Eventyr ("adventure" in danish)

A few Saturdays ago, we took the kids to Hellerup, Denmark ( a few cities, buses, and trains away) to go to the Experimentarium. It is their local science center. We all had a great time. We got to see the Body Works exhibit, play in water, play with bubbles, make energy by riding a bike, climb a rock wall, listen to bird calls, and ride a magic carpet. It was a great way to spend a Saturday! :-)

There will be new photos added shortly after I post this. :-)

I haven't been posting much because we really haven't been up to much. The days have become fairly routine here. And really, that isn't too interesting to read about. :-)

Check out the photos!

Rome was absolutely amazing. We left Friday morning and arrived in Rome around 3 p.m. The first thing we noticed was that Rome is very different from Denmark. It is very tourist oriented, which gives it a very different feel. There are people positively crawling all over the airport wanting to give you a ride or sell you something. And they are very pushy. But the Italian language sounds so great! :-)

We got a taxi to the hotel and settled in to our room. It was a beautiful room and we all enjoyed it so much after living in our flat for so long. It had a huge bathroom and a King size bed (the kids had roll aways), enough room for the kids to play on the floor, and a beautiful view of Rome. I already miss the large shower and the bathtub. :-)

Since it was still early afternoon, we decided to head out to the Pantheon and a good place to eat. The Pantheon is one of the most well preserved Roman buildings. It was beautiful. It has beautiful columns in the front and a huge dome on the top with a central opening to the sky. We looked inside for around an hour and a half, then looked for dinner. We found a restaurant with outside seating and heaters and were able to eat dinner while looking at the piazza and The Pantheon. There was also a musician singing during our dinner in the piazza. Brian had pasta with clams, the kids had spaghetti, and I had gnocchi with meat sauce. It was great. On the way back to our shuttle bus that took us from the hotel to the city we stopped for gelato. It was delicious! We headed back to the shuttle stop and to our hotel to get to bed early for a long day on Friday.

On Saturday, we woke to a rainy, cloudy, cold day. So instead of our plan to go to the Colosseum, we decided to head to The Vatican City to see the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and other museums. There really isn't much that can be said about the Vatican and it's museums. They are completely and utterly breathtaking and beautiful and hard to describe besides that. We spent pretty much all day there between St. Peter's and the Vatican museums.

As most of you know the kids are very good travelers and kids in general. But they were so typical in the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. It was a long day of course, so after 2 hours looking at statues, angels, cherubs, paintings, etc. they were bored if we stood in one place for too long. But to get to the Sistine Chapel, you had to walk through a huge museum that kept leading further down, so by the time we finally got there, and with the beauty of it all, Brian and I just could have sat there all day! So the kids are saying, "I'm tired, I'm bored, Can we go?"....I told them this is a huge deal that we are here and looking at the Sistine Chapel for crying out loud! :-) Bryce tells me, "Why is this important to me though?" Sigh. We really wished we could just put all of our excitement and the importance and gift of just being there into the kids so they would understand, but we can't obviously. :-) You can't take pictures in the actual Sistine Chapel, so we don't have any, but our photos wouldn't have done it justice anyway. It was completely awesome to see the paintings in that room.

After leaving the Vatican Museums, we headed for dinner. We found a restaurant on the way back to the bus stop and ate there. We were exhausted after such a long day. Brian had Spaghetti Carbonara, I had Pasta with Shellfish, and the kids had lasagna. :-) After dinner, we stopped off at Piazza Navona for gelato and headed for the bus.

On Sunday, despite it still being cloudy and rainy, we decided to head out to the Colosseum, The Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Bryce and Natalie were especially excited about those places and after a long day the day before inside looking at art, we thought it would be a good plan. We really enjoyed wandering around the Colosseum, the Forum, and Palatine Hill. It was amazing to wander around those sites while knowing all the history and activities that were performed there. For dinner that night we found a restaurant near Trevi Fountain and enjoyed both very much. The kids really enjoyed that day. It ended with gelato of course. :-)

Monday we wanted to get to all the things we didn't want to miss. We went to Appian Way, the road Paul walked to Rome, Piazza del Popolo, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain again, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at our favorite restaurant in Rome, Osteria Allegra Pachino. And of course, gelato for dessert.

Overall, it was a wonderful, amazing trip. We still can't believe we got to travel there and see all that history! It was a great city to visit and enjoy!

Check out a few of our photos!

Last weekend we were planning on visiting one of the castles in Denmark, but woke to a rainy, cold, slushy day. So we decided to go to the Glyptotek instead. They have a great collection of art. We were all very impressed and in awe of what they had there. Some of our favorites were the bronze Degas, the mummies, hieroglyphics,and sarcophagus in the Egyptian collection, and the Adam and Eve sculptures in the Roman collection. We were there 3 hours and only made it through half of it. So on another rainy day or a free Sunday we can go back and see the rest.

On Monday I had to go to a doctors office here because Denmark is really weird about prescriptions. I needed one of my medications refilled and the apoteket (the pharmacy) wouldn't honor the bottle or a newly faxed script from the U.S. I had to travel 30 minutes to the only doctor's office I could find online that would answer my call. :-) So the kids and I headed down there with a prayer that we could find it alone. Two buses and $60 dollars later, I had a new script. Hopefully the apoteket will fill it for me when I take it there later this week. :-)

Today, Wednesday, the kids and I headed out to the zoo. It was threatening rain on weather.com, but it cleared up this morning and the sun peaked out, so we made a break for it. :-)

Naturally it wasn't too crowded on a cold, winter, 34 degree day. Which made it perfect to wander around and see all the animals. They have a really great zoo here! We saw hippos, elephants, giraffes (and a new baby just born in Dec that is already taller than me!), tigers, leopards (with two new kits!), lions, camels, penguins, polar bears, bats, butterflies, chimps, seals, tapirs, and I am sure I am forgetting some.

We really enjoyed being able to see the animals so well, some of them were really close. The giraffes were only 2 feet away, you could wander around with the butterflies in the Tropical Bldg., and the hippos had a clear window to see them up close in the water. When we were watching the hippos, two of them got territorial or something and started fighting with their huge mouths open. The polar bears were wrestling then Bryce was talking to one and he stood on his hind legs and started hopping up and down wanting to come play or eat him. The baby giraffe was just standing right at the front of his enclosure staring at us for several minutes. The camels let the kids come up and pet them. We saw the leopard get fed and her kits faces peeking out of their "cave". It was neat to see so many animals that we don't have at home and get to see them in a different envirnoment. We really enjoyed ourselves today!

I will be posting photos of our recent trips out in the next day or so....

New Years' Eve and New Years Day

New Years Eve was crazy here. Seriously. Fireworks are legal here the whole month of December....and I am talking 4th of July type fireworks. It sounded like a war zone here that night. The whole sky, yes the whole sky, was lit up with fireworks. They were going off everywhere. People would just walk outside stake them in the snow and light them up, just outside the flat. The man across the street even lit some and threw them out the window!! The whole night they were shooting them off, but at midnight it just went crazy. Over an hour they were going off so loud I couldn't hear the tv, and I couldn't go to sleep. Although both Brian and the kids were in bed asleep, I couldn't believe they could sleep through it! It was amazing!

New Years' Day we woke up and went sledding. The kids were excited because I told them I would be able to go this time, so we headed out in the morning. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

On the way to the sledding hills, we walked by the zoo. It was neat because we were able to see some animals while we walked by. We saw giraffes, zebras, and ibex.

We had a great time. And even I went down twice. :-) We had McDonald's for lunch and headed home. It was a great day.

January 2, 2011

We went to church today, the same one we visited last time. I can't tell you all just how friendly and warm and sincere the people there are. They seem to love their church and the members and love receiving visitors. They have made us feel very welcome both times we have visited.

I was very touched today in the service. It is different than what we are used to at home. It is considered an International Church, which basically means people from all places in the world are welcome there; they have Danish, English, and Thai services. So if you speak something other than Danish and Thai, they have you go to the English service because most people in the world speak English. There are people from all over the world, they had over 15 countries represented last time we were there. I would say 50% of the congregation is black, 25% white and/or Danish and 25% Asian. It is very diverse. I really enjoy it. It totally changes the feeling of the service, which I considered a good thing.

Instead of the very rehearsed, polished service we are used to, the service is a little off kilter. The worship team probably won't win a Grammy anytime soon, which I am sure they are not interested in anyway, but they seem to sing with love and passion for their Savior. The congregation may be dancing, waving their arms, clapping to their own beat, or singing at the top of their lungs with absolute abandon. They may be shouting "Amen" at various intervals throughout the service. It made me smile and get tears in my eyes, and I know I felt Jesus' presence in that church today.

The pastor that spoke today was easy to listen to and had a good sermon about resolutions and things to focus on that the Bible mentions, not necessarily the things the world focuses on. I feel blessed to have found a church with beliefs the same as ours and with such a warm, welcoming congregation. It was really great to worship God today, especially so far from home. We need Him even more now, so far from our family and all we are used to.

• I have posted new photos from Christmas and our recent sledding outings.

So a couple funny things happened the last couple days.
The other day Bryce accidentally bought sparkling water instead of regular bottled water. (They have sparkling everywhere here, the Danes seem to prefer it.) I had been home that day, sick, so when they got home I saw the bottle and looked at it and Bryce tells me, “Mom, don’t drink that, it’s toxic. “ I laughed and told him it isn’t toxic! It is just bubbly. :-)

Today the kids and Brian went sledding. We finally tracked down some sleds here and after some errands and lunch at the best restaurant, Wagamama, they headed over to the park and some hills. While there, the water bottle they had literally had ice in it. It was really cold today! J Completely the opposite of home. At home we could have made coffee or tea it would be so hot, here it is nice and icy. J

There is someone behind us who keeps hanging their clothes outside. In freezing cold weather overnight. How are the clothes drying? Hmmmm. I find it puzzling. We just wash our clothes and if I need to hang them up, we hang them in the bathroom or on the ironing board, or in the kids closet until they dry.

Our washer/dryer literally shakes the whole flat on the spin cycle...and when someone else is using theirs, it shakes our flat too. :-)

Bus drivers here drive like they are Indy 500 drivers. Dodging cars and people, braking like they want to wear it out. :-) It is important to hold on to the handle the minute the doors close or you will end up on your tushie!

The icicles get so big here the police(politi) will block off sections of the sidewalk so no one gets hurt when they fall.

Wagamama is this really yummy noodle restaurant. They make fresh juices and have the best noodle dishes ever. I am still thinking of my teriyaki salmon yaki soba. And I just had it for lunch. :-)

I have been trying out new recipes pretty often; since I am learning to cook using the metric system, and all my cookbooks are at home. I have tried some really great recipes off my favorite food blogger, The Pioneer Woman. I have tried many of her recipes, and they have all been fantastic. Try some! Some of the ones we really like are: Pasta with Pancetta and Leeks, Easy Mulligatawny (a really yummy curry chicken soup), Favorite Christmas Cookies (sugar cookies with the color decoration baked on), Chicken and Dumplings, Simple Sesame Noodles, and the list goes on...They are all delicious. Note: they use real butter and real cream, and that is probably why they taste so good. Just make them and share, don't eat the whole pot and you will be fine. :-) Let me know if you try some and what you think! And for you non-cookers out there, they are really easy and she gives great instructions...and with photos! So just go try some!