Copenhagen Lego Style

The boys were thrilled to find a Lego store on our walking tour.  Here is Nyhavn Lego style.  A five minute walk brought us to the real thing!

Nyhavn, a recently gentrified sailors' quarter, lounges comfortably around a canal. A few lonely tattoo parlors and smoky taverns stubbornly defend their salty turf against a rising tide of trendy, expensive cafés.

 

The Little Mermaid and some "laughs" by the fountain

Copenhagen, Denmark 2012

 "Far out in the ocean, where the water is as blue as a cornflower, as clear as crystal, and very, very deep..." there lived a young mermaid. So begins one of Hans Christian Andersen's — and Denmark's — best-known stories.

One day, a young mermaid spies a passing ship and falls in love with a handsome human prince. The ship is wrecked in a storm, and she saves the prince's life. To be with the prince, the mermaid asks a sea witch to give her human legs. In exchange, she agrees to give up her voice and the chance of ever returning to the sea. And, the witch tells her, if the prince doesn't marry her, she will immediately die heartbroken and without an immortal soul. The mermaid agrees, and her fish tail becomes a pair of beautiful but painful legs. She woos the prince — who loves her in return — but he eventually marries another. Heartbroken, the mermaid prepares to die. She's given one last chance to save herself: She must kill the prince on his wedding night. She sneaks into the bedchamber with a knife...but can't bear to kill the man she loves. The mermaid throws herself into the sea to die. Suddenly, she's miraculously carried up by the mermaids of the air, who give her an immortal soul as a reward for her long-suffering love.

credit to http://www.ricksteves.com/news/travelnews/0807/little_mermaid.htm

Amalienborg Palace Changing of the Guard

I adore a marching band.   Just as we finished our polse sandwich, we turned around on Stoget (pedestrian walking street) to see the Amalienborg Guards parading to the palace for the ceremonial "changing of the guard".  

Scandinavia Part 1 - Viking Museum

Our history unit culminated!  This year's exploration of the Vikings and the Celts left us longing for more information on these ancient civilizations.  In Ireland last June, we got up close to our Celtic ancestors and this year we venture a little further north to Scandinavia.  Those brutal, yet poetic Norsemen hold delights and mythic lore that speak to my three young men.  This is the Vikingshiphuset in the Bygdoy neighborhood (greater Oslo) where we begin our field trip.  This impressive museum holds the best-preserved Viking long ships in existence.  The Oseberg ( 834 AD) ornately carved sailed on inland waters during festivals, but not in the open ocean.  The Gokstad ship (950 AD) is a practical working boat, capable of sailing the high seas.  It is just such a vessel that explorers like Eric the Red sailed fro Norway to Iceland to Greenland and then onto North America.