April 10 - In and Outside of Copenhagen: Castle, Museum and Tivoli

Denmark - Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Just outside of Copenhagen stands one of the best known castles in Europe. Kronborg Slot in Helsingor otherwise known as Hamlet's Castle. We spent the morning exploring the castles many rooms and, while I can't speak for Mary, I was reciting bits of Hamlet the whole time (Ah! Yorik! I knew him well Horatio...). After a traditional lunch of Smørrebrød(open faced sandwiches) we headed back towards Copenhagen with a stop at Louisiana. Louisiana is the Danish MoMA - but bigger. It is set on a lovely sea side property donated to the modern art museum and named after the donors three wives all named Louise ... yes he married three different women with the same name.

Our last stop was Tivoli, the amusement park near the centre of Copenhagen. It is amazing. It is no wonder that Walt Disney based Disneyland on it and the Michael Jackson offered to buy it. We went back twice, once for dinner and the second time to see all the lights on. Tivoli is the perfect mix of rides and carnival games and food. There really was things for all ages.. fine dining next to candyfloss stands, carni games and rollercoasters.. and lots and lots of flowers in bloom! Mary and I got wonderful fresh brewed Chai tea and if we go again I will insist on gelato..mmmmn.

Denmark - Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Denmark - Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Denmark - Pulpit Kronborg castle, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

April 9 - Museums, Castles and Waterfront

Copenhagen - Botanisk Have, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We started the day a little late so that we could fully use the 72 hour Copenhagen Card. The card gets us entry into almost every museum in the city as well as free rides on all the city transportation. We wandered up from the hotel and into Botanisk Have, the botanical gardens. We came across the Palm house and took a look inside. I wasn't brave enough to make it up the circular viewing platform but Mary was. The plants in the gardens were really lovely and it was cool to see things like cinnamon and orange trees.

After that we made our way to the Satens Museum for Kunst. We saw some excellent Titians, Magrittes and Picassos as well as quite a number of Danish contemporaries. Right across the street was Rosenborg Slot, a summer castle for the monarchy that now is a museum and the housing for the crown jewels.

Copenhagen - Rosenborg Slot, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Copenhagen - Rosenborg Slot, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

The castle was beautiful - almost all of it containing thee original furnishing from Christian IV including his bloody clothes from when he lost an eye in a batttle. It was very impressive, I especially enjoyed the tapestries depicting the Dano-Swede naval battles.

Copenhagen - Anglican Church, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We wandered up town but were unfortunately too late for the medical museum and too early for church service. we wandered around the battlements near the Anglican church for a while and then decided to walk along the water to go get dinner.

Copenhagen - Lagkagehuset Bakery, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We ended up stopping at Lagkagehuset one of the oldest and premiere bakeries in Copenhagen. It all looked so delicious so we picked up desert.

April 8 - Copenhagen Shopping and Boat Tour

Copenhagen - fisherwoman, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Being Easter it is opening weekend for Tivoli! We were greeted in the morning by the boys auxiliary (?) band playing outside the entrance to the amusement park.We carried on .. there was a lot of shopping to do and the shops would be closed thursday and friday for easter holidays. We did manage to sneak in a canal tour in between hunting for wool and the latest Danish trend.. crazy scarves. We ran into the band again while shopping, this time in a little parade down the main pedestrian street.

Copenhagen - Tivoli parade, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

cool free stuff

hermes kelly bag - seriously! the classic grace kelly bag - you can download it and print off your very own coveted bag. they have pre-made designs or a plain white one to decorate. i'm quite tempted to bring it down to to staples and print it out on heavy card ... wonder if you could laminate it??

yoga podcasts - ok many of you might have already thought of this but i just recently discovered these and gotta say i love them - i stick on my ipod and i can have a class at home (or the park ..etc) there are video podcasts but i prefer the audio ones ... the yogadownload ones come with pose guides too .. i also like "hillary's yoga practice" for longer sessions (about 60 minutes vs 20 minutes).

libravox - i have been talking about/loving this site for a while. what is librivox.org? free audio books of anything that is in the public domain. so the classics! feel like knitting to Jane Austen or maybe Dickens? all the books are there read by volunteers ... which means some are better than others but all in all it is great! here is a personal fav: Pride and Prejudice

and yeah there is plenty more out there (like some great knitting patterns) ... nevermind my place: the library! enjoy and share other links!

currently on the needles ..... and on my plate

hardly looks like anything here but it will end up as a lacy floaty cardigan .... this link isn't a great pic but it does give you an idea how it will end up. the pattern is Honeysuckle in Rowan 45. mom has given me a subscription to this British magazine for the last couple years and i love it. it isn't a fast knit ... i'm on row 86 of 130 .... well then i do the edging and sleeves. so i'm getting there but haven't reached the half way mark yet!

mom and dad were here last week. it was so great to have them visiting as they finally got a chance to see the Yukon during our long summer days. they drove up bring my bedroom furniture ( a tall boy chest of drawers and vanity both with beautiful art deco lines from the 30s) and my great grandmothers china ... yes i now have a stunning set of dishes!

Blue Mikado by Royal Crown Derby ... this set was once Jennie Cogswell's my mom's mother's mother ... willa also got a beautiful set - from mom's father's mother - unfortunately not all of willa's made it to her complete ... so sad!!!! many broke ... so we'll hunt the internet for replacements. andrea also just received china too from our grandma white - her's has lovely pink blossoms that almost have a botanical drawing feel about them - so perfect for andrea!

back to my trip with mom and dad - they spent a few days here in whitehorse then we drove up to dawson city where we had three nights. there are so many touristy things to do in dawson and it has been a while since i've done them! we did the walking tour(highly recommended by the way as they also take you into restored buildings), the dredge (so big!), and mom and dad also went to robert service's and jack london's cabin .... i had homework to do then so didn't make it to those. we all went up the dome road which is high above dawson to see the sun not set on the 21st at midnight. it is a big gathering spot everyone brings a bottle ... or card table (there were a couple of groups plying poker) ... we looking rather square with out booze and mom and i were pretty tired ... but it is always cool to experience to sun stay high .. or skim above the mountains anyway ;)

ok i'm going to knit a bit more this morning .. enjoy your sunday morning

Easter in Copenhagen

Europe knows how to celebrate Easter. Not only is every shop decorated with bunnies and eggs and chickens but they get Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday as stat holidays.

April 7 - Copenhagen and Spring

Copenhagen - houses, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

Mary and I were pretty excited to arrive in Copenhagen. Iceland was wonderful and the weather despite the gloomy forecasts was lovely. But Denmark is full of spring, we arrived to a flower market in the square beside our hotel, bikes everywhere and warm glorious sunshine.

Copenhagen - tulips, originally uploaded by girl from finito.

We even ate dinner outside (with blankets wrapped around our legs) at the terrific RizRaz.

Copenhagen - Riz Raz, originally uploaded by girl from finito.