The girls set off an adventure today. After staying up with Catherine for 5 nights and pushing about 80 pounds of luggage all over the streets of Copenhagen, Billund and Fredericksburg, Brian needed a day of sleep. So I took Sarah and Catherine to find Fredericksburg Park – one of the largest in Copenhagen. Given that it was nearly 30 mins away, we found it truly an adventure – especially when we had to find our way around a cycling event smack dab in the middle of google’s route plan for us. 

We found our way through myriad little streets and eventually wound up entering the park on the wobblestones – Sarah’s apropos term for the cobblestones. Immediately we relaxed surrounded by the greenery, ducks, cranes and herons. We set out to find the playground. And this time, we struck gold!

The playground had about a half dozen hammocks instead of swings. Immediately I was grateful because Catherine could swing – and get out of her chair for a bit after the bumpy ride. 

    

Of course Sarah didn’t want to miss out on the fun and she quickly crawled in with her sister. This was one of the sweetest moments for me so far on the trip. 

 

 
   
We headed back after several hours in the park and just before Brian was starting to wonder if he should come looking for us. I was proud of our little girl adventure. We relaxed, didn’t get lost and had a great time. 

  
  
Sarah named her Popsicle “Poppy”. It’s a girl!

  
  
  

Sarah is helping with this blog post. We discussed things that are the same in Copenhagen and different and she compiled this list. 

Same –

Some people speak English too

They have busses and trains and airplanes. 

Everybody uses their phone all the time. 

They have yummy pizza. 

We have lots of Legos and the same kind. 

We have toilets in the train. 

Different –

They have lots of windmills. 

Lots of people smoke here. 

They speak Danish. 

Lots of people ride bikes – even to work. 

A lot of people have blue eyes and blonde hair. 

It’s really expensive. A soft drink in a machine costs $5. 

They use krone rather than dollars. 

Legos are more expensive in Denmark. 

McDonalds at home does not have sweet pineapple!

Hamburgers taste different here – they are harder but you can still bite into them. 

 Mmmmm. McDonalds tastes different but still good.

  
Look at all the bikes outside the train station. 

i have been having difficulty posting. I am trying to see if this works. Briefly – this is a photo of Sarah’s Lego creation. It’s a girl in a raft selling helmets to people on the river who need them. Note the cash register! Gotta love the creativity and entrepreneurial idea!

 Ok – never mind that. The images aren’t uploading at all 😡

  
Sorry! Will try again later. Have to get some sleep. Off to LegoLand tomorrow.  
 

Apparently the “happiest people on earth” are happy because so many are cared for by the government. At least that’s what we read. We’ve not found that happiness flowing to the tourists though. In fact, the people who are nice and friendly are so rare they stand out like a 70-degree day in the middle of February.

For example – and I’m not making this up – this is what happened today at the train information center. I stood in line behind about 20 people. I understand that the woman at the counter probably gets the same questions every hour of every day. But that’s her job. And this is how the conversation went when I finally reached the top of the queue:

Do you speak English? 

Ya

I’m trying to get my family to LegoLand – to Billund. Which train do I take?

I cannot sell you tickets. 

Ok – what train do I take it how do I get tickets?

The train leaves at 11:03. 

(It’s 10:45 and the family is still back at the room getting packed) What if we miss that train?

It goes every hour. 

Which train is it? 

Frishshahahahah (I have no idea what she said)

What number is it?

It changes. 

So how do I know how to get there? 

(By now we are both frustrated and she is losing patience with me) FRISHESHASHAHA or Cosheshahahahah or spachashahahha again no idea what she said)

Can you spell that for me please? 

I cannot spell all of those! 

I walk away figuring I will have to try another way later. But seriously – would it have been so hard to say “Take a train to Fredericia, then get a bus to Billund”? 

After packing up, we got to the station in time to make the 12:03 but the queue to buy tickets was ridiculous. The best a man could offer by way of help was “just wait.”  They were on number 459 and we had to start over after 499 and make our way to our #70. That would be a long wait and we might still be sitting there. It’s 1:10 now and spoiler alert… We are on a train. 

I saw a window labeled lost and found with only one person in line. They were buying a Copenhagen card – a card that gives you discounts to various attractions. I decided to pretend like I needed that and asked some questions. Eventually I got around to needing to go to LegoLand. 

Ya! I can help you with that!!

Jackpot. A few mins later we had all the tickets we needed – round trip as I didn’t want to hassle with all this train stuff again – and we had 7 mins to make it with our 2 huge bags and a wheelchair to platform 8. Thankfully some cute guys with a soccer ball pointed us to our track which happened to be right in front of us. And we were off again! 

Apparently there is massive construction being done on the rail lines and we are going to be delayed and have to make another transfer. At least we are on the way toward another leg of our journey though.

Will attempt to upload the photo on the train later. It’s not working now.     

We slept 14!!! hours! And then we set off to find the National Museum – one of the country’s shining jewels apparently. And there is also a National Galley – not to be confused… though we did. 

It didn’t matter though because we wanted to go there anyway. They have a drawing room for kids with paper and pencils to encourage budding artists to observe more closely and share what they see. Sarah saw a lot!

   
 
There was a reflecting pool out front with chairs in it so we could sit in the middle of the pool and listen to a saxophone player which Catherine seemed to enjoy. That allowed some time for Sarah to make her way to the middle of the pool also. 

   
 
And finally we made our way to Tivoli – well Sarah and I did. There wasn’t much for Catherine to do there so she and Brian took a break from the bumpy cobblestones and rested in the room. Good thing too since it POURED down rain on us forcing us into a waffle shop where we had waffles, donuts and soft ice cream for dinner!! Sarah thought she was in heaven. 

The rain didn’t stop us from closing down the park at 11 PM and then going out for pizza. Didn’t I say Sarah is 7 going on 17?? The 7 year old came out when she found all the puddles in Copenhagen and splashed to her heart’s content. Was a good first day in the city. 

   
    
 
This morning we got up to a big breakfast in our hostel. Catherine thinks she’s still on US time though! And today we hope to find the actual National Museum. Wish us luck!!

  

Two things are immediately different in Copenhagen. One, the family discussed; the other hasn’t been mentioned by anyone yet. 

First – it’s astounding how many people smoke here! I’ve gotten used to that being rare and it’s definitely taken some adjusting since landing. Sarah even commented that all the butts on the ground are not good for the environment. And she was the first to mention the observation about the smokers. Yuck!

Second – people stare. Maybe they stare at home and I am simply used to it. I don’t think so though. Seeing a kid out and about in a wheelchair must be pretty rare here – and I can understand why with all the cobblestone streets. We have even run into canal tours that cannot accommodate a wheelchair. Frustrating! We simply zigged and took the bus tour instead. And the driver didn’t even know there was a ramp on the bus! Like I said – sometimes it takes more work. We’re doing it though! And so far so good. 

  
At the CPH airport after getting our first Kroner.   

Fifteen years ago, Brian and I were making our way through Costa Rica on the tail end of a lifetime dream to backpack around the world. Travel was in my DNA as I grew up hearing stories from my Grandmommy about how to turn your rings into your hands so people wouldn’t cut off your fingers to steal them! She traveled all over the world before it was as relatively easy as it is today. And she inspired me to travel. 

When Catherine was born the idea of traveling internationally fizzled. The dream never died though and my stepbrother actually made sure Catherine and we got to Aruba. One baby step outside our borders. 

Today, we leave for Copenhagen! We are going to prove to ourselves what we said when Catherine was born. She can do anything – we just may have to work a little harder and get a little morecreative. So here we go working a little harder and definitely with some creativity. We’re staying in a hostel and then in a flat we booked through airbnb. Gotta stay progressive! 

The other purpose for the trip is to teach Sarah that there are lots of ways to live in the world and we don’t always have the “right” way in the U.S. Our way is usually pretty good. The trip around the world taught us that. It’s definitely not the only way though. And with any luck, Sarah will be inspired to travel and explore this great big wide wonderful world. So far, she’s most excited to see the Little Mermaid and go to amusement parks. We’ll hit Tivoli of course and LegoLand and then venture to the oldest amusement park in the world – Bakken. 

So will will prove that Catherine can internationally and inspire Sarah to love to travel the globe? We’ll just have to wait and see…

  
Wheels and luggage – here we go!