LegoLand

 This past Sunday I visited LegoLand In Billund, which is about three hours away from Copenhagen. It was a fun, relaxed trip. Definitely the coolest thing they had there were lego models of various European and American cities and famous landmarks. I posted the pictures from Copenhagen, pretty convincing!!

Copenhagen Canal

 The  Royal Residence

 Rosenborg Castle

Fairytale Funen- Hans Christian Andersen Tour

This past weekend I visited the city of Odense, on the island of Funen, where Hans Christian Ansersen was born, and lived until he was 14 when he moved to Copenhagen. I am taking a class all about his life and his fairytales which I am enjoying a lot! On the trip we visited a manor house, a castle, the HC Andersen Museum as well as taking a walking tour around the city of Odense in his footsteps.


Valdemar's Slot

Valdemar's Slot is a Manor House that was built in the mid 1600s by Christian IV as a palace for his son Valdemar. In 1670 the palace was given to Admiral Neils Juel because he had saved it from destruction at the hands of the Sweedish. The house still belongs to the Juel family, but they have converted most of it into a museum with rooms laid as they were in the 18th and 19th century.








Egeskov Slot and Gardens 

Egeskov Slot is the best preserved Renaissance water castle. It was built in 1554, and according to legend took an entire forest of oak trees to build its foundation, hence the name Egeskov which means "oak forest"


















City of Odense

The house where HC Andersen was born. He lived here with his mother, father, and grandmother as well as two or three other families.

The "poor school" that Andersen attended as a child.

The house where Andersen grew up.

The church where he was baptized.

The church where Andersen was confirmed. His parents were also married here and his father's funeral was held here.

Nørreport Market

Last Wednesday after booking flights and hosteld for the travel break, my friends and I decided to pay a visit to a new market in the center of Copenhagen, near the Norreport train station (where I get off to go to class every morning). It was laid out like a farmers market, but with a slightly more permanent feel to it. I am certainly hoping that it will be open all year! There were lots of delicious samples and beautiful displays of flowers, baked goods, and all sorts of things!

I couldn't take enough pictures of the cupcakes! They looked so good!

A note about commenting

I just noticed that I had a setting that made it so that only people with accounts could post comments. I have just removed that so now anyone can post a comment!

Tall Ships Sailing

Two weekends ago I went on a sailing trip around Copenhagen on a Danish tall ship. It was a really nice way to relax on the water while still seeing Denmark from a different perspective. We sailed from a town called Holbaek, which is about an hour west of Copenhagen and then went up Zealand where we walked around an old Navy base. Then we went back on the ship and sailed to another small town where we docked and spent the night. Because we were sleeping on the boat someone had to be awake at all times so we took turns. My friend Emily and I watched Pirates of the Caribbean during ours which was a lot of fun! It was really neat to help hoist the sails and pull up the anchor! We also got to practice cooking in a galley kitchen which was was difficult but fun!

Frederiksborg Palace

Three weekends ago I visited the Fredericksborg Palace with a group of students from DIS. The palace is located in a town about 45 minutes from the city. It was built in 1560 by King Frederick II but most of the originas was destroyed in a fire, the magnificent church was the only thing that survived. Which is quite lucky because it was one of the most ornate churches that I have even seen.

Most of the rest of the castle had been turned into the National History museum of Denmark so most of the rooms have been restored to look just as they did when the castle was in use. One thing that I thought was really funny was that one king (I forget which!) had been injured so that he walked with a limp, so to avoid being seen limping by his subjects he rigged an "elevator" so that he could go straight from his carriage to the audience room.

           

While the inside of the castle was definitely cool, I think that my favorite part were the gardens outside. The were filled with really neat geometric patterns and pretty fountains. Unfortunately my camera died right as we got outside so I only have a few pictures!

The Little Mermaid

Wednesdays are free of classes for all students at DIS! They are reserved for small class trips and for students to have some time to explore the city. Today, I visited the famous Little Mermaid statue in the Copenhagen Harbor. She is in Copenhagen to honor Hans Christian Andersen. I am taking a class on him while I am here and it is cool to see his legacy around the city. Right outside of Tivoli there is a large statue of him as well as a street bearing his name. The Little Mermaid statue is actually located a little farther outside of the city, but the bus ride was definitely worth it!

Copenhagen Elephant Parade

Some of my favorite things when I first began exploring the city were the whimsical elephant statues that seemed to pop up all over. I was sad to notice yesterday that these elephants were gone, so I did a little research on the subject. It turns out that they are traveling art instillation intended to raise money for the Asian Elephant. Different artists are commissioned to create a unique elephant to be displayed around the city, at the end of the instillation the statues are auctioned off and all procedes go to support the Asian Elephants. Check out this link for more info: http://elephantparade.com/copenhagen-2011. I unfortunately only got a few pictures, but here are some of the elephants from around DIS. 

1st Week

I have been in Copenhagen for 4 days now, but it feels like much longer. I am finally beginning to settle into this new life and am beginning to learn my way around the city (at least from the train station to class and back).  I officially begin classes tomorrow morning which I am actually really excited about! Not a whole lot has happened yet so there isn't a lot to share at this point, but I do have some pictures of the city. I hope to get many more and post them here as the semester goes on!

 

 This is the Rosenborg Castle which Christian the 4th built as a summer home for himself in 1606. I have not had a chance to go inside, but I am told that this is the only place in the world where the actual jewelry worn by the royal family today is on display for the public. Another fun fact about the Rosenborg Castle is that it has "surround sound." When it was built, Christian IV had special pipes put in so that an orchestra playing in the basement could be heard from any room in the castle!














      A lion standing guard outside of the castle!



















This is my first attempt at the famous canal shot. I hope to have it perfected by the end of my time here.

This square is marks the turn for the street where the main DIS building is located. Aside from being quite picturesque, it has served as a vital landmark during these first few days of trying to navigate old winding streets!

*** this photo serves as proof that I am new to the city. Walking around the city today I realized that this fountain actually is located on the longest walking street in Europe which is quite close to DIS, but it is a different ornate fountain that marks the turn to classes!!