Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark also called København, Danemark in Danish was the last location on our travel adventures outside of France. Sitting on the airplane of Scandinavian Air, the airline hostess came up to me and said something in a completely foreign dialect when I realized that Danish was yet another language that I know absolutely none of!! But, Julie and I headed off to what would turn out to be one of the most fun loving and memorable weekends in all of Europe.

I as heading to meet my cousin David, Pau Pau's nephew, and his family. Julie and I were able to figure out the train station we were meeting at (Nørreport) and meet up with cousin David. He took us to his home which is actually the same home he grew up in with Uncle Donald and Aunt Hannah just 30 minutes outside of the city. We waited for the kids to come home from school and drank REAL coffee... a treat for me and Julie who are so used to straight espresso these days. When Christian (6) and Therese (3) came home from school with Aunt Hannah, we realized that the little guys only spoke Danish and no English. So we had fun communicating. But first off, my little cousins are so beautiful and well behaved! But, you could barely even tell that they're asian!! Therese has red hair! and Christian has blonde hair! We had fun watching Pippi Longstocking or as it is known in Scandanavia, Pippi Langstrump ... I think Therese really likes her because she has red hair too! So cute! Aunt Hannah came over as well and she's wonderful! Anyways, we met Bettina shortly after and I don't think it is possible for me to like someone more! She is so fun-loving and welcoming with the most entertaining and lovely stories. She made us delicious dinner of deer stew (deer hunted by David) and risotto. The deer was the most perfectly tender and flavorful meat I think I've ever had. THe treat for us.... is that Bettina (who seems to have had multiple lives and amazing worldly experiences!) used to live in England where she was trained to cook by a Cordon Bleu chef. So she was an incredible chef with delicious food at every meal! AH even thinking of it makes my mouth water!! We all stayed up late talking and I met Uncle Donald too. He's very different from my Pau Pau as he is the youngest in the family, but I still really enjoyed talking to him. It made me excited to see Pau Pau in a few weeks since I miss her.

The next day we headed into Copenhagen... and endured the freezing cold by the way. The whole city was bustling to prepare for the UN Climate Summit http://en.cop15.dk/ full of decorations, advertisements, protests, and everything. We walked around a bit with Aunt Hannah. She showed us the place in the city that my cousin Maria and her husband Christian live with their very own boat for the fjords. We went to a bakery where we had what Americans would refer to as a "Danish" but to them is just a cinnamon pastry. We walked all the way through the pedestrian streets that line the entire city. We visited the Marble Church and walked to the Royal Palace where the Queen of Denmark was expected to arrive at shortly. We didn't see her arrival, but we did get to see the changing of the Danish Guard,

which was really entertaining. I attached a video as well to see the fun.

Aunt Hannah got for us an infamous open faced hot dog from Denmark, which was packed full of yummy condiments and deliciousness. Then Aunt Hannah ran some errands and Julie and I kept exploring the city. We walked through this quaint village before arriving to the water to see the Little Mermaid,

a token landmark of Copenhagen. Fun fact is that she will be leaving her home for the first time to be displayed in Shanghai in a few months. Anyways, we kept walking where we passed a huge pond surrounded with willow tress and full of LOONS (ducks), like the book Loon Lake that I loved so much when I was growing up. We continued down pedestrian street which was also bustling with street performers. There was a huge photo display that wished to prevent global warming and thus had stunning photos of what must be the most beautiful locations in the entire world. There were Christmas Carolers singing in Danish. You may recognize Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, though singing along might be a challenge. ;)

Another interesting display for the Climate Summit was a huge chiseled ice sculpture of a polar bear that had a brass bone frame in the middle of the ice sculpture. The idea was that everyone who passed by would touch the bear so as to encourage it to melt, thus representing that global warming would kill the polar bears. It was a really "hands on" and interesting perspective of the global warming.

Anyways, we continued walking through the city and the huuuge department stores lining the street. Still, Copenhagen is supposed to be like the second most expensive city in Europe (not sure what the first is) and its citizens even go to London for a bargain, which is saying a lot! So, we didn't buy anything really despite the abundance of Danish Kroner we had (they don't use the euro there). We headed to Tivoli, the amusement park, which was packed!! Bettina works for the Copenhagen Tourist company and was able to get us the Tourist card which let us skip the line and get in for free!

Tivoli had amazing Christmas decorations and a quaint Christmas village with decorations, things for sale, and glug (warm spiced wine). We stayed a bit past when it got dark, which isn't that late since Denmark is so far north! It is around dusk at 3pm and pitch black by 4:30 pm this late into the year!

We took the train home and were greeted by a delicious typical Danish dinner with pork, potatoes, crispies, prunes, peas, and homemade bread and crepes for dessert. MMM!! Christian was so cute at dinner, he said to his mom and she translated for us, "They are so nice, but a bit hard to understand." Therese loved getting the attention for us despite the language barrier and was playing with us non stop running around, showing us her toys, and coming for hugs! I just loved playing with her so much! She is a complete fireball, full of energy and the most delightful, heartwarming and contagious laugh. Christian practiced a bit of english with us, saying words like "Thank you!" and counting all the way up to Twelve! I told him the next number was thirteen, and he told his mom, "that word sounds strange!" They're both just so adorable, I love my little cousins!

On the next morning, Aunt Hannah and Uncle Donald drove us to the country to see two different castles. We first saw Kronberg Castle which is the castle that inspired Shakespeare's

Hamlet in Helsingor, Denmark. In the center of the castle courtyard, there are performances of Hamlet every summer. This past summer, the star of Hamlet was none other than... Jude Law. So... obviously, had we known, we would have gone to Denmark this past summer to see this performance and marveled over the beauty and excellence of Jude Law!! Anyways, in this castle there is a beautiful chapel, which is actually where Uncle Donald and Aunt Hannah were married!! So it was fun for them to go back and visit. The underground passageways of the castle were actually where all of the soldiers lived.

Down there it was musty and dark and pretty scary-- not to mention utterly freezing, I can't even imagine living there. As we left the castle, we could see out onto the water and the mainland on the other side was Sweden. So we waved to Sweden and then zipped back to the car to try and gain some warmth. We stayed in the city to see another Christmas market, visit a few churches, and head back to Aunt Hannah's surprise of tea and cake waiting for us in the car.

We headed off to the next castle but we had to zip through it really fast because the sun was going down so rapidly and the castle was not lit at all with electricity! So we needed to walk through it very quickly in order to be able to see with what dim sunlight was left. The castle was breathtaking from the inside/ out with almost gaudy but still intricate decorations. Afterwards, we went back home for coffee with Maria and her husband Christian and their kids Emma (8) and Lucas (10). Here's a photo of me with the kids from the left, me, Lucas, Emma, Christian, and Therese.

Emma greeted me with the warmest hug and so did Lucas, though he is a bit more shy. Both are just beautiful, but look a bit more Asian than David's kids actually. They know a little English and have wonderful smiles. They are absolute role models to Christian and Therese who follow them around without question. I adore Maria, she is also so beautiful and fun. She is a fashion designer and full of energy and stories. We had a great time overall. I was sad that they had been at their summer house in the countryside all weekend though, since we didn't get to spend much time together. That night Bettina made another delicious dinner of recently hunted pheasant, mashed potatoes, salad, and apple "pudding/pie" since there isn't really a way to describe it. We exchanged more stories and talked about our eventful weekend. Bettina had gone to a choir concert that night so she told us about that as well as her entertaining and fun stories of the travels of her life. We went to bed so well fed and happy that we'd had such an incredible weekend in Denmark.

I am so happy that I got to meet this part of my family at their home while I was in Europe and so grateful that they were so kind and generous with me while I was there. They really treated me like close family and were so welcoming. It was a weekend I will never forget! Here's a photo of the whole family: Aunt Hannah, me, Lucas, Maria, Uncle Donald, Emma, Christian, David and Therese. :)

Kira comes to Visit!!

Madrid, Rouen, Paris!!!
My European Core of Favorite Cities!!!

So, Kira came to visit!!! and it was the MOST WONDERFUL visit! It was the very best treat in the whole world, one that I'd been looking forward to since I even first arrived in Europe. I took the train from Rouen to meet Kira at the airport in Paris right as she got off the plane! We went to meet her friend Lauren... she goes to UCSB (Santa Barbara), studied in Madrid, and spent the whole weekend with us traveling around... and she's fabulous too so it was great!! That day we hung around the airport and caught up before catching our evening flight to Madrid AKA my favorite place in Europe!
Once we got to Madrid, we met our friend Alex from Cal Poly who we stayed with... about half the time due to some problems with his Mamma (senora). But he was still really nice to let us stay with him and his roommates were fun too all studying from the US. That night we went to a Turkish Sangria Bar to meet up with a whole bunch of friends! It was just a few blocks from where Kira lived last semseter, so I'd actually been there before. Nick Manuele (we went through all of Europe with him) and Travis (stayed with him last time in Madrid) who are both Deltasigs from SLO and Owe and Jeal- Kira's friends studying in England who she'd met in Madrid. Complicated I guess, but it was such a blast to catch up with so many friends from all over the world in my most favorite place !
We had a fun time in the center of SOL which is the very center of Madrid and the most fun area to be. There is of course the bear statue, a symbol of Madrid, and they had also put up a giant wire christmas tree. It wouldn't be lit up until December but it got us all excited for the holidays.
The next day we had Cien Montaditos which has euro bocadillos for the most part (euro Sandwiches) with all of Alex's friends, some were from SLO too. Then we met up with Mollie and discovered the simple most amazing thing that McDonald's ever created (and maybe the only amazing thing...) but it is a shot of Espresso in a swirl of soft freeze ice cream. Unbelievable!! We went twice in Madrid and at one point I'll quote Julie saying, "can we just hurry up and get to McDonalds!" Not something you hear everyday! By the way, McDonalds in Europe is so luxurious for some reason with giant couches and really sleek designs. Its odd! But thats the only time we had McDonalds really (ever). We ended up leaving Alex's place and stayed in hostel with all our friends which was definitely worth it. We went to the Rostro (my favorite market place in Europe) which I remembered exactly from when I went to Madrid in the spring. We'd hit up all our favorite shopping too that day! Oh and of course, we ate at El Tigre, where you get free and delicious tapas!! And to top it off, we saw Nueva Luna (new Moon) the Twilight series movie which I am unashamed to admit that I love... though I love the books more than the movies. We had a grande ole time in Madrid and were really sad to see Jeal and Owe leave because they're SO much fun to be around!!!! But they had to pull some strings to leave class in England, so it was lucky that we even got to see them to begin with!


The next day we flew into Paris. We were supposed to meet Nick Bedell and Tim Koning (Brothers in Deltasig who live in San Francisco) at a certain time, but we missed the RER out of the airport and were bummed that we weren't going to catch them! But by some glimpse of fate, we walked into them after getting off the escalator in the GIANT Gare du Nord. Seriously a great moment! We all ran and gave huuuuge hugs before heading to a local brasserie for a typical 3 course French meal. We all had Le Plat du Jour and enjoyed the goofy waiter trying to speak English. After that, Lauren stayed in Paris, Kira, Julie and I headed back to Rouen.
When I woke up the next day, I was apparently really sick... So I went to the doctors and got some medicine. But Kira and I were still able to wander around Rouen, do some shopping, see the cathedrals, have a typical Croc Monseiur (like reverse grilled cheese sandwhich, very typical French lunch) and coffee, and of course, see the spot where Joan of Arc was burned. In front of this spot, I wanted to take a picture pretending to burn, but we both decided that would be extremely sac-religious and probably would feel guilty afterwards. So we refrained and just enjoyed beautiful picturesque Rouen. That night Kira was able to meet all the people from our program in the common room (common room party) which was lucky because I'm pretty sure they closed the common room indefinitely after this night due to the noise/mess. The housing administration usually closes the common room and threatens the international students, but we haven't seen the inside of the room since late November... and I don't think we will :(



Then we headed into Paris again to meet Nick, Tim, and Lauren for Thanksgiving Dinner! It was quite the experience. Nick and Tim scouted out this place called Route 66 by the Bastille which boasted an American Thanksgiving Dinner. The things on the menu were sort of like a Chilli's only way less delicious looking. The dinner was pretty funny. We first got a glass of wine with a dash of strawberry syrup- I took one sip and passed on it. Then we got a "Waldorf" Salad, but the only thing that was waldorf about it was the nuts and the chicken. Other than that, the salad dressing with thick mayonnaise. Pretty weird stuff. The main course was a giant turkey leg, stuffing made out of hamburger meat, sweet potato puree, a baby corn cob, and a dollop of cranberries. It wasn't terrible at all, but definitely NOT your typical thanksgiving meal. The dessert and coffee were actually delicious- a pear cobbler thing, but that's not too American Thanksgiving in my head. Still, we had an amazing time alltogether for the holiday and I couldn't have been happier to spend it in Paris with so many people I love.
That night, Kira and I headed straight to Em J's apartment to see another girl we love! We stayed with her all weekend, wandering around Paris. I was still recovering from my little cold So I took it easy all weekend. We went to the Champs Elysees which was insane! They have beautiful Christmas Decorations up the entire street and a Christmas Market and little children's amusement park with Christmas Rides and everything. The street was magical with the fading lights and icicle patterns. We had some yummy soup a l'oignon (called French Onion Soup outside of France) in a small brasserie, ate baguettes in the apartment, and chatted. Kira's old French Flatmate, Bertrand, from Madrid came in from London to spend the weekend with us and visit Kira. It was fun to catch up with him too since I hadn't seen him since visiting Madrid in March. Overall, it was a great experience in Paris and I'm getting excited just to think that I'm on my way to Paris in just a few short days for MORRRE Christmas experiences. On Sunday, Kira left to head back to Washington DC, and as always, I was sad to see her go. But even now as Im writing this, I get to see her in a few short weeks!! I'm so happy that she got to come and visit at all... as always it makes me happy just to see my very best friend! :)

dijon

So we went to Dijon, France... here's the Musee des beaux arts, which is one of the greatest in all of France. And they made Dijon Mustard here, which is pretty famous nowadays. . . and there wasn't much more here than this, though still a fun weekend! The picture of me and Julie is taken in a mirror to show the ceiling artwork .