Copenhagen - The city of bikes

On our flight out of Stockholm, we ran into Paul, our old upstairs neighbor.  It was great to see him again.  Copenhagen was one of Ellie’s favorite airports.  There were Lego stations at the baggage claim.  She didn’t want to leave the airport to go see the city.  Copenhagen I think had the best mass transit from the airport – you don’t even have to leave the building.  The subway system isn’t massive but the trains and stations were extremely clean.  Exiting the station the first thing Ellie sees is McDonalds and she immediately starts negotiating for a McDonald’s dinner.  We decided to find the hotel and drop off the luggage first. 

Copenhagen will always stand out as the city of bikes to me.  Everywhere we looked there were bikes – fancy bikes, bikes with baby seats, bikes with trailers and my personal favorite the cargo trikes.  I think I saw more bikes in Copenhagen in two days than all the bikes I have seen in my entire life. 

Our hotel was really nice.  It was in a older building that had been remodeled and had very modern furnishings.  We were on the top floor and had a great view out under the eaves.  After a quick dinner at McDonalds we headed back for bed.  We never quite know what we are going to get for sleeping arrangements.  This time we had two single beds and a pack and play.  Ellie thought it was a perfect time to go back to sleeping in a crib.  Since she is still pretending to be a dog it made a perfect dog crate.  I can’t believe she is still little enough to fit in comfortably. 

Our hotel

Bikes, bikes and more bikes!

My favorite style - kids could ride in serious comfort

Skansen and Cotton Canddy

We had a beautiful weekend so we headed out to Skansen to enjoy the day.  We keep hearing that it is the last pretty weekend so we wanted to be sure and enjoy it.  Ellie enjoyed a train ride, playing with stilts, and getting to climb and jump.  She also had her first taste of cotton candy.  It was nearly as big as she was but she finished it all. 

Yea!  My tigers are 6-0!

Climbing and Jumping - Ellie's favorite.

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Ellie's first bite

Culture and a little play time

Ellie is in a phase of enjoying art.  In Durjarden, the Waldemarsudde Museum houses art mainly by Prince Eugens. He owned the house and after his death it was converted into a museum housing artwork including his own.  We did not get to see all of the exhibits, but enjoyed what we were able to see.  Much of his artwork was very dark.  After enjoying a hotdog, it was on to Junibacken for some playtime for the girls.  On the way back, we saw snowboarding at Sergles Torg.  There was some kind of competition and snow had been brought in for the competition.  Hopefully the real thing will be here soon!

Yes Grandma Daddy is holding me!

I've bought a boat, I'm going out to sea!

Dance time

A band that lost it's parade.

Snow!

One Year Anniversary

Today was the anniversary of our arrival in Sweden.  It has been an exciting and fun year. We have enjoyed exploring our new city, visited 6 countries, welcomed Kerstin, had some wonderful visitors and David graduated! They time has truly flown by.  It is hard to pick out my favorite trip of the year.  It is either Prague or Venice.  David’s favorite comes down to Venice or Tallinn.  Ellie’s favorite is whatever trip we are heading to next. 

Rice Cereal

September 27

Saturday the 24 was Kerstin’s first taste of real food.  We started her with rice cereal.  Ellie was super excited for her to start eating and was looking forward to getting to feed her.  Kerstin was excited at the beginning and would move the cereal around in her mouth but would then push it out.  More came out of the baby than stayed inside.   Ellie was confused about why Kerstin didn’t eat “right”.  After explaining that it was a new taste and eating is a skill babies have to practice (like bike riding), Ellie decided she wanted to taste rice cereal since she didn’t remember it.  She also spit it right back out saying it tasted bad.

 On day two of the great cereal experiment, every spoonful that went in came right back out.  By day three and four Kerstin clamped her lips shut and turned away from the spoon.  She is officially not a fan of rice cereal. 

Tallin Day 3

We had nothing big planned for this day because we had a fairly early afternoon flight.  We wandered up through the Toompea area.  There was a beautiful Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin that is the main Lutheran Church in Estonia. We saw the Toompea Castle and found a great overlook to the city.  David made an old Estonian coin.  After a final trip to the park and a quick lunch we headed back to the airport. 

More stairs - climbing up to Toompea

Town wall

Lookout from Toompea

David making a coin

We had nothing big planned for this day because we had a fairly early afternoon flight.  We wandered up through the Toompea area.  There was a beautiful Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin that is the main Lutheran Church in Estonia. We saw the Toompea Castle and found a great overlook to the city.  David made an old Estonian coin.  After a final trip to the park and a quick lunch we headed back to the airport. 

Tallinn Day 2

On day two, Ellie woke up feeling like a hund (dog).  She spent alot of the day on leash (aka ring sling) and barking.  She also wanted to make sure all locations were hund friendly.  After starting off the day with a little shopping, our first stop was Oleviste Church Tower.  At one time it had the tallest church spire in the whole world at 159m but after three fires it is now only 124 meters high.  The climb up the tower was quite challenging.  The stairway was narrow and circular and the steps where higher than normal.  For Ellie the steps were knee high.  Ellie did a wonderful job of climbing to the top.  As challenging as the climb was the view at the top was worth it.  You could get a great sense of where old town had been with many of the towers and 2km of the wall still standing. 

After a quick stop at the park for Ellie to burn off some energy we stopped at Epping Tower which is a renovated tower in the medieval wall.  It focused on the fortifications, arms and armor.  In addition to displays, they also had weapons and armor that you could try on.  We then took a walk on the town wall and passed through 3 towers.  Ellie enjoyed pretending to be a guard and looking out the windows for the enemy. 

After a quick lunch break, we took a ride on Toomas the train.  It was a 20 minute ride around Old town.  Both of the girls really enjoyed the ride.  Next was a climb into yet another tower of the town wall.  This one housed a photography exhibit and gave us another chance to walk on the town wall.  Across for the tower was St Catherine’s passage which is well known for its artisans.  Ellie’s favorite artisan was the leather worker.  We ended the day with a trip to McDonald’s and the park for Ellie. 

Ellie the hund in the town square

Oleviste Church Tower

Climbing the tower

View from the top

Town Wall

Kerstin does not want to defend the town



Having fun with weapons



Walking the town wall



Toomas the Train