Day 13- December 29th- Going Home from Denmark

 Today, we woke up at 4 A.M to get ready to go home. All of us got dressed and gathered our belongings. This took approximately thirty minutes. Then we went downstairs to eat breakfast in the lobby of the hotel. At 5 A.M, we rode a bus to the airport, which took an an hour and forty-five minutes because of the switch in hotels. We arrived at the airport at 6:45 A.M, so we could be early to check in and go through security. We boarded the plane at 8 A.M, but the plane left at 8:15 because there were no problems. On the plane ride to Amsterdam, we watched movies. Some of the movies we watched were Clueless.

     At 9:40 A.M, the plane arrived in Amsterdam. We made sure to get to our next gate before we did anything. We had a four hour layover at the airport, so we decided to rest a little and get some food. In the airport, there was a McDonalds in the airport, so we decided to eat there. We all got inexpensive meals, just to save as much money as possible. The McDonalds in the airport was very different than in the US. They served alcohol, while McDonalds in the US do not. This is because the culture and laws are different in Europe, compared to the United States. 

     During the layover, we read and watched movies on our phones. With the extra time, we also decided that we should all take naps. We get on the next plane to Philadelphia at 1:20 in the afternoon. This plane ride should only take about two hours and twenty minutes. So during the time we are on the plane, we all did different things. Taylea and Mary Kate blabbed about volleyball, Alex slept, and Morgan and Ellie watched Mean Girls. That took up the majority of the time we were on the plane. We got off the plane in Philadelphia at 3:50 P.M.

     In Philadelphia, there was another layover for three hours. When we got off, we slowly walked to our gate to consume time.We just ate some of the food that we packed in our carry ons. We sleep and watch television during the layover. 

     At 6:15 P.M, we get on our last flight to RDU. The flight is only one hour and thirty minutes long, so we chose to sleep the whole plane ride. When we woke up, we only had three minutes left of the flight. We got to Raleigh and claimed our luggage at 7:49 P.M. It was late, so we all wanted to go home and get some rest.

Day 12 - December 28th - Kronborg Castle

History Event:

     We wake up around 9:30 and went downstairs in our pajamas ready to eat. By 10:00 we are done eating and upstairs, getting ready for our day. At 11:00 we leave for the Kronborg Castle (history event). To get our exercise for the trip we walked to the castle, surprisingly only taking about 20 minutes. We got there by 11:30 and it is absolutely gorgeous, outside and in. At first we just walked around outside waiting for the guided tour, In Hamlets Footsteps at 12:30. By 2:00 the tour is over and we are starving and ready for lunch. We found a a nice place called Bolettes Gæstebud.  
Culture Event:
     We eat for about an hour and then go on our way to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Our favorite thing about this museum was the East wing, also known as the Graphics wing. It contains exhibitions of photographic, video, and light artwork. We also have our favorite sculpture down below is by Joan Miro.

Picture of the Kronborg Castle.

Sculpture at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art by Joan Miro.

     We decided it would be best to just go back to the hotel and eat there because of the early flight tomorrow morning. We ordered burgers, fries, and some strange but good Danish orange soda.  We also tried to watch a Danish movie but gave up 5 minutes in and watched 21 Jump Street instead. By 9:00 p.m. we were all packed up and ready to go home. At 10:00 p.m., we were fast asleep.

Day 11 - December 27th- Shopping

     We got up early today because we only had two days before departing Denmark. By 10:00 a.m., we had gotten a quick breakfast near our hotel at Café Karisma. Afterwards, we take a short bus ride to go to dennis Saaby Nielsen bike rental. We decided to rent bikes for the day so that we could get around town quicker. It takes over twenty minutes to get to the Helsingør Bycenter, or shopping center. It takes a longer time to get there because Alex barely knows how to ride a bike.
Culture Event:
     Its nearly 11:30 a.m when we arrive at the shopping center, we park our bikes and take time to look in many shops. We bought key chains, magnets and mugs from Inspiration Helsingør. Then, it was almost 3:00 p.m. and we took our bikes and rode toward the coast. We biked along the beach after grabbing lunch at Baran Kücük Yildiz. The beaches aren't overly crowded. When it is nearly 6:00 p.m., we get dinner at Frelsens Hærs Hovendkvarter.
     We get back to the hotel around 8:00 p.m., and fall asleep quickly. We were very tired!

Bikes in Denmark

Day 10 - December 26th - Danish Museum of Science and Technology

Today, we will change hotels; we will leave the capital of the country, Copenhagen, and go to another large city, Helsingor. When we wake up around 10:00 a.m., we get dressed and eat breakfast quickly. We are ready to leave by 11:00 a.m. The five of us walk to the bus stop with our suitcases and wait for the bus. It takes over an hour to get to our second hotel, Hotel Skandia. After we check in, it is nearly 1:00 p.m. We are tired and hungry so we decide to get some lunch.

Science and Technology Event:

We stop at Radmand Davids Hus before visiting another attraction, the Danish Museum of Science and Technology. We explore the interactive exhibits about engineering and industry advancements. After we spend three hours here, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., we become too tired to continue. It took about twenty minutes to walk from the museum to a fancy restaurant in the Marienlyst Castle, Restaurant Marienlyst.  
Danish Meal: 
     For dinner, we all enjoy a traditional Christmas meal in Denmark, a flaeskesteg. This meal consists of roasted pork, boiled potatoes and red cabbage. The restaurant is located next to the Kronborg Castle, which we will be touring on December 28th. We strolled for ten minutes back to the hotel and got a glimpse. When we arrive at the hotel, it is nearly 9:00 p.m. After talking in the lobby for a while, we go to bed.

Day 9 - December 25th - Christmas in Denmark

     It is Day 9, and Christmas in Denmark! Everyone was up by 9:30 a.m., so we all decided to get some breakfast at the nearby cafe called Sweet Treat. We arrived by bus at about 10:00 a.m. and tried an assortment of muffins, pastries, and coffee, which was much to our liking. We left to go walk around the streets of Copenhagen, exploring many different shops. We noticed the spirit of Christmas was in the air. We had walked from about 10:30 a.m. to about 11:30 a.m. until we decided to go to the Christmas hotspot of Copenhagen, Tivoli Gardens.
Festival Event:
     We arrived at, "Christmas in Tivoli" (our holiday on the trip) at about noon and it was a beautiful sight. The giant Christmas trees go on for as far as we can see and we are nothing short of amazed. We ran into Santa on the way and he said Taylea was on the bad list, and that everyone else would get whatever they wanted for Christmas. We enjoyed a sample of some Danish cookies and other Christmas treats, which went well with the cold weather. Christmas spirit was surely in the air and we enjoyed staring at the beautiful lights and taking in everything Tivoli had to offer. We left at 1:00 p.m., but decided to return to finish our experience once we had finished eating.
     Axelborg Bodega was the restaurant we decided on for lunch, for a Denmark style lunch. We all got the marinated herring, which tasted different but we all still had our fill of it. We stayed from about 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m., and fulfilled our promise to go back to Tivoli and ride some of the rides.
Sport Event:
     We stayed until 4:00 p.m., and left to go to the famous H.C Andersen Castle. After posing for pictures with the statues, and walking around the site, we left at 6:45 p.m. to go enjoy some dinner. Wallmans Circus Building was the final choice, and it was a great one. We enjoyed a some wonderful Angus steaks and an inspiring gymnastics show along with it. Morgan is a talented gymnast, so she really liked the show. We stayed awhile, and when was over it was about returned to our hotel to wind down and dream about the days to come in Denmark.

H.C Andersen in statue form

Christmas at Tivoli

Day 8- December 24th Botanical Gardens

     We woke up at 9 A.M. to get ready to take on the day. Once everyone got ready, we all went downstairs to eat breakfast. Until 10:30 in the morning, we talked to each other and ate. After we finished eating, we headed to the bus station to get a ride from our hotel to the Botanical Gardens. It was a fourteen minute ride, and it's worth it because the gardens are the most beautiful site we had seen on our trip so far.
Natural Environment Event:
     In the gardens you can see many different types of flowers that are indigenous to Denmark. There were so many variations of the flowers we could see, we were all amazed. We finally finished walking around the Botanical Gardens, so we headed towards the Kaffe coffee shop to boost our energy.
     We took a bus to get there and it was a fun ride. We could have walked, but the weather wasn't the greatest so we decided against it. It was about 4:50 PM when we arrived to the coffee shop. Everyone got some weird coffee that they couldn't pronounce the name of.
     We headed back to the hotel after that to get some rest before dinner. For dinner we decided to order some pizza again, just for convenience. Throughout the night we watched Christmas movies since it was Christmas Eve! Then we finally decided to get some rest so that we wouldn't be tired tomorrow!

The entrance of the Botanical Gardens.

These are plants you would see when visiting the Botanical Gardens.

Day 7 - December 23rd - Genforeningspladsens Ice Skating Rink

     We woke up at around 9:30 AM and sluggishly walked down stairs to have breakfast at our hotel. After eating a wonderful breakfast we rambled back up to out room at 10:15 AM. In our rooms we spent about an hour getting ready for our day ice skating at Genforeningspladsens Ice Skating Rink (sport event). At 11:15 AM we walked to the M2 Metro, and at 11:30 AM we took a 35 minute ride over to the ice skating rink. We had to get off halfway through our journey and get on another metro to go to the rink.
     Once we got to our destination it was about 12:00 PM and time for lunch. We walked a ten minute route from the ice skating rink to Big Ben's Pizzeria for lunch. We ordered two pizzas, one peperoni and the other a Newroz, which is a Danish pizza with tomato, cheese, kødstrimler, mushrooms and gorgonzola. After eating for about 45 minutes, we left the pizza place and headed back to the ice skating rink at around 12:45 PM.
Sport Event:
      By the time we got back, it was 1:00 and we bought rental skates for $13 to skate on the ice for two hours. The Genforeningspladsens Ice Skating Rink was a beautiful place to be in December because of all the snow and, especially, the hot chocolate. We all bought some hot chocolate, provided by Genforeningspladsens Ice Skating Rink, and enjoyed skating. This is the largest ice skating rink in all of northern Europe and it is right in the middle of Reunion Square in Copenhagen. Genforeningspladsen is actually the Danish word for reunion square.
     After having fun skating around we hung up our skates and got back on the metro to return to the hotel. We arrived back at the Copenhagen Downtown Hostel at around 3:45 PM. When we entered our room, we decided that we were exhausted from our day of walking and skating and that we wanted to order room service for dinner and just relax. We could not wait for our next day in Copenhagen tomorrow!

Big Ben's Pizzeria where we ate lunch.

Genforeningspladsens Ice Skating Rink in the snow.