park, up and down and round and round, fish, boat, water, more fish, lights

This may well be our winner day, weather-wise. And a winner for Snowdrop too, though not for reasons of spectacular weather. It's a day where she can give Tivoli Gardens her full attention. With sunshine and a very perfect high of 71F (22C). 

But we get up late. For good reasons! You could not possibly fall asleep before the concert in the park ended (at 11pm). And when quiet took hold, we gave ourselves time to read together, with lights out at ... midnight. Lucky break for us -- we were one foot in Reykjavik, clockwise, so the shift to a later day was not a burden. Well, until we heard the squawk out on the balcony at 5:55 in the morning. The resident peacock decided to pay us a visit!

We said good morning to him and settled back to sleep, despite the bright sunshine pouring into the room by then (sunrise in Copenhagen: 4:25 a.m.). Snowdrop was sure that it was nearly noon, but after I pointed her to the clock, she rolled over and we both gave in to slumber. 

 

Breakfast at the hotel. A buffet, which Snowdrop loves. She hasn't quite gone the Danish route, preferring an American pancake and a French croissant, but still, she is happy. Me, I go the full monty: dark, seeded bread and a pistachio Danish pastry. 

 

 

 

Since we do have excellent croissants in Madison these days, I look for other more local breakfast specials and Denmark provides my real favorites: their pastries are, in my mind, morning perfection. Deserving of a second cup of coffee. And not easily found back in the Midwest -- certainly not in my home town.

 

Hotel guests are allowed to enter Tivoli twenty minutes ahead of the general opening. You get this moment of quiet and it is wonderful.

(Well, quiet and empty aside from the rehearsal of the "military parade!" Yes, here as well. At a level even I can tolerate.)

 

For Snowdrop, the benefit of being an early bird is obvious: she gets to pick her ride of choice and go to the entrance, ensuring for herself a place in the first round of riders. This is a modest benefit as the lines here are not huge -- it's no Disneyland after all (though Disney himself was inspired by Tivoli in his vision for his own park in California), nonetheless, you get this tiny little perk and I, the one who stands by while she rides, do appreciate it!

She does two rides -- a big one... 

... and a lighter one that has mostly kids her age, pumping them up and down. Again and again.

 

 

 

(too much up and down for these little guys)

 

Snowdrop loves theme parks, but she isn't all out crazy about the most topsy turvy fast paced rides. She wont, for example, go on the roller coaster and especially not one that goes upside down. This is great for me as I do not have to stand by for the ones where young adults form long lines. She gets her fill early and shortly after noon, we pick a place for lunch. Actually she picks the place, giving one look to one menu, finding fish and chips on it, and telling me that she finds this to be perfect. I protest -- you'll likely have fish and chips tonight! So what, I like it. And this place has haddock. That's my favorite! Who knew.

(I pick a mushroom dish, with a quite excellent citrusy non-alcoholic beer at the side) 

I tell her I have an image for this perfect weather day. Yes, it includes Tivoli in the morning, but I did also book us a boat ride in the early afternoon. It's a good way to understand (at least a little bit) the lay out and thus history/culture of Copenhagen and Denmark in general.

We walk through the city, giving Snowdrop a first good look at this place.

 

 

 

 

 

I had chosen the Hygge Boat Tour both because of its size (small, just 12 people) and its duration (1 hour 10 mins -- which I imagine to be her tolerance level). Okay and a little because of its name! Offered by Stromma boat tours -- which is the same company that ran the boat trip I took on my previous trip to Copenhagen.

(the day demands sunglasses!)

 

 

Snowdrop is as patient with a guide spewing endless unverifiable facts at a crowd of people as I am.  Our group is half American and half German and I do find them to be polite and sensible. Our guide? A professional speak-to-the-lowest-common-denominator type. Snowdrop mostly tunes out. I mean, would you believe that his mom once left him in a stroller next to the stroller of the king of Denmark and when both moms came to retrieve their babes, there was a bit of confusion as to which was which? So that if there was an error made, we could be on the boat with the real king? Ufff... 

I think a boat tour does give a great overview of the city... 

... and I was hoping this one would (as the one my daughter booked for us two years ago did) take us to the statue of the Little Mermaid (having spent the entire cab ride yesterday telling Snowdrop about Hans Christian Andersen), but our guide claimed it was "too far." 

[One interesting and even believable fact offered by him was that you could rent a kayak for the canals and inlets and if you rent a green one, they will give you a bag and if you fill it with canal litter, you get the rental for free. Snowdrop found this to be inspiring! However -- the canals looked to me to be spiffy clean. you'd have a hard time filling a baggie let alone a garbage bag.]

After this brief Copenhagen exploration, we return to the hotel because there is a small pool here, really small! -- but lovely and basically empty as it's a very small hotel, and if you're ever going to try it out, today is the day for it. After we pick up an ice cream cup at Tivoli.

(I sip an alcohol free G&T. It feels decadent, even though it isn't.)

 

 

Dinner? We're starting our true seafood exploration with a meal at Kodbyens Fiskebar. It's in the meatpacking district -- an older, historically significant neighborhood of warehouses and buildings dating back to decades of meat slaughter and processing (early 20th c.). Bloody work! Snowdrop, who will not eat meat out of principle, was a bit unnerved. RIP, cows! -- she shouted toward the ghosts of those slaughtered here.

 

(this is what a fake smile looks like...) 

 

 

A couple of decades ago, the city decided to transform these blocks of functionalist buildings into a hub of eateries, bars and art galleries. It has a casual vibe and it does pack a crowd of locals and visitors, especially in great weather. 

 

 

 

The Fiskbar does take reservations so we are set!

The girl is a bit apprehensive after studying the menu. She loves fish, but in their fleshy form. Not, for example, fish heads. Nor ones adorned with sauces that may or may not be to her taste. But, we order well. I had white asparagus with Swedish langoustines, she had squid to start the meal. She preferred mine. Eventually we switched. She chose mussels for her second, I picked the pan fired hake. She liked hers just fine, but ate half of mine as well. 

 

  

 

A walk home is lovely. Still light and bright outside. Still in need of a Tivoli stroll, and of dessert...

The hotel gave her a coupon for a free balloon. You'd think a ten year old girl would not especially be thrilled with a balloon. You'd be wrong.

 

 

Me, I settled for an ice cream cone and a bench, from which I watched her go twice on what has (so far) become her "favorite" ride.

 

(with her escalator-chewed up shoe...) 

 

 

And of course, there is another evening of music, giving us time to exhale in our room. A late night again? Yes, it has to be that. I promised her we could go see the Tivoli light show after dark. At 10:30 p.m. 

(waiting)

(awed)

(the return)

At least she agreed to skip the fireworks scheduled for 11:30 p.m. This is what happens when darkness comes late!

with so much love... 

to Copenhagen

The trouble with pausing somewhere en route overnight is that you feel like you are traveling for a full three days. But in the end, I do not regret the Reykjavik stopover (we will return for a longer stay on our way back). Snowdrop loved her first walk through the town. It was a good beginning. Nonetheless, on this morning, we are destined to set the alarm early so that we can grab a quick breakfast at 7 and be in a cab by 7:30. Our flight to Copenhagen -- her second chosen city -- takes off at 10:30.

Of course, the confusion of night and day here is even greater for us because it is mid-June and we are so far north that it never does get dark at night. Sunset was at 11:58 p.m. and sunrise was at 2:59 a.m. and in between there was dusk or predawn or whatever you would call the uncommitted hours that are anything but dark. We loved it! Neither of us wanted to draw the curtains totally (Snowdrop pulls down a mask if she thinks it's too bright). And both of us slept like logs. We were that tired.

When I got up, just before 6, the sun was streaming on the bed. Iceland will have a uniquely sunny Friday. That is so rare here, that I expect everyone who is not at work or at school will be out and about for a total Vitamin D infusion! 

(view out our window)

 

 

We're in the breakfast room two minutes early. 

 

 

 

Snowdrop is in high spirits and she is hungry for their pancakes, salmon, and watermelon!

 

(Leaving the hotel)

 

 

And by 7:25 we are on our way, in the chariot of gold. (Why that label? Well, it costs that much to cab it to the airport. But we have little choice. There is no other rapid, early or convenient way to get there.) 

We take in the scenery: again the lupines, the waterfront, the mountains. 

 

 

 

The girl speculates if there is a place in the US that offers these views, this climate. I tell her maybe Minnesota? Maybe I should try Minnesota... She often falls in love with places we visit and speculates if maybe she could live there as an adult. (She did this even at the age of 4, in Belfast, trying to convince us that this was her choice place to move to after finishing school. Belfast!)

The check-in is smooth, the flight is on time. 

Three hours and two time zones later, we are in Denmark. 

We take a cab. It's one-fourth the price of the one in Reykjavik. Definitely a relief, especially since the hotel choice is a real splurge for me. We are at the Nimb, which has this very, very important virtue: it is positioned right inside the Tivoli Gardens. 

(the hotel's whimsical Moorish palace-esque facade, built more than 100 years ago, now decked with Scandinavian-esque interiors...)

Ever since she read about Tivoli (in another World War II book, this one set in Denmark), Snowdrop has been longing to see, to experience this very famous, very traditional amusement park. [Tivoli is the second oldest in the world theme park, opening its gates in mid 19th century. The world's oldest is also in Denmark; you'd need to add a few hundred years more to its age, but Tivoli is by far the more famous one. It inspired Disney when he traveled here in 1951. Now, it inspires Danes and visitors alike.] The Nimb hotel comes with free Gardens access and free passes for all the rides, which I suppose lessens the punch of the cost somewhat, but I am not a rides person, so it will be just her spinning and riding whatever is there.

The Nimb room is lovely.

And here's something that is unusual and so very welcome: the weather in Copenhagen for the four days we are here is exceptional: partly cloudy, mid to upper 60sF (18-20C). We may get a shower. I'll take a shower one afternoon over the more typical daily rain that comes and goes here without any announcement.

We have an hour before dinner. Would you like to take a first walk through the Gardens? -- I ask her. Oh yes, she would!

And her cup runneth over when I let her do one round on the merry-go-round. Definitely not the most exciting ride here, but she loves it!

 

 

 

 

 

(I, of course, like Tivoli because it is not just crazy asphalted commercialism. It has a gentler style. There are plenty of eateries, of the kind where you sit down and linger, and of course, there are flowers everywhere!)

 

 

We eat an early 6 p.m. dinner at the Nimb Brasserie. 

(she picks the fish and fries from the kid's menu, but we start off with appetizers (we are hungry!) and she opts for the mussels once again. She gets a pot-ful! 

 

 

For us this dinner is super early, because Copenhagen is two hours ahead of Reykjavik, but I wasn't sure if we would want to head out to eat far away after just arriving in the city. Too, we did not have a proper lunch. And yet another reason to be cautious about this evening and the next one as well:  there is this other element to staying at the Nimb that some may regard as a virtue, but I'm not so sure it is for us -- there are concerts and shows, both in the park and at the hotel on weekend nights. One starts when we are eating dinner. This particular vocalist appears to be immensely popular among young Danes, especially the young women. As Snowdrop and I stroll through the Gardens after dinner, I tell her that she will never again see so many shades of blonde in one place again.

 

 

 

 

 

She had said she'd forgo dinner dessert if she could just have an ice cream cone and cotton candy in the park tonight. Both?? -- I want to confirm what I'm hearing. 

Both. 

(I join in on the ice cream: they have black currant! what could be better during a Scandinavian summer?!)

And the music plays, and the sun is lower now -- it sets here two hours earlier than in Reykjavik, and as we return to the room, I'm wondering if we should stay up for the fireworks, or go to sleep early, or none of the above. I feel the need to not hand out too many yeses. And yet, why not? Why not just watch her joy and allow it to rub off a little?

We go inside. I want to unpack, we need to tidy things up in the room. The resident peacock wants to show off one last time for us and we are just fine with that!

with so much love... 

 

passing through Reykjavik

Iceland is about a six hour flight from the Midwest and about a three hour flight from the capitals of western Europe. Leaving yesterday evening has us arriving at 7 in the morning in Reykjavik, the northern most capital city in the world (it's also a five hour time change from CST). There is no way anyone is going to get a solid amount of sleep on such a flight. It's long enough to leave you tired, but not long enough to get you to close your eyes for more than a few minutes. Since I am traveling with a ten year old, and since I am now at an age were tiredness cannot easily be ignored, I booked a room for an early arrival. We're staying only one night (as I said yesterday, the itinerary of this trip is, well, whimsical!), but I thought we'd treat this first day of our trip gently -- with lots of downtime and perhaps an exploratory walk if the weather is decent.

We are greeted with rain and a temperature right around 50F (10C). Our plane was packed and at least three fourths of the seats were occupied by Viking cruise people, boarding their boat in Reykjavik, bound for Norway and the Netherlands. As Snowdrop remarked -- gaga, they are all your age! 

I splurged on a cab to our overnight hotel.  Our driver, from Afghanistan, was the perfect amount of chatty and quiet. It's a long ride into town and it's a real budget breaker of a trip! But then, everything in Iceland is a budget breaker. I asked him which countries sent the most tourists here and he said lately it's America, ever since Viking started it's huge ship cruises from Iceland. Then, too, England, and India. I wondered if he liked his life here (he'd emigrated six years ago). He says -- 50-50. The weather in the winter is just awful. Oh yes, I was here one late November weekend. I swear they just dont do daylight then!

We're staying at the Hotel Konsulat. 

 

  

 

I know, it has been taken over by a chain and I avoid chains when in Europe, but it has so much going for it (especially, comparatively, the price) that I kept returning to its website again and again. And I'm glad I did. The room is small, but quite okay.

 

 

 

We leave our bags, she showers, we go down to breakfast. Which is fine enough -- upped considerably by the addition of very good smoked salmon. The girl loves it and so do I.

And now comes a bit of a rest. I know you're supposed to keep going and not give in to tiredness in order to adjust to new time zones quickly, but I think that's great advice for those aged 10 to 70. Everyone else should take it easy that first day!

Eventually we head out. Snowdrop tells me -- Reykjavik is not drab! Though I'm not sure I'd want my photo on a building wall...

 

 

 

She is eager to get to the shore ("I've never seen the Arctic Ocean!"). I like the idea of some sort of lunch. Maybe at a bakery?

(Their lilacs are in bloom just now. As are the lupines. We saw fields of them by the airport. Blue and white and beautiful.) 

 

I'd noted a handful of bakeries and cafes in the area. We walk over to one of them -- the Hygge Coffee and Microbakery. Sounds like one right up my alley!

(pastries -- sort of Danish, a little French, all very good!)

I hear an exchange between two of the four people behind the counter. Polish! I answer in kind. Yes, they are indeed from Poland. All four.

Snowdrop and I take our treats outside (madelines for her, a blueberry cinnamon danish for me.)

 

The sun comes out for a few seconds and if it weren't for the Arctic wind, I'd say it's almost warm. Ish.

Snowdrop claims she loves countries with cooler climates. People are funny -- she say. They want to go to warm places in the winter and cool places in the summer. Me, I really am a northern girl. 

Nonetheless, we stop at H&M to buy her an extra sweater. She's into large. Me, I'm happy: H&M is the first reasonably priced place I've seen in this country (where even a pause in a bathroom will cost you 200 Icelandic Krona -- nearly $2). 

We walk along the shore. Reykjavik is small -- about half the size of Madison. Heck, Iceland itself is tiny if you consider the numbers. 393 000 people. That's the whole country. Wisconsin, a sparsely populated state, has fifteen times that number.

We pass an ice cream shop. Can I??? 

 

 

The girl loves the walk: the views to the mountains, half hidden in a layer of clouds, the calm waters of the bay,  fishing boats, signs on the shore alerting you to whaling expeditions. And to fish eateries.

 

 

 

 

I have in mind a pause at two places: the Harpa Concert Hall, which I think is an amazing piece of architecture and the Sun Voyager Sculpture. The large sculpture makes you think that the artist had the Vikings in mind when he designed it, but in fact it is merely an idea of a dream boat moving toward the sun, toward light, with hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We head up toward the main drag now -- the Laugavegur. All pedestrian, full of shops.

 

 

A puffin was purchased (puffins figure prominently on the list of reasons Snowdrop wanted to visit Iceland). Not this one.

 

 

 

And down the hill we go, to once again rest in our hotel at the bottom of the incline.

 

 

Dinner is at an Italian eatery -- Grazie Trattoria. So many of our remaining dinners are at fish restaurants, but for this first evening (is it evening when the sun is overhead?) I thought I'd start us off with the easy and familiar menu. And yes, she does opt for a pizza (as do I), but she also adds a first course of mussels (loves them!), and a last course of Tiramisu (loves it!). You'd think this would be a good low cost dinner. Ha! It is good, but far from low cost.

Tomorrow, very early in the morning, we take IcelandAir to Copenhagen. We'll see more of Iceland on our way back.

with love... 

a very convoluted journey

Sometime in January, I purchased airline tickets for the trip I am about to take with Snowdrop. I can't say that I came up with the best itinerary. I was limited by prices and connections. It's not easy to link the three destinations (of her choice) in a smooth way, or at least I could not come up with a better plan then. As a result, the trip is a bit choppy. We're moving around too much. One night here, next four there, then three elsewhere, and then back to square one for another four. What can I say, I don't have a private plane to zip us in a synchronized fashion to where we want to be at exactly the dates we want to be there. So, there is this built-in element of adventure: will we connect? Will my suitcase show up where it should? 

I am not worried.

I also kept the level of activity to a moderate level and here's how this will impact Ocean: I no longer like writing posts after dinner late into the night. The forced wakefulness impacts the quality of the night. I dont want to be sleep deprived every day. So, I'll try to not go overboard with photos or text. You'll hear from me, but I want to tame down my enthusiasm for throwing in details of a day. The girl is getting older and can take a more demanding schedule. That will be its own challenge. I can't add to it by writing extensively each and every day. (I'm sure you'll be grateful for a more compact story!)

 

My morning at the farmette is a bit rushed. I haven't packed, I need to finish watering the tubs and, too, we want to release Pancake from the Writer's Shed (he had surgery yesterday) and assess the state of his health.  

Okay, morning walk. The fields are getting ready for their big month -- July!

  

 

 

And of course breakfast, on the porch, with the guy who makes me smile every single day of the year. 

 

 

 

Then we try to feed and release Pancake. Eventually we succeed, but the cat is in a hiding mode and once coaxed out, he hightails it out of there, disappearing into the fields beyond the farmette. I will be curious if and when he comes back.

And then I pack. And take one last look at everything, including the day lily that appeared (one of the first!) -- a reminder of what I will be coming home to.

 

 

 

It's an exciting trip! Even as I miss leaving all that I leave behind. That's travel for me, in a nutshell.

P.S.  First adventure: getting a shoe stuck in the stair of an escalator at Minneapolis Airport. Snowdrop said -- when I was little, I used to wonder if an escalator could suck you in. Now I know it can! After many tries by very many Delta people, one managed to twist and wrench the shoe out. Snowdrop was patient and somewhat amused. She is unconcerned that her shoe now looks like this:

 

 

Tomorrow, if all goes well, I'll post from Reykjavik -- for which Snowdrop does have warmer shoes. And socks, which she likes to avoid, unless she is about to ski down a mountain. We'll see if chilly Iceland has her reaching for them!

with so much love...