Our Arrival

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To introduce this section, I'll explain that Alli and I are now travelling with our nearly five-year-old son Kai. At this point, he is a veteran traveller, having travelled around the East Coast of the United States as well as Germany, Canada, Costa Rica, and Ireland. I'm glad we started travelling with him young (around 2 months, we first went to visit grandparents in the mid-atlantic). He is really a pro at this now! He totally "gets" going through security, boarding the plane, buckling up, and picking up your baggage. So he handled our two plane trips and train trip to finally arrive in Copenhagen with aplomb. We were though all tired after having travelled from 5PM our time, when we left our house, to arriving here at 8AM the next day (our time).

He did sleep on the plane but that was interrupted by having to get up in Iceland and change plans. The flight from the US to Iceland was short, but it felt the longest because I couldn't sleep. It was about five hours and I wish I had slept more! I did watch the second Hobbit movie - huge disappointment there and glad I didn't see that in the theater. That reminds me - our son has never lived in a time where no planes had in-flight entertainment, or where a single screen was shared by most of coach, where everyone watches the same movie. Inside the US, we always fly JetBlue, so he has never had to suffer through a long flight without it. I remember how grateful I was when discovering most international flights had in-flight entertainment, and how much better flying is when you have that. Plane travel is still unpleasant for me because my body reacts poorly to it - I swell up like a balloon even if I eat lightly before the flight, and hydrate. It takes me a few days to recover from that. It's good to know that this doesn't happen to everyone -i.e. my little dude is not suffering throughout the flights, again, that makes it easy to travel with him.

So at any rate, after ALL of that travel, we finally arrived at Copenhagen, so exhausted that I didn't even care what we did, but the free coffee at our hotel (amazing coffee) did a lot to change that. We ended up visiting Tivoli. With our Copenhagen Card, we can visit it up to five times during our stay, for free. (Rides not included). We had hot dogs there, in the Asian pavilion area, and walked around the gardens scoping out the rides we would go on on a better day. It was spitting raining on and off, and some rides are closing off and on, so we decided to come back tomorrow to get a multi-ride ticket for Kai.

We then walked up the Stroget (pedestrian shopping area) to find the lego store. The side streets around it have more of the hip boutiques and cafes, and the main Stroget begins as chintzy souvenirs and then ends up more upscale, but very mainstream overall. Unfortunately the Lego store closed in our face as we arrived (causing a bit of a meltdown into our up-to-here-doing-awesome kid). On the other hand, if we hadn't spent so long in a previous toy store, we would have made it on time. OMG - things are so expensive here. I saw a lovely long-sleeved t-shirt with a viking on it for Kai - but no, fifty bucks for a t-shirt is just not happening for a five year old! Well, this the trip of a life time - probably the most expensive trip we will ever take (due to our exchange rate and the high standard of living in Nordic countries) so, well, we'll just live with it and I won't complain again.

Overall impression so far of Denmark/Danes is that they are very friendly, contrary to reports. Maybe it's because I'm from another "cold" place (Boston/New England) where people are reputed to be unfriendly and cold, that I don't have the expectations of someone from a "friendly/warm" place, but I have been helped by every person I've met here, including random passers-by on the street, seeing how we were lost to find our hotel, giving us directions. The city itself - well, what they say about the bikes is true - they are everywhere!

I am glad I re-packed my suitcase. I initially had read that it is in the seventies here in the summer, and I'd only be cold in Norway and Iceland. Nope, it's cold here. Rainy, windy and in the fifties and sixties. I was so glad I made that last-minute run to Athleta to pick up chatarunga tights. I have been wearing them every day, under skirts or just as my bottom with a tunic. Skinny jeans and leggings are what EVERYONE wears here. Besides bringing more warm layers and long sleeves, I had also switched to more city dressing. I have one outfit suitable for hiking, but the rest is dresses and sharp tops - and I'm so glad because while it's not Italy or France (thank goodness women here wear practical shoes), it is stylish in its own way here (a style that I like!).

A word on the hotel. I LOVE the Axel Guldsmelden. We splurged on a Double Superior, and it's more of a suite. We have a balcony, a big four-poster bed, and then around a half-wall, a small sectional couch, a desk, and then the bathroom not only has a big shower, but a stone tub. It's all done in Balinese style and is so comfortable and beautiful. A perfect choice for the place where we're staying the longest.

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