Day by Day in Denmark

I think it is time to mention Danish pastries! What is Weinerbrod and why is Denmark known for their pastries?  It turns out there is some history: Apparently back in 1850, there was a strike among bakery workers in Denmark, so bakery owners hired workers from other places, like Austria, who brought their baking techniques like lamination with them. Even after the labor dispute was over, the Austrian pastries continued to be popular in Denmark. So what we call Danish pastries are called Weinerbrod (Viennese bread) in Denmark and called Kopenhagener Plunder in Vienna!  Being a baker means that I have forced myself to do some research in this area since we've been here! The first pastry we got was called a Spandauer.  We learned later that the name refers to a prison in Berlin called Spandau, because the laminated croissant layers create walls around the protected vanilla custard in the center. Spandauer Maybe the most famous pastries in Denmark are cardamom buns. Most are...

I think we really lucked out when we found an AirBnB in this location! It is quite central to lots of interesting things, so we really can walk almost anywhere, but it is still relatively quiet with lots of families. Five minutes to the west is the Kings Gardens, a huge green grassy park with multiple cafes, a playground,  a secluded rose garden, flower gardens, fruit trees, a "folly garden", and lots of benches to sit on.  Kings Gardens Folly garden within Kings Gardens Especially with our recent good weather, it is astounding to see so many people hanging out there in all day long. Lots of birthday picnics on the grass, with little Danish flags stuck in a circle around a blanket. Lots of families chasing each other happily around. Circles of students clearly having a class. Lots of people with few clothes on trying to get their last tanning session in before it gets colder. And obviously lots of dog walkers.  We are saving some of the interesting museums for when weathe...

After 5 days of settling in to our neighborhood in Copenhagen, Chuck and I decided to take advantage of a forecast of 2 days of beautiful weather to take a little trip to Aarhus, on the western peninsula of Jutland.  We quickly booked ourselves a hotel and bought train tickets for the next day.  It was a very peaceful 3+ hour train ride through the mostly flat countryside, with cropland, forests, small towns.  When I learned that Mollehoj, the highest point in Denmark (171m high!), was located quite close to the train line in Jutland, I got my phone out to take photos of the mountains or hills or bumps that I might see, being a mountain girl at heart.  It was surprisingly difficult to determine when we were passing the highest point! After we arrived at the train station in Aarhus, we quickly found the lively pedestrian street (Stroget) that led us up thru the center of town, across the canal, thru the Latin Quarter to our little hotel.  We visited the rooftop o...

Every day has been a new adventure since we arrived here in Copenhagen, Denm ark, a little more than a week ago! We flew from Detroit to Newark on August 4th so we could spend several days with Jeff, Becky, Cora, and Kylie. Then from Newark, we flew thru London to Copenhagen and arrived on August 8th. We were happily greeted by our former exchange student Ida who had a big smile and a Danish flag to greet us!  She then helped us figure out how to take the train into the city and move our suitcases over the bumpy cobblestone sidewalks and up the five flights of stairs to our home for the next 6 weeks. She showed us a bit of town and took us to an outdoor food court by the water for dinner, keeping us moving so we could more quickly adjust to Danish time. We are enjoying our AirBnB apartment: it is nice and light with windows on two sides; two small balconies overlook a surprisingly pleasant parking lot. The windows on the other side look over a park with benches, tables, grills, and...