Copenhagen

I wrote this in April or May and never bothered to edit and post it.

Trip to Copenhagen this weekend. Thursday is a 'red' day meaning a day when the whole country shuts down.....again. The number of holidays is maddening. This time it was for Ascension (love the Wiki). I would venture to guess that most of you godless heathens didn't grow up going to Sunday school and don't even know what the Ascension is. Speaking of which I need to find a way to take polls so I can ask things about things like that.

Seriously this will blow you away. You are probably aware that that Jesus died on Good Friday and then rose again on Easter Sunday. Did you know that he finally went off to heaven 40 days later? I have said it before but I still am confused by why religious holidays are observed for work in a country where no one.....not kidding here, no one goes to church. So Ascension is a Thursday and the attached Friday is a 'squeeze day'. I don't recall if it was a paid day off but my entire team was gone so I decide to make it a long weekend too and take the family down to Copenhagen. Note at this point that our family is currently +1 as my mother in law is here visiting for a about 8 days. She will be leaving the day after we get back. I could insert a bunch of standard mother-in law jokes here but my wife's parents are threatening to get the Internet so I guess I should refrain.

I came Wednesday morning for a day of meetings and the family came down later in the day to meet up. We had rooms at the Scandic just outside the city center but they were on the 0-th floor which meant we got all the lobby and bar smoke every time we opened the hall door. Tina and I kept S in the crib in our room and J bunked with Grandma in the other room. The sleeping systems at the Scandic are very Lucy-Dezi as their big room is actually 2 single beds pushed together with nothing to hold them there. S ended up in bed with us a few nights and nearly fell through the crack between the beds twice.

Up for the Scandic breakfast which is remarkable for 2 things. Weinerbrod and so called 'itty bitty tiny Danish pickles'. I think I covered Weinerbrod before but it is my favorite treat in the world and I can't say enough about it. We would call it a Danish but obviously that is not very descriptive as all pastries in Denamark could be called Danish and that seems silly. Weinerbrod consistency is somewhere between a croissant and a Mexican bunuelo crispy and a bit firm. The best kind are the cinamon called Kanelkangles. When I am in Denmark I typically eat about 6,000 and often bring a box home with me on the plane.

The family toured around the city for a bit while I was working and I met back up at the hotel that night. Thursday was Tivoli day. Tivoli is the oldest theme park in the world (I think thats their claim) in any case, its like a very nice carnival back home but in a more permanent setting and totally missing the loveable, wacky mutant carnies. Its a beautiful place with flower gardens everywhere. Strangely there are as many rides as restaurants and I even found a churro stand. The kids had a good time and it didn't rain. It was 1 million miles from Disneyland/Magic Mountain. Lines for even the most popular rides are measured in single digit minutes. The carnival attractions were a kick too. Standard ring toss type stuff but a few old school games like the one where you throw rocks at plates, not to win anything just to break stuff.

I'll step lightly here but I do have to report that there was a lady lying on the grass with her creepy looking boyfriend near one of the main pedestrian areas. She was wearing a dress and sitting in such as way as to display her business (and by business I mean mean that her business wasn't covered by underwear or anything) to everyone walking past. It seemed purposeful in the way they were watching the crowd watch them and was totally a strange situation with all the kids walking around.

On that topic, Copenhagen is a city full of dirty things and dirty people. The tourist map/magazine has a several page spread promoting the museum of Erotica (which is located prominently on the main pedestrian shopping area). One picture in particular displayed a guy with completely impossible proportions. On a street adjacent to Tivoli whose lenght we drove on the bus about 12 times, there was a lovely collection of PORNO! SEX SHOP! GAY PORNO SEX SHOP! etc. While I am not going to be the dad that hides all everything from my kids, I don't want to be the dad trying to explain what the 'wiggling purple' thing in the window is. Nakedness abounds much more in Denmark than Sweden.

Me and the wife had a nice night out just before we left. Her mom kept the kids in her room and we were free to roam until late. It was nice (but cold) strolling near Nyhavn, dinner, coffee etc. For those of you that don't have small kids, its not possible to describe how strange it is to be on a date with your wife alone. I made a rule about not talking about the kids so we sat silently through most of dinner.