anytime Rae saw something ornate or pretty like a clock or music box or couch she would yell for us to take note of the pretty Princess …insert relevant object… She would alternate between ascribing ownership to a princess or specifically to Tangled’s Rapunzel.

Kay enjoyed the circles in the floor of the throne room.

The Danish Crest is in the ceiling. It’s quite impressive.

But the entrance to the throne room is comparatively tiny. Also, the throne room is on the third floor which feels odd in terms of have the court walk up three flights of stairs. Plus, with only one entrance for both the royal couple and whoever was entering the room, I feel like that would be a security risk.

The thrones themselves.

Although you can’t tell from this angle, these ladies have big beautiful bellies. Wish those were still in style.

These figurines were created for the crown prince to play a board game about Romans and Africans so he could learn military strategy.

I am a May baby, and though I am not especially drawn to emeralds, they are my birthstone. Then again if someone offered this collection to me I wouldn’t say no.

The alternating sapphires and rubies are huge. Also the treasury room had a pink diamond that was the size of my palm.

Nice little crown genealogy.

Tried to get a picture of the two of them together with the castle in the background. Kay had other plans.

But she made up for it with this adorable smile.

Note the guy on the bench on the left. Now keep in mind it was actually relatively cool this morning, rather overcast and windy. Definitely not warm enough to be shirtless and sunning on a park bench. But this guy just made himself at home.

Another shot of the castle.

And finally a picture with the four of us, taken by our good canal tour friends. Rae is disheartened at the prospect of leaving the princess castle. She is hugging her Princess book map close for comfort.

On our way home we made it back to the food festival and food stalls we had visited our first night. One of the stalls was a flower shop. The variety of flowers was quite astounding. And the selection better than in most places in NYC. In fact the flower market would have a run for it’s money because in terms of range they had it all, but the pricing was far better.

As Ben went home to put Kay down for her nap, Rae and I went in search of open faced rye sandwiches that the Danes are known for. We ended up shopping on an empty stomach because we brought home far more than we can eat. Also, this garlic shrimp is the best thing I have ever tasted. Perfect seasoning, but the quality of this shrimp was so good. I don’t think I’ve ever had shrimp that fresh. And the fresh local strawberries taste real.

After lunch we FaceTimed Auntie Alla to confirm where to meet up in London. Then we called Baba and tried to reach Mammy. Rae invited everyone to her new house in Copenhagen and was a bit sad to learn that tomorrow we will be going to a new house.

And that rounds out our last full day. After Kay woke up we made a tour of three playgrounds in our neighborhood. Stopped by a grocery store to pick up some snacks for the airplane and then put the girls to bed since we have a 7 am flight to London tomorrow.

Sorry Disney, Tivoli Gardens have you beat!

(københavn day three)

Despite our best intentions, our first two days ended up being packed with activities and a lot of walking, so to compensate we wanted to take day three a little slower. We decided to treat the girls, and ourselves, to a day of rides at a local amusement park. As I finished blogging, Ben took the girls to the playground. On the way there, he stopped by our favorite place. Can you guess? Yup they went to Joe & the Juice. Unfortunately, Kay threw up on herself, Ben and the carrier. This put a dent in our plans for getting to the park when it opened and meeting up with our friends with kids from the canal tour the day before.

We let Kay take a nap, while Rae watched Peppa the Pig in Danish with English subtitles. It’s really interesting to see what translates. Although, sometimes I think she only laughed because the characters were laughing.

Kay woke up from her nap and we headed out to the park without the carrier, just the kiddos walking the whole way.

Tivoli Gardens is the second oldest amusement park in the world, in the middle of the city. The oldest park also happens to be in Klampenborg, Denmark. But unlike modern amusement parks which are mostly plastic, Tivoli is actually a pleasure garden. You feel like you enter a fairy’s home that happens to have rides.

We happen to be only 15 minutes from the park. And on our walk we found some more of the gryphon rails. Or as Rae said, “Look, Momma, rainbow!”

Rachel really wanted a picture on this bench. Not sure why it stood out to be, but considering how rarely she asks for photos, I was in the mood to oblige her. I guess we have her to thank for putting the idea in our heads to rent a cargo bike so we can stow the kids in front and ride around the city when we come back from London.

There are statues all throughout the city. This one is across the street from the park. I love the weathered bronze. Since the same material is used for most of the statues and many of the roofs on older buildings it actually has the effect of unifying the city.

City Hall Square, again across the street is Tivoli. The park literally sits in the middle of the city. Although, considering it opened in 1843, I suppose it was possible to plan the city around it since then. Ironically we have been to Tivoli, Italy. We went to see the gardens that the emperor would vacation at just outside of Rome. But we only booked a two night stay and our full day was on a Monday which happened to be the only day of the week the gardens were closed. Somehow I missed that in my research. So I was excited to visit Tivoli Gardens Part II.

Tivoli Gardens is really family friendly. First of all they have a companion pass. So rather than everyone paying for rides, especially when you are going with young children, adults pay the entrance fee and the child gets a companion pass so she can go on any ride with a parent. If you want to go on additional rides sans kids you can just buy individual tickets for the rides. It was amazing. We were there to enjoy the park with our kids not ride every single ride. So being able to take Rae on every ride she was eligible for with mom or dad as a companion worked out really well.

When you enter the park you see a bunch carnival mirrors. Rae really loved seeing her shape change.

After the mirrors there are a bunch of large animals, mostly elephants. Rae enjoyed them.

Kay, not so much. She thought they were real and was very upset when I let go. I also appreciate the concept of keeping your city ‘elegant.’ Even all the public bathrooms throughout the city are kept elegant and not that many of them have attendants. It’s a refreshing change from the mess of New York City.

The park is a combinations of rides, playgrounds, sitting areas, restaurants, carnival stalls, gardens, and lounge areas. There were benches, and beach chairs throughout. There were also several performance stages. In fact Alvin Ailey performs there too!

This is a restaurant. The entire park looks like this. Beautiful buildings, fountains, flowers and then a giant ride nearby.

Rae was very excited to ride the balloon with Momma.

And this is the number one thing that surprised me and made so much sense. Why do the Nordic countries have it figured out that a park for children should also have children potties. Rae was so excited. “Look, Momma, a potty for me!”

There were peacocks running through the meadows and I have no clue what this is. It’s like a mix between a chicken and a turkey. People kept feeding it. Kay kept giving it the evil eye. To be fair it’s as big as she is.

This face. So much cuteness I can’t even deal with it. This drink was nearly as big as her, but that doesn’t stop this little lady from getting what she wants.

Evidently, the park is know for this ride. Rae did it twice, once with daddy and once with me. She loves steering. Here Ben is trying to autocorrect. You can steer but not really adjust speed.

Kay with her friend Felicity from the canal tour. You wouldn’t know that they are practically the same age. Kay is so tiny!

Kay took her first steps just days before this trip. As a result she has been very determined to walk as often as she can. This is very cute but also very slow. Well today she got to walk to her hearts content.

The playground was amazing. Rae and Kendall hanging out while Ben and Greg pretend they are ‘watching’ the kids.

No surprise, but this kiddo didn’t want to leave for our dinner reservation because she was having too much fun. We ended up being 20 minutes late to the restaurant. But no one was there yet so we still got a table. Since the park was open til 11 we figured we would come back on our way home and ride a few more rides as long as the energy level was in a good place.

First she rode the horsey with Momma (I got stuck with a Rhinoceros). The most amazing aspect of this park is that the wait times were short. It was not filled to capacity. So we could enjoy our stay rather than run from one ride to another and then wait in line. We never waited more than 5 minutes for any of the rides. We could meander and get on any ride that looked interesting. And on a summer day it was full of people, it just wasn’t Disney full. I hadn’t realized how much the waiting in line aspect of the amusement park experience was rather draining.

We went to Pony for dinner. It is in the same family as Honey. Again the service, the food and the atmosphere was amazing. We had the restaurant to ourselves for a good portion of the meal. Everything was delicious especially the bread and butter. In fact, we realized we has only had amazing bread this entire trip. Didn’t matter if it came from the grocery store, a cafe, hot dog cart or a restaurant all of the bread was delicious.

And to even the score, the universe decided that Ben and Baby Kay Kay needed to get pooped on by a pigeon as we were exiting the park for dinner. This complicated matters as it got all over Kay’s sweater. And we didn’t have the carried due to the throw up incident in the morning. So we ended up putting Rachel’s coat on Kay and Rae got to wear daddy’s coat. I hope this means we’ve used up our bad luck. Although, at this point we just take it in stride.

Bicycles, Boats and Bees

(københavn day two)
This is the view outside our bedroom window. We are in the Latin Quarter.

This is the view from our living room.

And this is the living room I’ve been blogging in. Last night Kay woke up with a fever from teething so I didn’t get much sleep between feeding and comforting her. I had a feeling that today would run the risk of having me get sick. But on the bright side I finished yesterdays blog post.

So not only do things close early in Denmark, they also open pretty late. We slept in until about 8:30 am and then decided to walk to a shopping mall so that I could get a warmer coat and some new pants. We decided to head to the Dagbehandingen Frederiksberg Centeret. This was a mall advertised on the train from the airport as one of nicest malls in Europe.

Some of you may know that Ben and I have not been able to agree on a style of silverware for 8 years! We couldn’t agree on a set for our wedding registry and decided to forgo nice silverware until we find something that we both like. Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that we found something in Denmark. We really liked the silverware our host had and messaged her to find out where we could buy it. The mall happens to have a Bahne store so hopefully our luck will hold because they are out of stock online.

We walked through the park and ran into this buildings. Still not sure what institution this is but the imagery suggests women’s empowerment?

Another set of beautiful doors. The colors didn’t come out quite right but I love the wood and ironwork together.

Love the detailing on the rail, the rust weathered gryphons could be found along the entire stretch of this building each door boasting the same rails for much of the block.

Love this spiral staircase, although, I doubt it is in use since the plants have overtaken the outside of the building.

This is the school of Human Engineering building. Denmark manages to quite beautifully throw in modern buildings alongside the historical ones. It never look jarring.

This little flower child is always so surprised and happy to find “‘bootiful’ flowers, Momma!”

And don’t forget to acknowledge the daisies. She’s amazing in her ability to focus on details and gets really upset when you try to rush by or not give her findings the time of day. It’s made us slow down and appreciate what we can observe. It has turned into somewhat of a game to see what cool things we can find on our walks.

Kay is not happy that we can’t eat the berries. Google had us walk through this amazing pedestrian and bicycle only path that lasted for a couple of kilometers. It was really cool to just feel the city disappear. Without cars nearby the city is quieter, the walk is surrounded by groves of trees and you feel like you are on a hike rather than in the middle of an urban area.

We saw a lot of different kinds of berries. Not sure if they are edible but we decided not to risk finding out the hard way.

Still on this lovely little path. Rae loved disappearing among the branches and calling out to come find her.

Still on the path but there was a break in the trees and these buildings, part of Copenhagen University, just popped up along our walk.

Here the pedestrian path ends and joins a street before it resumes later down the lane.

This is the cyclist portion of the no car zone.

We finally made it to the shopping center. Unfortunately, Bahne didn’t have our silverware in stock in the store either. I supposed it as too good to be true to actually find silverware after 8 years, to have it be on sale and in stock. But it gives me hope that we will find something eventually.

As we walked around the mall a little bit, I started to feel feverish so we stopped by Joe & The Juice to finally get something to drink. Kay stole my drink and it was a very cute battle to convince her to give it back.

Rae and Kay kept entertained while I went into every single clothing store trying to find a coat. Keep in mind that it is summer in Copenhagen, but with the temperature different between here and New York I as actually very cold any time we were not in direct sun. But my options seemed to be fleece or artic winter coats. Luckily I did find something in the end.

We joked that she should put the backpack on, and she thought we were serious. She was very disappointed that it was too big to carry.

New coat and jeans worn straight out of the store only to have me shaking from fever and chills. Ben ran to the store in the mall and I kid you not they were out of fever reducers. How can a pharmacy be out of NSAIDs? I started to sob laugh, earning a concerned look from Ben who decided to try one more store on the second level. In the end I did get my Ibuprofen but not before I got a good laugh at the absurdity of everything that has gone wrong on this trip. I doubt we will forget this one any time soon.

From the mall we decided to take the Metro to go on a boat tour of the canals. We got off at Kogens Nytrov and started to head towards to docks. We noticed a money exchange booth and finally got some Danish Krones just in time to buy Ben an amazing Copenhagen shirt with a bicycle on it. For those of you who know me, I hate tourists shirts so this one was pretty special for me to recommend it.

We continued to meander along Strøget, a street full of shops and performers. You see them in many European cities, this one reminded me of Dublin’s Gafton Street. Free ice cream samples were being handed out so I got to play cool mom while only exposing my kid to about a tablespoon of ice cream.

At a intersection we came across this lovely plaza, reminding me of Northern Italy. It was complete with fountain, live music and cafes along the squares’ perimeter, perfect for people watching.

Here is the fountain. It’s actually more impressive in person, but my iPhone camera isn’t quite able to get the dimensions.

A panoramic of the square.

We ran into a Danish hot dog stand after the square and decided to grab a snack before heading on the boat tour. Everyone love it. The girls had a plain one, while Ben and I had a traditional Danish dog complete with mustard, ketchup, onions, fried onions and pickles.

The view behind our bench.

As we crossed the next intersection, I realized we were back into our neighborhood as we were standing in the same place we had dinner the night before. Ben was so confused. He kept saying it was impossible. But I was adamant that this is the same square. It’s unlikely that there is a second square with the exact same burger places, Mexican restaurant and fountain in Copenhagen. Besides, I’d heard that Copenhagen is relatively small and if you are ambitious can be covered more or less in a day.

As we were standing debating a bee flew up to Rae. I covered her hand so she wouldn’t swat it away. Ben, not understanding, moved and she managed to free her hand just as the bee moved near her eye, so she cupped it to protect herself. Unfortunately she managed to cup the bee to her face and got stung just below her eye. We were a little nervous because Rae had been stung one other time in her life, at the Bronx Zoo, and her fingers had actually swollen significantly. As her eye started to swell I became really concerned that she may be allergic like I am. In the end it calmed down but it was a very stressful situation.

Poor Rae was inconsolable. For some reason her right cheek just keeps being abused. A few months ago she got hit in the face at daycare with a dinosaur and it left a really deep bruise, that literally just went away after months. Now she has a pink and purple eye in the same place. After calming her down we bribed her with ice cream. Just as we were going to buy some a gelato place was offering free samples, so once again I got Rae a free sample. She got minimal sugar but was happy.

After dealing with the minor emergency, Ben realized that we had walked the wrong way. We decided to walk back down to the docks. What had taken us maybe 20-30 minutes to meander down, took less than 10 minutes to actually walk down with purpose, so our day wasn’t particularly derailed.

Copenhagen recently celebrated it 850th birthday, and in honor of the occasion, locals were asked to rate the best things about Copenhagen that make it Copenhagen. They narrowed it down to 10. My favorite was Cykelflirten. What a good word. More flirting while cycling would reduce road rage, I think.

We finally made it to the Canal Tour. We sat all the way in the back with another family, from Richmond, who also had a three year old and a one year old. Instantly bonding over the crazy ambitious life of traveling with toddlers, we ended up exploring Copenhagen with them and even made plans to visit the Tivoli Gardens together the next day.

All those life jackets. Not sure why they were stuck into former windows, but it looked cool. Also note how there is no rail on the dock… every… anywhere in Copenhagen. As a result some of our more ambitious touristy items got eliminated from our to see list because we just don’t want to tempt fate. Like there are permanent trampolines along the warf in Copenhagen, but there are not rails…. It’s hard enough getting Rae and Kay to be safe without the added pressure of them running away from us and falling into the canals.

These houses were for sailors, and the women of the night who would visit them once long ago.

The tour was amazing! Just the thing we needed. Rae loves boats, I needed to sit, and Kay needed to nurse. It gave us a little over an hour to just enjoy the town. The views were beautiful. The guide was a little hard to understand. She spoke in English and Danish in the same tone without pause, so when she switched languages you didn’t realize it until all of a sudden you couldn’t understand what she was saying. As a result a lot of the information was missed. Either we thought she was still speaking in Danish and didn’t hear the beginning, or she stopped speaking in English and we hadn’t noticed.

This is the Shakespeare theater. Again, note the lack of guard rails.

The opera house with our squinty smiles.

This used to be a torpedo factory but was remade into glass apartments. Seriously one of the most beautiful things I have seen. Wish we could afford it, but it’s one of the priciest listings in Copenhagen. To the right, the black buildings, used to house boats that could be just tugged into the water at a moments notice during WWII, I believe. They have since been decommissioned and I can’t figure out if they are private homes or restaurant/offices.

This is a brand new energy facility that makes energy from waste. Like other Nordic countries, Denmark imports waste to make energy because they don’t have enough waste created by their population alone. The plant isn’t open yet so the guide wasn’t sure what they were testing in order for us to see smoke.

This is the royal yacht, the royal family evidently takes it around Denmark. This picture doesn’t quite capture how decadent and golden the boat is.

This is an active military island, the canons are fired at dawn and dusk every day. We have yet to hear them despite not being that far, so they must not be that loud.

This is the infamous Copenhagen Mermaid statue. Evidently she is painted monthly, and was recently replaced as her arms had gone missing.

Not sure what this is, but it’s pretty.

Draw bridge, we got to go across and then could see it being lowered in time to watch the cyclists and pedestrians cross.

The space between the boat and the bridges we crossed under was tiny. Some of them you could reach up and touch the bridge.

Church of Our Savior has an interesting spiral staircase on the outside of the building that you can go up. 400 steps.

I’m actually touching the bridge.

This makes me want a colorful home and a tiny boat.

Interesting bridge in front of the Black Diamond, a library.

Don’t remember what this building was, but there is finally a guardrail to be found. To be fair it’s a bridge.

The Børsen was the stock exchange of 17th century Copenhagen. The spire is made up of dragon tails representing the union of Nordic countries.

Rae finally got some much needed Momma time. And by the time the boat tour was over her eye had come down.

We ended back at the same dock. I have to say the canals are rather narrow and our driver was incredibly skilled at maneuvering the rather large boat.

We had some time to kill before dinner. Ben wanted to go to Honey because it researching Copenhagen it became evident that the city is know for it’s amazing food. So he looked into tasty places that were also family friendly.

Since we had an hour and a half we thought we’d go home and drop off some of our stuff before we turned around and grabbed dinner. As we were walking along, a tourist bumped into Rae and knocked her down. She fell really hard and hit her forehead on the pavement. Poor little girl, our misadventures continue but today Rae is getting all the bad luck.

Love these car free zones.

We made it to Honey with time to spare. We wanted to go to dinner right as the restaurant opened in an effort to avoid exposing Copenhagen’s patrons to cranky jet lagged toddlers. We spent 15 minutes chasing each other while we waiting to be seated in an effort to wear the kids out.

Rae was sneaky and thought we wouldn’t be able to find her.

Kay enjoying some amazing bread. Also have you ever noticed in New York how restaurants will give you nice bread but frozen butter? Honey gave us whipped butter with buttermilk and it was delicious. We got an entire loaf and ate the whole thing.

Honey exceeded our expecations. The food was amazing. We had the restaurant to ourselves for a good 45 minutes and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. The kids had cod, chicken confit with fresh slightly pan fried peas and roasted potatoes in a sauce. It was so good we couldn’t help helping them out a bit. The confit was so good I’ve sworn off fried chicken forever. Nothing can compare to how crispy and juicy the chicken was

For ourselves we did the Full Honey for the Money experience so we got three appetizers and two main courses with soft serve for dessert. Everything was so delicious. We highly recommend this place even if you aren’t traveling with kids. In fact we were the only family in the restaurant for the majority of our stay.

Unfortunately, after our appetizers there was a bit of a lull before we got our entrees and in that time I went from feeling fine to feeling awful. The Ibuprofen must have worn off because I could barely stop shaking. Kay Kay was getting fussy and one gentlemen in particular was giving us a bit of the evil eye. So we got our last entree and the soft serve to go. While we waited for the restaurant to pack up our items, I took Kay outside and being in the fresh air helped me a lot.

When Ben and Rae joined us, I felt strong enough to take Rae to the playground like we promised. We walked over to Kogens Have gardens. I love that they have bike parking. What amazes me most is that I haven’t seen a lot of bikes locked up. Most of them are just left there free standing. It’s mind boggling.

Here is the playground. We stayed for a bit and packed up once Kay started to eat sand.

This is the Rosenborg Castle, we plan on going there on Thursday. The lighting was difficult, as it became dusk, Copenhagen’s sky turned white almost. But it was lovely, even if the picture doesn’t adequately capture it. I love this couple in front of the castle. The park was filled with people and their bikes nearby. A big difference from NYC, you can see people smoking, drinking openly. We even passed groups playing music from speakers as if the park was their own personal concert. It was really cool to see so many locals just enjoying their green spaces.

Not sure what this building connects but it looks cool.

This library is near our apartment. I wouldn’t mind studying there. Maybe in another life.

And that was day two. The girls were worn out by the time we got home. They went to bed very quickly. I came down with my fever with a vengeance so I went to bed early and decided I would write up the blog in the morning.

And The Setbacks Continue

(københavn day one)

The seven hour flight from New York to Helsinki wasn’t too bad. Although, the girls slept far less than I anticipated. Kay is much more stubborn and less willing to be pacified than Rae was at her age. But she did have a slight fever either due to teething, or of my luck holds from yesterday, the beginnings of an ear infection. 

My one complaint about the flight: we got a weird row where the trays were not against the seat in front of us but rather the first and last seat had them in the arm rest. As a result, the arm rests did not move up so it was a lot harder for Rae to lie down and sleep.

Helsinki was a wonderful airport. My first impression is due in large part to discovering their family bathrooms have mini potties for toddlers!!! The bathrooms play music of birds twittering and at first it was cute, but by then end of a bathroom visit it was weird.

Also, internet levels at the airport are better than what we have at home. As in, better than what we have available in our apartment back in NYC! It still boggles my mind that for a country with so many tech companies we still struggle to get good internet. Especially in NYC.

We only had 3 hours in Helsinki and though the city is only 30 min door to door, after the day we had I didn’t want to risk something else going wrong so we hung around the airport. Maybe we will explore on our way back.

Another thing to love about Helsinki: free strollers and luggage carts!!!! Amazing. Rae loved hers.

In fact she loves it so much she wanted to share with her sister and insisted we scoot the two of them around the airport. Look how cute these sisters are.

Our mini Helsinki adventures came and went. As did the reprieve from things going wrong. Here we are in our puddle jumper to Copenhagen. Kay Kay was tired and upset she still hadn’t slept in a bed so Rae was a good big sister and helped her cry in solidarity with the cause.

The 1 hour 20 min flight was uneventful. We tried some blueberry juice, evidently a staple in Finland. It was quite good. Rae managed a “whole” flight without media or entertainment of any sort. 

Copenhagen had some really cool baggage claim carousels. One of them was decked out as an exhibit to the Copenhagen zoo. Unfortunately we needed sleep more than photo ops, so no images were captured.

As we waited to buy metro tickets I noticed a Joe & The Juice. These guys have been popping up everywhere in NYC since the spring and I hadn’t realized they might be an international company. (Yup based out of Copenhagen!!!!) Now I know I will love Copenhagen even more since I love the coffee shop.

Our first glimpse of Copenhagen. I was a little nervous about it being too cold since it’s a good 10-15° cooler than NYC but the weather was nice when we got out of the airport. (Side note I love the different ways we refer to these money machines).

Our 15 minute metro right to the city center and supposedly 23 min door to door commute from the airport to our apartment is where our good luck ran out.

We got out of the Nørreport Station and thank God for Joe & the Juice and their free wifi policy, I was able to verify our directions to the apartment. 

Well we made it to our street and it became abundantly clear that the address provided by airbnb was not the full address. After the mix up with British Airways I no longer trusted my recollection and started to panic.

Trying not to argue despite exhaustion, jet lag and hunger. I convinced Ben to wait while I ran back to free wifi and messaged our host.

Thankfully I didn’t have to walk the 6 min back to the station, I managed to find a 7 Eleven with decent wifi half a block away. Only to confirm that I wasn’t crazy. Our host had never confirmed a building or apartment number even in her messages. The address provded just listed the street and zip code. Not being familiar with Denmark addresses I hadn’t realized it.

I quickly messaged our host who thankfully was at the apartment and hurried back to Ben and Kay. She met us at the door and we were finally home! Or not.

It became clear that my message on Saturday to her note asking when we would arrive never sent or wasn’t received. Not sure where the mixup was because I replied to her the day before we flew out of NYC. I replied to her and our host in London. The note to London is present but the message history for our trip to Copenhagen doesn’t exist.

To make matters worse since she didn’t know when we would arrive or even if we would arrive she was not ready to hand over the apartment. After two not so subtle hints about is taking a walk while she finished preparing the apartment we decided to get some food.

We asked our host for directions to the nearest grocery store so we could buy some milk and fruit for the girls. Having not provided us with an accurate home address should have been the first clue, but needless to say our host’s “easy” directions left us walking the entire length of a city block without finding a grocery store.

We did discover this little gem of a passageway. Rae loved having new places to explore.

We changed gears and decided we needed food ASAP! A cute little gourmet burger shop popped up on the corner and we got excited about eating some beef and milkshakes only to find out the were out of beef burgers… yes a burger joint was offering only chicken and pulled pork.

We could see a fast food burger joint through the window and decided to go there. MAX is the Denmark version of McDonalds. We had just completed our orders electronically and were about to add the much anticipated milkshakes when, and I kid you not, a employee walks up to the ordering booth next to ours and takes up a sign saying they are out of milkshakes!!!!

Here is poor Kay Kay. She would take a bite of food and then just curl up, over and over. Poor boo boo.

We used the restaurant Wifi to find our grocery store. When we got there I realized it was in fact the place our host had recommended yet it was a few blocks farther than she suggested.

En route it allowed us to see more of the city and my first impression is BiKeS!! Bicycles everywhere. More bikes than cars or even pedestrians. The fact that every city Ben and I have ever loved traveling to has had a huge bike culture makes me believe we will end up in a place where we bike everywhere.

I want one of these. I saw a guy biking with his wife and toddler in the front and the baby in the back seat. (Ben if you need any ideas for presents this would be acceptable)

I don’t even know how to caption this. Stealing free wifi from the restaurants with history and architecture as your backdrop? 

Although we have only been to one supermarket, twice, in Copenhagen I will admit to surprise at how large and spacious it is compared to New York. Especially considering how much older Cooenhagen is to New York. Yet all the stores, coffee shops and restaurants we’ve been to in the Latin Quarter (older buildings compared to other neighborhoods) have been a good use of space and they all feel rather spacious.  

Also, child cart for the win! I remember only wanting to shop at places where I could have my own cart. Rae loved being our shopper!

We made it back to the apartment, ate some snacks, put the girls to bed and finally took a two hour naps ourselves.

Not being able to take a nap right when we got to the apartment put a dent in our plans. Copenhagen, like many European cities, closes EARLY. Most food places were closed by 8. So we made a beeline for a food market (think multi food vendor stalls under one enclosed space) to get some nam nams in our tummies, as Rae would say.

The market was about two blocks away and we enjoyed observing some of the beautiful detail on the buildings along the way.

Another bike and a food festival, closing up for the day, just two blocks from where we were staying. We definitely plan to come back.

And we made it to the market. It looked very much like one we had visited in Madrid. I suppose it’s only fitting then that the last stall to be working was a Spanish Tapas place. Because in Spain everything but food closes at 8.

We enjoyed our tapas. They took the edge off our hunger and exudes to explore.

This is the nicest bodega I have ever seen. I think it’s too large to be considered a bodega in NYC.

Rae wanted this picture with all the “stickers.” Please note that despite asking for this picture she still doesn’t look in the camera. And that is after I asked her to look at me.

With the sun having set and my only pair of pants being devomited in the washing machine back in the apartment (finally something went right!) I was getting a little chilly, the rain wasn’t helping, so we decided to get something warm. Copenhagen has an amazing coffee house culture. There are shops everywhere. Almost as numerous as the bicycles and they are are comfortable, have wifi and make you want to lounge.

We took our chai latte’s to go and went on into the rain. kay started to fuss and we decided to head to the grocery store so we could make our own dinner and call it a night.

And that’s a wrap. All in all, despite all the setbacks we took them in stride and I’m really proud of how well we did. Vomit, flight issues, finding shelter issues, finding food issues, the list seemed to never end. Any one of those could have turned us into a pack of snarling humanoids and instead we dealt with every set back with patience (sometimes in limited supply). Here’s to hoping the rest of the trip goes better.

Good night from Copenhagen!