Tivoli Gardens

Our zoo pass has not been the only thing keeping Alex and I busy during the week these past months.  We also bought a season pass to Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world, and one of the cutest places I've ever visited.  I've been taking Alex nearly every week for quite some time now, and I'm very sad that yesterday was the last day of the season. :-(

At least we took full advantage while it was open.  I kept our camera very busy on our many adventures at Tivoli, so if you like pictures you are in for a treat.

Please to enjoy:

The front entrance

Rasmus Klump - The Tivoli Mascot

Happy Family

Peacock Theater

Pirate Ship
I'm thinking Walt Disney must have spent a little time in CPH, no?

Fun with a xylophone

Alex is too small for most of the rides at Tivoli, but that didn't stop him from enjoying looking at them.  We explained to him that there were people riding on the one pictured below, and any time he saw it he would exclaim "People!  Spinning round and round!"

Marveling at the spinning people.

Many our our early trips to Tivoli involved a roughly 15 minute period of watching the carousel.  I didn't take Alex on though because I wanted to wait for a visit when Russ was with us so he could take our picture.  So I have a lot of these sad photos of Alex looking forlorn as the merry-go-round takes another spin without him.

Finally, Dad joined us and Alex got to ride on the camel!

Parenting mistake #381:  I thought it would be fun to share an ice cream cone with Alex (by the way, they put jam and whip cream on ice cream cones here!?!).  Um, not so fun actually.  He had a giant tantrum over needing to hold the ice cream cone himself (Exhibit A.  Please note the blurred feet due to frantic kicking).  And as you can see in the photo below (Exhibit B), he ultimately won out in the end (parenting mistake #382).

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

A funny story from our first visit to Tivoli:  I went to take the below photo of the main entrance and as I snapped my shot I noticed that other people had jumped in front of me to take the same photo.  Hmmm.  It's a nice picture, but why so popular?  

On closer inspection (and with confirmation from our Danish friends), it turns out that Prince Joachim of Denmark and his wife were walking right toward me!:

My guess is that they were on their way to one of the two Michelin starred restaurants at Tivoli. (Side note: Copenhagen is apparently the current culinary capitol of the world with 13 Michelin starred restaurants, more than any other city in Europe.  Sadly, Alex and fancy restaurants do not mix.  Sigh.).

Another exciting time at Tivoli involved Alex and I stumbling upon a mother duck and her adorable swarm (school? pack?) of baby ducks:

This duck was actually nesting in a plant.
I mean seriously, how cute is that?

And a few more happy moments captured in pictures:

Oh Tivoli.  You magical land of fairy gardens and carnival rides and sweet treats.  What a summer we've shared, and how we shall miss you!

JoJo in Deutschland

Wow, September is really flying by!  My apologies for so few posts this month.  I will blame it on a mean cold that took over Alexander's (and therefore also my) life for a week or so.  Naps were few and far between, so there was little time for blogging.  And then we were busy with our trip to Germany, which I shall tell you about now.

We of course went to visit darling Brinja, who you may recall from a.) Your life (as many of you know this sweet gal), or B.) Previous blog post fame. We left last Thursday and traveled by train from Copenhagen to Brinja's hometown of Elmshorn, just outside of Hamburg.  Alex has been very interested in trains lately, so he was thrilled to ride on one.  This particular route is especially cool as the train actually boards a ferry to cross the Baltic Sea.  All passengers are required to exit the train and head to the upper decks of the ferry for the 45 minute crossing.

We went outside on the top deck of the ferry to see the ocean and it was SO WINDY!  Then we headed to the cafeteria for a snack:

The whole trip took just under 6 hours.  Alex held up quite well for the duration.  He loved the ferry ride and he very much enjoyed spotting cows and windmills out the window of the train (and he insisted on having seen goats too, but I can't confirm that).

So we arrived a little after 3 PM and Brinja was there to scoop us from the train station and take us to her (and our) friends Irina and Christian's house.  We actually stayed with Irina and Chris for this trip, as their house was a little more accommodating of our high-maintenance, traveling-with-toddler, selves.  They have a little baby (Frederick), and all the baby gear one could hope for in a home away from home (Thank you Irina and Christian--you guys are the best!).

Once we were situated, we figured Alex could use a little outdoor time, so Brinja walked us to a beautiful nearby park.  Unfortunately, Alex fell asleep as soon as we arrived and he snoozed through a whole hour of us grown-ups on the merry-go-round, rope swing, and three-person swing:

That evening Irina baked us a smorgasbord of pizza, and we had a lovely dinner together.

On Friday morning we woke up VERY early (5 AM, thank you Alexander).  Once the sun joined us we took a morning stroll to Irina's local bakery.  The woman at the shop was so sweet, and so apologetic for not understanding our failed attempts at German, that she ended up giving us free pastries and rolls.  It was  a good omen for all the kindness and generosity that continued to be bestowed upon us throughout our stay in Germany.

Later that morning Irina and baby Frederick escorted us to town for a little shopping and coffee while Brinja was at work.  Brinja met us at lunch time and took us back to work with her.  She is a English teacher, so she made a fun lesson out of our visit and brought us to school with her for the last class of the day.  Her students had prepared questions for us like "What do you find to be the biggest differences between the US and Europe?" and "Is it true that California boys are all surfer dudes?"

We actually had a great time chatting with Brinja's class.  They got to practice English, and we got to learn a little about what young Germany thinks of the US.  I was very amused to learn from Brinja afterward that one student (who had studied abroad in Scotland) was annoyed by our American accents and therefore did not want to participate in the dialogue with us that day.

Brinja, Alex, and I walking outside Brinja's school

Friday evening we were invited to Brinja and Irina's friends Jochen and Katrine's house for a dinner of authentic German spätzle.  This is a traditional noodle dish from Jochen's home in Southern Germany. 

Russ, trying his hand at the spatzle-maker

Brinja and Jochen

Jochen and Katrine have a little son, Mattis, who is just a month older than Alex.  The two boys had a great time playing together that night:

On Saturday Brinja took us to Hamburg for some shopping and site seeing.  We had fun being dorky tourists:

Russ, sneaking onto the "Men's only" street in the Reeperbahn,
Hamburg's red light district

We just had to get these awesome glasses  ;-)

Saturday night we had another fabulous meal with all our German friends, this time a delicious pork roast prepared by Irina. 


Then on Sunday we ended up going to Hamburg again to show Alex the train museum. This museum was a trip.  There were mini-replicas of cities and towns from all over the world, and a system of trains that traveled through the whole of it.  Very detailed. Most surprising to me was how popular this place was.  It was wall-to-wall crowded.  I never knew there were so many miniature train enthusiasts!

After the museum we walked around the city's canals and new harbor, taking in the sites and trying not to freeze cuz it was very cold!  

  

Sunday night Brinja treated us to a meal of schnitzel and other yummy German goodies from a local restaurant.  We wrapped up the trip with a tearful farewell.   It has been a huge highlight of this European adventure that we've been able to see Brinja twice in just two months.  I wish we could go on seeing her so often . . .


So that was it.  Monday morning we were off to the train station, and back home again in time for Alexander's afternoon nap.  


Many thanks to Brinja and all her wonderful friends for such an fun visit!  


PS--Thanks also for the SesamStrasse Grobi snacks.  They were deelish!

Perfection

The weather here lately has been absolutely gorgeous.  Not California gorgeous, where it's toasty warm with endless skies of blue, but rather northern Europe gorgeous, with crisp cool air and huge fluffy clouds. See:

Of course it is always teetering on rain, and in a matter of moments the skies will transform from fluffy clouds, to overcast, to drizzling, back to fluffy clouds.  But the overall effect is lovely and refreshing.  


Last Saturday Russ, Alex, and I had a fantastic day enjoying this fall-ish weather in this beautiful city.  We headed out early and walked along the lakes (of duck feeding fame, and as featured above) to the botanical gardens.  We wandered around for an hour or so admiring the flora and fauna, gathering sticks, and running about.

Botanical Gardens, An Overview

He kept saying "Purple Lavender"
which is very amusing to me in its redundancy.

The Greenhouse, Featuring Butterflies

The Danish word for butterfly is "sommerfugl"
which literally translates as "summer bird."  So cute!

Alex and Russ

Alex et Moi

Once we'd had our fill of pinecone examinations and leaf collecting we crossed back over the lakes to a section of town called Nørrebro which seems to be the hip/immigrant/artsy/yuppie area of town.  Lots of eclectic shops, flea markets, and cute cafes. There was a food fare going on, which we wandered through and contemplated eating at, but it was still a bit early and most booths weren't really ready to feed our hungry bellies, so we decided on a cafe instead.

Food Fare

We ate lunch here

It was a Danish Feast

After lunch we crossed the road to a playground, where everyone found something fun to do:

Post playground we headed home to put master Alexander down for his afternoon nap.  While he slept I snuck out for a little shoe shopping (!). That evening we went upstairs to Sixten and Lene's for a yummy lamb dinner.  Daniel (Albert's dad) was over, and we all stayed up late into the evening laughing and talking together (except for Alex, who went to sleep at his usual bedtime like a good boy.  This is a huge plus of having friends in the same building.  We can stay home with the baby while he sleeps, and yet at the same time attend a dinner party with our friends).

What a fun day.  The three of us adventuring around town, followed by some shopping time for mama and then a delicious meal with good friends.  It has been among my favorite times in Copenhagen to date.