Guess what is open for Christmas?

Yes! Tivoli!! Hooray ….

Tivoli does Halloween

Tivoli must have been putting up their Halloween decorations since they closed for the summer season - it was amazing, they had additional rides and stores, there were pumpkins of every conceivable size in every nook and cranny available. If this is an indication of the effort they’ll put in for the Christmas season, I am really looking forward to it!

Hugo has enjoyed the Danish style Halloween - which seems to be mainly forcussed on this week (rather than later in the month like the US) which coincides with the school holidays here. There’s lots of decorating, pumpkin carving and some dressing up but not really any trick or treating.

Hugo was keen to dress up at Tivoli and chose a Knights outfit.

Walking with Dinosaurs

Walking with Dinosaurs has been on in Copenhagen this week. We would have liked to have seen in when it was in Australia but Hugo was too young so we didn’t go. When we saw it advertised here we thought we’d take the opportunity to go and see it (even though it’s in Danish).

Hugo really loved it, and Sophie loved the first half (she fell asleep after intermission and missed the whole second half, including the grand finale with the T-Rex).

our home away from home away from home

Other than home and work/school, the one place we’ve spent the most time here in Copenhagen is of course, Tivoli Gardens. It’s a really nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon, going on some rides, playing in the playground and then having dinner in one of the cafes in the park. Sunday was the last day of the season, so we planned to spend the afternoon and evening there one last time*.

It was really busy (which we expected) but the weather was good and we still got to go on some rides and walk around enjoying the atmosphere. Because the days are so much shorter now, all the lights were on by the time we were leaving - that was a nice way to end the evening, riding the tram through the park and seeing all the rides and buildings lit up.

So long Tivoli, Thanks for all the memories.

(Tivoli will be open for ten days during October for Halloween - which coincides with school holidays, and also for a couple of weeks in December for Christmas, so we still have a few opportunities to return).

the zoo!

On Friday there was no preschool so Hugo requested a trip to the zoo. We haven’t been since February? … last winter - when it was freezing cold and snowing, and we subsequently had quite a short visit and missed out on seeing quite a few animals. Last time, there were baby lions. This time, there were baby almost everything else! Tigers, elephant, emu, horses … Sophie was so excited, she’s very into babies at the moment.

We rode the bike, which was short-sighted as the trip to the zoo includes the closest thing to a hill in Copenhagen. Embarrassingly, I had to get off and push the bike half way up (it’s a STEEP hill, all right!). Hugo helpfully said “it’s just like Gordon’s Hill isn’t it Mummy?” … me being Gordon, of course.

Going home was awesome though! I reckon I could have coasted most of the way home, if I hadn’t had to stop for traffic lights.

It’s nice now that she’s getting older, she enjoys our outings as much as Hugo does.

Knuthenborg Safari Park.

We’ve been lucky to experience many different things in our time here so far … I realised just how much we have seen and done when we were looking for something different to do this weekend (something FUN! requested Hugo. Because, you know, mostly we make him do horrible, boring things.)

Many of the suggestions were for things we’d already seen, so we decided to go further afield to Knuthenborg Safari Park. It’s located near the town of Maribo, about 1.5 hours drive south from Copenhagen (maybe less, if you know where you’re going). We’d been to Woburn Safari Park in England but this was waaaaay better. The animals were right up close … really, really close sometimes. There is an extensive playground for the children, and while some of the areas are defined as “stay in the car”, in a lot of places you can park and walk right up to the animals (if you want to!).

We got really lucky with the weather, it was a fantastic Autumn day, sunny and warm, and I’d say we had a FUN! day. The lemurs were fearless, quite happy to walk along with us. The rhinos passed so close to the car, I was glad we had the windows up. Hugo was fine with the rhinos (I guess he’s had experience with big game animals) but got very worried when I wound the window down to take a photo of the camels - he really didn’t want the camels to come over to the car. We pondered together, if wallabies are Australian, but they live in Denmark, do they speak English, or Danish? (A little bit of both, we decided).

I think Hugo’s favourite part of the day was riding the monkey-bus. Sophie’s favourite part was eating ice-cream (or possibly the monkey food she sampled on the monkey-bus).

Send in the clowns

September seems to be circus month in Copenhagen, there have been a few different circuses advertised around our suburb lately. I can’t even remember the last time I heard of a circus in Australia …

Recently, while we were in Spain over Summer, we saw a circus tent and had wanted to go while we were there but unfortunately they didn’t have a show on the night we wanted to go so since then, we decided that if we could find a circus in Copenhagen, Hugo could go. Sure enough, within weeks posters started appearing everywhere advertising the BEST! circus in Denmark, Denmark’s PREMIER! circus, the NUMBER ONE! circus … (these are all different circuses!).

Cirkus Dannebrog* set up it’s big top just outside the post office here in Østerbro last week, and purely by virtue of it’s closeness, Hugo went to their show this weekend. He loved the clowns (and understood their crazy antics, even though it was all in Danish), the performing dogs, the horses … but the highlight (well, for me at least) was that he got to RIDE AN ELEPHANT.

Like I said, I’m not aware of any circuses in Australia, but even if they’re out there I’m pretty sure (public liability being the issue that it is in Australia) that riding an elephant is NOT part of the show. He was all very down to earth and serious about it. No, he wasn’t scared at all.

* Dannebrog, just by way of interest, is the name given to the Danish flag (literally, Danish cloth). The flag is used for all occasions here, particularly birthdays. When we first arrived, I thought there were an awful lot of national holidays because nearly every week I’d see Danish flags everywhere, but it just turned out to be different birthday celebrations.

things we did with Granny

We were so excited to have Granny visiting from Australia this month. It has been a long year so far, with lots of new and different things so it was really nice to have someone familiar from home visit us in our temporary new home.

One of the good things was seeing more of Copenhagen, and going to places we hadn’t been before. We went out to Roskilde to the viking ship museum (about an hour all up on public transport, west of Copenhagen). They have many different workshops and displays of viking ships, blacksmith, wood carving and jewelry workshops, the kids could even make themselves a viking shield. Hugo painted a fearsome looking viking pattern on his. Sophie painted our family, awwww - a sentimental viking. Although, as soon as she had a (wooden) sword in her hand, she was terrifying in the extreme, and Hugo and I had to run away from her in fear of our lives (or at least, our kneecaps).

It is also possible to take a ride on a replica viking ship out on the water, which we chose not to do (I did not fancy taking a dip in the lake after Sophie, whose attitude to any kind of transport is “LET ME OFF!”). A good decision as it happens, because while the boat was out on the water, there was a sudden torrential downpour (on an otherwise sunny day).

The children also dressed in viking clothes and played on replica ships.

We visited Rosenborg Slot (castle), somewhere we hadn’t been before, even though it’s just a 10-15 minute walk from our house. It’s one of those places so filled with history that, coming from a relatively young country, I was amazed and awed by the centuries of culture and treasures that filled the whole castle.

We also went out to Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, where they are having a “green architecture” exhibition in addition to their usual collection. The kids loved creating masterpieces in the Children’s Wing while Granny had a look around at the artwork.

Most of all, we just enjoyed spending time with Granny. We have missed our family and friends so much this year. We’re seeing and experiencing so much, but it is nice to know that we will soon be back with all the people we love!

Tivoli by twilight.

Today we thought, if we can get the children to have a nap in the afternoon, we could stay late at Tivoli and see all the lights. I know what you’re thinking … “that trick NEVER works”

(While we were in Spain, there was a circus in Alcudia. We tried to convince Hugo to have a nap in the afternoon so he could go to the circus that evening … not only did he NOT sleep in the afternoon, he fell asleep at dinner time and stayed asleep all the way through dinner. No matter, as the circus was not on that night anyway …)

But this time it DID work. Both children had a long sleep in the afternoon and off we went to Tivoli for dinner and the lights. The weather stayed good YAY and we had fun waiting for the lights to come on. In fact, as we were queued for the Big Wheel, Hugo complained that the lights weren’t on yet and Ta Daaaa! Like magic, the lights came on.

Excitingly, there is also a “Copenhagen Eye” across the road from Tivoli … we hope to go on it when Granny visits next week (YAY!!). I hope the small people are happier than they were on the London Eye.

Rundetårn (The Round Tower)

Rundetårn is a 17th century building here in Copenhagen which is unique in that rather than stairs, it has a ramp (historically, to allow a horse and cart to carry books to and from the library situated adjacent to and accessed from the tower). It is the oldest functioning observatory in Europe.

Because Copenhagen is so flat, once you get to the top (about 35 metres above street level) you can see for quite a long way.