The apartment is very cozy. Sofie and Emil have a bedroom with a sliding door, April sleeps on the couch as she is still getting over the plague, Rowan and I are bunking on pads on the floor between the kitchen area and the table. So really our feet are in the livingroom, heads in the dining room Ro in kitchen and me in the T.V. room with my head against the coffee table and body slightly under the dining table.
In the morning Emil or Sofie usually get up first and tip toe around us to the bathroom or shuffle alongside Rowan and open the fridge over her head to grab some bread and butter. Once roused we fold and store our bedding then make tea and toast maybe with eggs and eat breakfast together. A few people take turns showering, we check emails and facebook, upload pictures. Chat about the day and make jokes about how terrible we are at pronouncing Danish (it is a very difficult language).
Once, we convinced Emil to play piano for us, and the maestro sat down in his bathrobe and slippers to play a mix of classical, jazz and swing so April and I cut a rug somewhere between the music, living, dining and TV rooms. Somehow five adults in this small space is working out amicably. I love my new little family.
Monday and Tuesday were our touristy days. Sofie had the morning off from classes and took us to Nyhavn, which means "New Harbor" and is one of the oldest harbors in Copenhagen. Now it's all shops and restaurants for tourists taking pictures of semi-permanently parked, colorful sailing ships. Like this!
Our boat tour took us around the major canals. We saw the Opera house, museum, old palaces, and beautiful ships. We even saw the famous statue of the Little Mermaid from behind. Her head has been stolen twice since she was put in her place in the harbor in 1913 but with a new head she's looking pretty good chillin on her plinth.
Copenhagen is proud of all things Hans Christian Andersen; the guide specifically pointed out a house he lived in Nyhavn and more than a few buildings, streets and squares are named after him.
After the tour Sofie left us and we shopped around for a bit in the old part of Copenhagen where there are pedestrian only streets and entered the main square where city hall and Tivoli Gardens are. Sofie's sister Matilda works in city hall and offered to give us a tour of the beautiful old building. We followed her up and down stone staircase, twisting around mezzanines and attempted to get into a locked ballroom or two.
Tuesday we explored the Royal Danish Botanical Gardens, wandering along the meandering paths basking in the glow of excellent landscape design. The glasshouse has gorgeous wrought iron spiral staircases to a catwalk around the inner edge of the dome to view the canopy of tropical plants. The temperature went from 85 degrees to above 100 in the distance of eighteen feet. One lap around the dome only; being up in the heat and humidity high in the air didn't seem like the safest of places to be for long.
Copenhagen has been incredibly cooperative weather-wise, sunny every day with temperatures creeping towards spring heat. Each day I was able to leave another piece of winter clothing at home.
On our last morning before leaving Denmark I went to Osterparken across the street to draw in the sunshine for a bit. I sat at a picnic table and drew a church tower in the distance behind row houses, a swan on the pond and people meandering the path around the water, taking in the birdsong.
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