Good bye Denmark

After being away for two and a half months, we finally returned to New York on Saturday, the 11th. I didn't mean to be absent for this long, but we were busy packing the night before we left, and since we came back, we have been terribly jet-lagged, I was too exhausted to write a post.

But anyway, what a great summer we had in Denmark. For many reasons, I think we enjoyed our stay this year even more than we did last year (and we had a good time last year as well!). The kids were a year older so things were a little easier, we lived in the city center, and we knew the streets better, etc. We have been back in New York for just two days, and already, all the things we cherished while in Denmark seem so far away, and I miss them all - the long daylight, the almost daily ice cream, the countless packs of juicy strawberries, the amazing breads, the beautiful parks, the kind people, the city of bikes, and so on. Denmark is a beautiful country.

We were very fortunate to have this opportunity, and I would like to thank DIS for inviting Jonathan to teach again this summer, and also for allowing us to travel as a family. I would also like to thank my family and friends and whomever, who have followed my blog over the last two months. It meant a lot to me, and it was such a big motivation for me to keep posting. So thanks.

We still have another month before the kids' school begins (yikes!), so between going to the park and seeing friends, maybe I will have a chance to go through the 3,000 photos I took over the last two months. We may or may not be in Denmark again next year. But if we do, and if there's going to be another blog, I hope you come visit it again. But we'll see...

Signing off,
Namiko

6 hours in Oslo (and 36 on a ship!)

Our last big event of our long journey was a trip to Oslo, Norway, on a cruise ferry. Oh, and right before we left, we threw a lunch party at our apartment for the DIS staff who work in the Architecture and Design department with Jonathan. It was a lot of fun, and the kids enjoyed putting paper between all the guests' toes (don't ask!). It was nice to celebrate, once again, the end of the long semester with those who'd worked closely with Jonathan in Denmark.

Anyway, back to the cruise. Jonathan had done the same trip twice before on his study tours, and he wanted show us the city. It takes about eighteen hours each way from Copenhagen to Oslo and back. Our ship, MS Crown of Scandinavia, left the port on 4:45 pm on Tuesday, and arrived in Oslo around 10:15 AM the next day. Then we had about six hours to explore Oslo, and the ship departed at 4:30 pm, returned to Copenhagen at about 10:00 am the next day (Thursday).

Here are some of the highlights of our trip.

THE SHIP - Copenhagen~Oslo

We took the train to Nordhavn station to get to the cruise terminal. Once we got off the station, it was so confusing to get to the terminal, we almost missed our boat! We made it to the terminal, all frustrated and exhausted, with just five minutes to spare. Whew!

We quickly went through the customs, and finally boarded the ship. Our cabin was at the very end of the hallway on Deck 5. As soon as we walked in to the hallway, it totally reminded me of the movie "Titanic", and the Celine Dion song from the movie was going through my head... (and I am not a Celine Dion fan!). Our cabin was a very cosy room with four beds. As soon as we dropped off our luggages in our cabin, we headed straight to the bar out on the deck to see Copenhagen fade away into the distance.

Our cabin. 

"♪Near, far, wherever you are...". Ok, this is not Titanic...

In our cabin. 

Enjoying the sun on the deck as we sailed out. 

I had never been on a cruise ship before, and even though this is only a "cruise ferry" that just goes back and forth between Copenhagen and Oslo, I was quite impressed with the amenities they had on. For example, the kids had plenty to do. They also had a big "duty free" shop, and you could really forget that you are out in the sea. That is, until the ship starts rocking. I get sea sick when I'm on a boat, but this time, I totally forgot about it - actually it didn't occurred to me that I would get sea sick on such a big cruise ship that moves so steadily. But a few hours into our trip, the sea started to get pretty rough. Unfortunately, I got quite sick from this rough ride, and the night was totally not enjoyable for me... I could not wait to get off the ship!

I even had a hard time sleeping with the ship still rocking, but when the morning came, the sea was calm, and I didn't feel sick any more. After we finished our breakfast, we went out to the deck again to see the ship sail into the fjords. The landscape was flatter than I expected, but it was still very scenic and fun to sail through the fjords.  And we arrived in Oslo, Norway at around 10:15 am.

Calm sea in the morning sun.

Sailing into the fjords of Norway.

OSLO OPERA HOUSE

Our first stop was the Oslo Opera House. Ever since Jonathan told me about this opera house coming back from his trips, I have always wanted to visit it - it sounded so amazing. And today, I finally had the chance to visit it, and I was truly amazed how beautiful it was.

The building is pretty new (construction was completed in 2007), and it is made to look like an iceberg.  It is located by the water, and you can see in the photos below the proximity to our cruise ship. The building is made of white marble, and you can climb on the outside from the bottom all the way to the top of the building, and back from the other side. The interior is equally beautiful. In contrast with the marble and glass exterior, the big hall is all made of wood, and has a very warm feeling to it.

What is amazing about this new opera house is that they made it very accessible to the public. Unlike most opera houses in the rest of the world, anyone could walk all over, in and out of the building, even if you don't have a paid ticket.  You are free to walk, run, have a picnic or even ride a bike there if you want.

It is so great that you can go inside without a ticket, but what an experience it would be to actually go see an opera in this beautiful iceberg!

 

VIGELANDSPARKEN SCULPTURE PARK 

At the square at Central Station.

From the Opera House, we walked to the Central Station to get on the tram to go to our next stop, another "must-see" in Oslo, Vigeland Sculpture Park.

The park covers 80 acres and features 212 bronze and granite sculptures ALL designed by this one man, Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures depict humans at every stage of life. And at the highest point of the park lies the most popular attraction, The Monolith, with statues surrounding it.  The column is over 14 meters tall and has 121 human figures - from babies to old men -  carved onto one single stone.  There were a lot of tourists at the park (of course), and a lot of them were having fun posing like the sculptures and getting their pictures taken (we didn't do it...).

The park is like an open-air sculpture park, but I have never seen anything like this, and was totally blown away. It is the world's largest sculpture park created by a single artist. The rest of the park is also very beautiful, and it is in the same caliber of Central Park in New York, or Hyde Park in London. It is a really magnificent park.

The Monolith. 

THE NATIONAL GALLERY

We had a nice lunch in Aker Brygge, a newer development built along the harbor and very popular for its shops and restaurants. After lunch, I strayed from the family,  and went to the National Gallery by myself. I had very little time to visit the museum, so it was a very short visit, but my main, and sole purpose was to see the very famous painting by the Norwegian artist Much. Yes, the "Scream"!!.

The museum has a room dedicated to Munch's paintings, and the "Scream" was among the other twenty or so paintings. Photography was prohibited in the room (other rooms were fine), so I don't have a picture to prove it, but I was pretty happy that I actually saw this painting in its country of origin.

The National Gallery. 

Image from the Web.

ON THE SHIP AGAIN - Oslo~Copenhagen

As I was walking back to the Central Station to meet up with Jonathan and the kids, I heard a familiar voice calling "Mama!". I look over, and who's there? Jonathan and the kids on the other side of the street! I guess the city is pretty small?? We stopped at one shop, a traditional Norwegian sweater shop, to do some souvenir shopping. I was the lucky one who got a nice Norwegian sweater as a souvenir from the store.

We hurried back to the ship, and again, we just made it in time. And thanks to the anti-motion sickness pills I bought while I was in Oslo, I didn't get sick this time, and my journey back was a lot more enjoyable. I even had some crawfish for dinner, and they were quite good. But I was pretty tired, and fell asleep with the kids around 8:30 pm and almost slept for twelve hours!

The kids found more fun things to do...

We were back in Copenhagen around 10:00 am. Oslo was beautiful, and I wish we had a little bit more time there to explore. If we go again next time, I think we will definitely spend a night. Other than me getting sick on the ship, the kids had so much fun, and everything was fantastic, perfect for closing our fun two months we have had in Denmark.

Denmark's best hotdog???

There is a bakery called Andersen Bakery in Copenhagen. This is actually a Japanese bakery with branches all over Japan. While local Danish bakeries are amazing, this is probably the only place you can get Japanese specialty breads such as anpan (read bean bun) or cream-pan (custard filled bun) or mellon-pan (cookie dough bread). As a Japanese, I get pretty excited for that.

But that is not really what this bakery is famous for. We had read in several travel guides that their hotdogs (yes, hotdogs) are "possibly the best in Denmark". But we had not had the chance to try it. We happened to be in the vicinity of the bakery today around lunch time, so we decided to give it a try. Well, everyone except for me got a hotdog (I had a sandwich). 

The kids got the "French hotdog", which is just a sausage stuffed into a wheat bun, and Jonathan got a regular hotdog with all the toppings on it. Danish hotdogs typically comes with a sausage on a bun, topped with pickles, and some crispy fried onions, ketchup and mustard. Yes, these fried onions make it taste so good! 50 kr or $8.50 is not cheap for a hotdog, but as you can see from the pictures, it was enormous! It is probably the biggest hotdog I have ever seen. Jonathan loves hotdogs, and he has a lot more hotdog eating experiences than I do, so I trust his judgement on this hotdog. So what's the verdict?? Did he have an out-of-this-world experience from this giant hotdog? Unfortunately, the answer was "No". He said that it had the "potential" to be the best hotdog ever, but the hotdog came with too much of everything, he could hardly taste the sausage. So that was too bad... I had part of Yuto's and it tasted quite good, especially the bread part. It was worth the try. 

We did a little gift/souvenir shopping today, and in the afternoon, we went to the food and wine department in the basement of Magasin department store to shop for the lunch party we are having tomorrow. Magasin is the oldest and largest department store in Scandinavia, and their food department carries top-quality food items, and is often compared to Harrods of London. It's just fun browsing through the amazing selection of food they have.

The girls team needed a coffee break, so we left the shopping to the boys, and Mio and I had a couple of macarons and a cannele (both my favorites!) from Meyer's Bakery, also located in the basement, and  another fantastic bakery in Denmark. They were so good.

Leave it to me!

Here's a street performer I saw today. He was playing some music with bottles with different levels of water in them. When I saw him he was playing, blind-folded, Bizet's Carmen, karaoke-ing to an orchestral recording from his portable stereo. He sounded pretty good and was quite a crowd pleaser... 

P.S. Just found out that my year-and-a-half old camera is missing a screw, and the cover is getting a bit loose! Please keep your fingers crossed so the camera will not literally "fall apart" before the end of this trip! (which we only have a few days left, but we also have one big event coming up...)