Copenhagen

(dont have time to finish Stockholm, but just assume we had a great time and ask me questions about the KultureFest we attended).

We headed out early to the train station and Pierre accompanied us on the walk. I asked him a lot of questions about Sweden and he said that its not as snowy as you think. He said in the past 5 years, they havent gotten as much snow as they are known for, and that its only snowed for 2 weeks in their past winters. Interesting info for me, as I picture Sweden to be a frozen tundra during the winter.

We met up with Chris and boarded the train to Malmo, southern Sweden.
The ride was actually really fun, we saw a lot of the countryside and played games with one another. I think we all expected to sleep, but only I crashed out for about 20 minutes. We changed trains in Malmo and were in Copenhagen within 35 minutes.

Reed and I are staying with the wedding bunch at the grooms familys hotel while Crissy/Chris were staying on the Christiana side of town. We sent them on their way and began our walk. Reed had suggested walking to get to know the town instead of taking a cab, so with only a map, an address and our crazy backpacks, we headed out! Anyone who knows me can fully understand the potential peril we were in giving my sense of directions....In my defense, I do a whole lot better when traveling. In our good judgment, we let Reeders hold the map and navigate our way. :)

We walked by amazing buildings and cobblestones walkways and the people are just fascinating. Bikers are bad ass. Had to say it. They FLY by, they cut off buses, they clip each other while trying to pass, they dont care about pedestrians and they carry anything from a dog, to a computer, to groceries, to paintings, to a carpet in their baskets. Everyone says to bike in Copenhagen, but I honestly dont know if I have it in me!! They have one large lane for the bikers and I think I would prefer a child or bunny lane for my skills. Seriously, old men in suits were cutting off mothers with children. Bikers beware!

Copenhagen is a lot easier to walk around and find your way and we found our hotel within 20 minutes. It is right on the canal with boats docked and a beautiful lane of restaurants. We couldnt have booked a better restaurant if we did it ourselves. We are SO lucky. Maries groom, Ivan, and his family are from the Faroe Islands and they help manage the hotel so almost ALL the wedding guests are staying at the hotel. We werent in our quaint room but 5 minutes when the phone rang. The receptionist called her to let her know that we had arrived. How cool is that?!?

I ran upstairs to see her and she was trying on her wedding dress with the help of 2 YWAM Aussie friends. The hotel stay comes with breakfast and dinner (which is incredible bc this place is EXPENSIVE) and we got to meet a lot of Maries family and missionary friends; as well as reuniting with my college roommates.

Dinner was roast chicken, pasta noodles with a yellow sauce, and light salad.
They eat a lot of meat and fish here and their breads are incredible.

Reed really wanted to see the Chile-Denmark game or watch the Mexico-US game so he, Chris and Crissy went to a sports pub to watch while I joined the wedding crew for a trip to Tivoli Gardens.

Tivoli Gardens is a small theme park with crazy rides, music (like orchestra, jazz, blues, and rock) and beautiful gardens. Of course, there are games, food, shops, etc like every amusement park. The rides were crazy. Ivan was kind enough to try to get in as many people free as possible since he had a season pass. He also helped us get our ride bracelets for half price. From there everyone kind of split up; so I hung out with Petra and Seana, Maries friend from YWAM. They are both from Holland and had driven here.

They were great fun and we had a ball.
My favorite ride was a version of the swings.
But it was like swings on steroids.
The tower went UP UP UP into the sky and then they twirled you super fast.
You could see the entire city and it was an incredible feeling of flying.
Thumbs up to Tivoli.

Next morning we joined everyone downstairs again for breakfast.
Marie had planned a tour to see a Danish castle and then take a boat to Sweden; being that we had already been to Sweden, we decided to tour the city instead.
Crissy, Reed and I took off and just began our walk.
Destination: Little Mermaid

We saw a lot of beautiful architecture and statues on the way.
Danes are incredibly proud of their culture and their history so the city is littered with information about their past. Statues galore.

The Little Mermaid was super cute and their were tourists everywhere.
Interesting thing to note is that she is shown with 2 legs that than have fins.
Their portrayal of a mermaid differs from our Disney version.

More to come...