Denmark – Part I

Yep, Eric’s still writing . . .

As many of you know, Otto (and increasingly Mette too) loves Legos.  And Denmark is, of course, the land of lego.  So we kicked off the Denmark visit with a stop at the Legoland Themepark and even stayed at the Legoland Hotel (where the rooms are partially made of . . . you guessed it . . . LEGOS!).  Otto’s reaction to the hotel room as we walked in was priceless (and this an exact quote): “Now THIS is what I’m talking about!  What more do you need in a room?”

The park was a ton of fun and the kids had a great time too.

The next day we hit the park again in the morning and then loaded up and drove to Gillleleje where we are staying for the next two weeks.  We have a lovely little cottage near the North Sea where it’s quiet and the kids can run, dig in the sand, and relax.  It’s great.  It’s also a nice “base” for a multitude of day trips.  A few days ago we drove down to Frederiksborg Castle.  The castle is amazing but also features some lovely gardens.  In the morning, we explored the castle and then walked into town for lunch.  After lunch, we crossed the moat and checked out the gardens.  A lovely day . . .

This is how Otto looked for about 36 straight hours.

Mette blissed out riding ponies . . .

Underwater lego Poseidon with (non-lego) sharks

Our amazing room at Legoland Hotel.

Lego ninja

Choices . . . so many choices.

One of the entrance gates to Frederiksborg Castle.

Otto was impressed with the Grand Room at Frederiksborg Castle.

The gate leading from the castle to the gardens.

Phoebe in the gardens with the castle behind.

Frederiksborg Castle viewed from the gardens.

Mette lounging in the garden at Frederiksborg Castle

Otto and Mette playing in the yard at the cottage.

Crete

As promised, here’s the Crete run-down.

First, you need to understand that we flew Ryanair (look them up if you don’t know about the most despised airline on Earth) to Crete and KICKED THEIR ASS!  We were a well-drilled, precision military unit with our boarding passes printed, our passport information correctly logged, our luggage weighed to the nearest kilogram, and our carry-ons measured to the micron.  All went smoothly and our vacation begun once we safely boarded with no extra fees to pay.

Crete was lovely . . . a much different landscape that what we expected with beaches in front of us and snow capped mountains just behind us.  The first two days were spent just lounging in our beautiful villa (in Agias Marinas) by the pool or checking out the beach.  We also ate a lot (a staggering amount) of meat.  Eric was happy though Phoebe has instituted a strict salad regime since arriving in Denmark.

On the third day, we drove through an amazing gorge near Koxare to a friend’s house (Maria and Klaus) on the southern part of the island near Souda.  Their house was spectacular (Klaus is an architect) and the kids had fun swimming in the pool, hunting lizards, listening to the bells on a nearby flock of sheep.  Just before we left, we explored the area around Chania that included a beautiful 17th century monastery and the stunning, sleepy little town of Stavros.  Stavros has a lagoon situated right next to an amazing mountain.  Mette immediately stripped down and hit the water.

Tomorrow . . . Denmark.

Give Mette sand or dirt and she’s a happy girl.

Otto testing out the Mediterranean Sea . . .

Otto and Eric looking at Theodori island.

The view from our villa roof at sunset.

View from Maria and Klaus’ house near Soudas

A 17th century monastery near Koumares

Mette in an amazing lagoon near Stavros.

Yeah, yeah, yeah . . .

. . . I know–no updates.  It’s been a crazy busy 4 weeks and now I’m officially on vacation.  How on vacation?  I’m soooooo on vacation that Eric is actually writing this post!

[please now switch the voice in your head from Phoebe to Eric]

It has been a whirlwind and I will incrementally catch everyone up.  Here’s the short version–in our last three weeks in London we hosted my mom, Phoebe’s mom, and then my dad, stepmother, and brother.  Then (in between moving out of our flat and realizing the airline we were to fly on just declared bankruptcy!), we flew to Crete for five days, then flew to Copenhagen, drove to Kolding for one night, then Legoland (in Billund) for two days, then drove to back across Denmark to the little town of Gilleleje where we’ve rented a little cottage by the sea for two weeks.

So, below are the London finale highlights.  Tomorrow I’ll post on Crete, then catch up everyone up on Denmark.

Taking the tube to Kew Garden with Grandma.

One (of many) Victorian greenhouses at Kew Gardens.

Kew Palace (with Mette going berserk in the background)

Kids with Papou in London

We *finally* made it to the London Eye on our last day in London.

Best sushi in London or best sushi ever? Sushi of Shiori has only 7 seats but we managed to get Otto in on our last day in London!

What a week

This past week has been action packed.  Grandma Bah, eric’s mom, was visiting so we were off to see the sights.  We hit up the London Zoo on Monday, we examined all of Harrod’s on Tuesday and saw the British Museum on Wednesday, complete with an awesome meal at Pizza Express for lunch.  On Thursday eric took a break from work and we all went to the Natural History Museum for the day.  Friday before she headed off to Oxford we took one last stroll around Covent Garden.

It was a whirlwind of activity and exploring.  To keep up the pace today eric and I took the kids to the rooftop garden of Richard Branson in Kensington.  The gardens are open to the public when they are not booked for private events.  Problem is, most of the time it is booked.  You can call and see if any days in the upcoming week are available but they don’t release info more than 7 days out.  We have been waiting for a day where it was open and not raining for a while.  Today was the day.

The gardens are spectacular.  We were the only ones there most of the time, the whole thing seemed a bit unreal.  There were ducks, flamingos and beautiful of brick walls full of moss.

After touring the gardens we hit up the Whole Foods next door and stocked up on delicious cheese after a lunch of sushi for Otto, burritos for eric and I and waffles with caramelized bananas for Mette.  Got to love a food court!  Now that we are home again we are stuffing ourselves on cheese, bread and quince paste.  Tough life.

I should also add, on Thursday night I got to go out with some friends here for dinner and drinks.  I even got to tour the Makie Lab !  Alice, the founder of Makie Lab is a good friend here in London and was kind enough to invite me out for dinner and drinks and a tour of the lab.  I really want to get one of the dolls and start making her clothes!

ice cream at Harrod’s

waiting at the British Museum

HATS(!) at Pizza Express

Mette has started picking out the BEST outfits

baby cinnos

explorers with Grandma Bah at the Natural History Museum

St. Paul’s out the bus window on my home Thursday night.

Grandma Bah and the kids at Covent Garden

you got a little something….

the rooftop garden in Kennsington owned by Richard Branson

there is a stream and multiple bridges, all on the roof!

Flamingos!

one of the many beautiful sitting areas.

there are some restaurants and bars too but they weren’t open when we were there.

Whole Foods in Kennsington

Otto wanted to eat at the sushi bar all by himself

eventually eric joined him

spur of the moment trip on a Route Master!

check the reflection in the window!

Trafalger Square was turned into an English Garden for the day

complete with a mechanical dragon

yeah, this is England!

A. Golds

I am totally butting in line of the photos I have yet to publish to share today’s adventures with you.  But this is my blog and I can, so there.

I have been wanting to go to this lunch spot since we first got here but it took until now for the right day to come along.  The write up of the place reminded me of my old restaurant, The Bleu Plate and I wanted to check it out.  It is located near Spitalfield’s market which was a fun destination in and of it’s self, but this lunch made my day.

A. Gold’s.  Yum!

with mustard

the special. carved turkey, mayo, cranberry sauce, sausage stuffing and “salad” aka cucumbers and tomatoes.

In the market there were six giant bunny statues. I would like these to live in my yard forever. They were wonderful.

Energizer Bunny

This morning we set out to see the Tate Britain. On the weekends they have art projects for kids to try hands on and the weather has turned cold here again so an indoor museum seemed like a good idea. The museum was amazing. We saw the most amazing Sargent painting I have ever seen. I can not get the image out of my head. The kids got to build sculptures with huge wooden blocks in an amazing room of the main collection filled with painting by all the masters. It was almost surreal.

On the way home after lunch we got on the bus which happened to go by our house, but then on to Camden Town, where the good sub zero ice cream is. What the heck, let’s go get ice cream we decided. It is Saturday and Easter weekend so the streets were PACKED with people but we fought our way to the liquid nitrogen ice cream place. On the way Otto fought Darth Vador, because, well, why not?!
It should be said that today was our third trip to this ice cream place. It is so good. Otto broke rank and got chocolate. Now we need to go back again to have more. It was amazing.

After we were home and settled for a little Eric suggested going out to dinner. Yes. Yes. And yes. I didn’t really feel like cooking. Since the day had already been so awesome we decided to keep with the pace and take the kids to KOYA. Eric and I went there on a date when Sarah was here and it was amazing. After 6:30 there is a long line to get in, but if you get there early you can get a table right away. The kids were amazing. Mette had cold udon with fried tofu and loved it. Otto had cod and veggies and shared Eric’s pork udon. They ate it all. Mette loved everything. Our kids rock.

After dinner we walked a few more blocks to check on a really good gelato place we had been told about. Well you can’t check on gelato without trying some so we got one for everyone to share. It was amazing. On par with Capagerio I would say.

Today, another awesome day. Eric is totally wiped and the kids are sound asleep. I had an extra adult all day so I feel pretty good but my bed still sounds good.

Tomorrow we are going to see the Pirates movie with some friends, that’s it. It will also be wonderful!

A Good Friday

Much of London shuts down for Easter weekend which starts today and runs through Monday. Being that this is England they all get Monday as a “compensation holiday” since every year without fail Easter falls on a Sunday. We took this as a chance to check one more thing off our list of sights to see.

We have been wanting to go to Greenwich to see the planetarium and sights but were waiting for a good weather day. Today was it. To get to Greenwich you can take the DLR which is an overground train that runs on the whole “tube” system. Just swipe your oyster card and you are off and running. The special thing about this train is that there is no driver and if you are lucky you can ride up front and see the view as if you were driving. The line actually passes through buildings and winds all around. It is amazing. Going out today we managed front row seats. All of us, not just the five and under set, were excited.

We booked in advance tickets to the afternoon planetarium show and spent the rest of our time exploring the beautiful park. The Royal Observatory sits on a hill in a beautiful park. The sun was shining as we strolled along fields of blooming tulips and daffodils. An added bonus to the day was standing on the actual Greenwich meridian line. Less thrilling, explaining latitude and longitude for the rest of the afternoon.

As we made our way down the hill we did our civic duty while here and helped to eat what must be a severe case of overruns in the ice cream department. Everywhere you go there are trucks selling the stuff and it is all SO GOOD. Today’s was no exception.

This was yet another day to remember in the list of fun things to do just a hop skip and a jump from our flat in London!