Denmark

(post by John, pictures by Jen)

We celebrated the end of our second school year in Amsterdam by traveling to Denmark for a long weekend.   I had traveled to Copenhagen on two separate occasions for business when I worked for Medtronic and I thoroughly enjoyed the city http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen.  The city itself is small and compact, much like Amsterdam and thus it is quite easy to see most of the city during a short stay.

The Kids on the Hans Christian Andersen Statue

We arrived on Thursday, June 21^st, the longest day of the year!  Copenhagen is not quite as far north as Norway, but it was still light out until well past 11pm.  We rented an apartment quite close to the city center and found a trendy local eatery for dinner where we were treated to Danish cuisine and a wonderful Danish desert...but I can't remember the name :(. 

Beautiful Seaside Houses

Friday morning we awoke to rain…so we went to a museum!  This museum of Danish History was highly rated in our guide book but it did not live up to our expectations.  We continued to dodge the rain for the afternoon until it finally stopped around mid-afternoon.  At that point we started a hop-on, hop-off tour of the city in an open-top, double decker bus.  It was during this tour that we saw Copenhagen’s most famous landmark, the little mermaid statue by the sea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid_(statue).  This statue is dedicated to the story written by Hans Christian Andersen.

The Little Mermaid

That evening we discovered a great Indian restaurant and a park!

Saturday was the first of two amusement park days.  In the center of Copenhagen is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world, the original Tivoli Gardens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoli_Gardens.  I wasn’t expecting much from the “old amusement park,” but we were all very pleasantly surprised!  Modern and clean yet retaining a nostalgic feel throughout, Tivoli Gardens was awesome!  We spent the entire day at the park.

Tivoli Gardens

Early in the evening we boarded a train for Billund, Denmark http://www.legoland.dk/en/.  Why Billund?  Because that is the world headquarters for Lego! [insert link].  Yes, Denmark is the birthplace of Legos and WE LOVE LEGOS!!!.  We arrived Saturday night and met the Kopps, our friends from Amsterdam, for a full-day at Legoland Denmark on Sunday.

Our Second Legoland Adventure!

Have you ever spent a full day at an outdoor amusement park in the pouring rain?  We have!  The rain didn’t dampen our spirits as we enjoyed a day of rides and viewing Lego structures.  One significant advantage of touring an amusement park in the rain is there are very few other people at the park which means no lines for the rides!  We had a wonderful time with the Kopps at Legoland.

The Feriancek & Kopps kids in front of Mini-Legoland

We woke up early Monday morning for a 6am flight back to Amsterdam after a great trip to Denmark.

Take care,

John