We slept really well last night in the Hotel Nebo. Avi only woke and grunted around a couple times; nursed him once. He, did, however wake up bright and early at 7am. yuck. oh well. I put him on the floor to wander around for a bit and that woke up Bethany and Zoe. We were hungry so I went out to pop into the 7-11 for some breakfast, but it was closed. A walk around the block saw almost all the stores closed but for a little bakery. So, I grabbed 3 interesting looking items from there and some juice. Two out of three were great! One was a pretty gross little fruitcake I thought looked like an egg and bacon kind of muffin.
After having a restful morning at the hotel we packed up and checked out. Left our overnight bags in their bag room again, and then wandered downtown. By 10 the rest of the town was waking up, so it was a nice stroll in the crisp sunny morning air. Shops were opening and vendors were setting up at the market. The town has a lot of cobblestone to rumble over, so Avi fell asleep for a morning nap. Our first goal for the day was climbing to the top of the Round Tower at the Trinitatis church. We were so surprised, and Zoe was super excited, that there weren’t stairs but a long steep spiral ramp! cool! Zoe basically ran up the ramp the whole way. She kept stopping in these tiny alcolves saying, “I win”. which gave Bethany and I (pushing the stroller) the chance to catch up. At the top there was a small steep set of spiral steps to the viewing area, so we parked the stroller and headed up! The view was gorgeous!! The whole city and the waterways and all. Such a beautiful clear day. On the way back down there were a few displays and an art exhibit. We were heading for the art exhibit and Zoe ran right in to the clear glass door – HARD. She wailed. I grabbed her and we sat and snuggled for a while; it really hurt. This is the second one of these she’s hit on this trip, by the way. Needless to say we skipped the art and headed back down the tower. Zoe rode piggy back this time since she was still hurting.
Our next goal was the Rosenborg castle., On the way we got to see the changing of the guard parade from a distance. Zoe was excited about that! Still, we needed to find a place to grab some picnic lunch on the way. There are 7-11’s on almost every intersection in Copenhagen except when you need to find one. Seriously. I started taking pictures of all of them; they are everywhere!! But, not between the tower and the castle. So we wandered off track a bit and found one near the Norreport train station – stocked up on some hot bun hotdog-type dealy-o’s, chips, and fruit. Then, it was back to the castle.
Rosenborg castle was King Christian IV’s home-made design and it’s still decked out in period furniture. We had to stash all our junk except cameras into lockers and then toured the castle. Bethany and I thought it was great! We even paid an extra fee to take pictures. The kids were not as impressed. Zoe was tired and hungry, and Avi wanted to crawl around. The highlight, though, was the Danish crown jewels in the basement. Zoe perked up at the idea of crowns and jewelry and loved it! The jewels were impressive, but the funniest thing was hearing Zoe yell, “I want one like that” as if she was just shopping. Avi really started to fuss at this point, so I took him out while Bethany and Zoe spent time ogleing the tiara’s. Bethany said Zoe wanted her to take a picture of one crown, “for her birthday list”. awesome.
Attached to Rosenborg castle is a lovely city park. The whole place was hopping with people out enjoying the sun. I really think this is the first nice spring weekend they’ve had and all the locals were thawing. We stayed in the park for a long time eating our packed lunch and just relaxing. It’s a lot of work walking all over the place with the two kids. We have the stroller and buggy board, so they are both rolling, but it’s exhausting on all the cobblestone and through crowds. Zoe had fun at the park playing with some ladybug friends and Avi crawled all over the grass and played standing up against the stroller. So nice. We also tried a quick visit to the playground. It was odd, however, and kind of just a big sandpit. Then Zoe had to use the bathroom so we exited.
Avi fell asleep in the stroller and Zoe rode though she was sleepy and grumpy at that point. we walked through a cool part of town that used to be naval housing and on to the Katellet – the castille. It was a neat old star-shaped fort with a double moat and huge ramparts. Zoe was super sleepy, so we switched her to the stroller and Bethany held Avi in the carrier. Just before we walked through the gates they were both sleeping. yippee! It was nice to have a leisurely tour without getting snacks or drinks out or reminding Zoe to leave the flowers. The interior of the castille is half city park and half working military place. The matching buildings were neat and there was an especially cool windmill that we trucked up the ramparts to see. Our last stop for the day was the adjacent Anglican church and Gefion fountain. This is supposed to be the most impressive fountain in Copenhagen. Well, it wasn’t on. And the church was under construction. In fact, the whole city seems to be under construction. Seems like they are undergoing some kind of crazy sewer update because roads everywhere are just ripped up with drainpipes piled all up.
By the time we were done walking through the castille and seeing that fountain Bethany and I were tired. We took the train back to the hotel, picked up our bags, and visited the all-you-can-eat-pizza deal place by the hotel. Copenhagen is crazy expensive so we saved money by eating from grocery or food we bought, so by tonight we were pretty starved and it was close. The kids woke up and also had some food. Avi hasn’t been eating solid food very well this trip. I’m used to him eating a ton, but he’s been super picky. Don’t know if it’s because he had a runny nose when we got here – it’s gone now thanks to German herbal remedies – or if he just doesn’t like the taste of jarred food. I also think maybe he’s just too distracted with new things.
After gorging ourselves we headed into the main train station and took the train to the airport. We were well ahead of our flight, so after check i we played in the family area for over an hour. The flight went great. Avi fell asleep before takeoff and then woke just in time for snacks. He then fell back asleep. Zoe, however, was awake the whole time and fell asleep just before landing. The pilot had to do a go-around for cross winds so it took longer than the promised 1 hour flight. We then waited for the crew to get our stroller and loaded up the kids. The stroller has seen better days. One back wheel is now broken – it kind of just flops along with it’s twin that is now wonky. It runs, but I’m not sure how much longer the wheels will last – they’ve been stiff and won’t rotate for a while now (even before we headed to Europe) – I might be in the market for a new one soon. Anyway, we only had carry-ons so we made our way down to the train platform where the train was waiting. Unfortunately it continued to wait for a while before departing. That put us in Nuess just after midnight when all the public transpo seems to stop running out of the bahnhof. So we hoofed it. It’s only about a mile and the cool air felt good after being in hot airports all evening. The kids were still just passed out. Bethany limped along the stroller with Zoe in it, while I carried Avi. We kept the lights low when we got to Bethany’s place, and though the kids briefly woke it wasn’t a struggle to get them back to sleep in bed. whew!