Go Grandma Go!

The Scandinavian adventure is well underway. It started off with a bit of time-sensitive tension. For those who don't delight in reading about our adventures, scroll down to the photos.

Our local departure was delayed by over two hours, compromising whether we could successfully make our international connection. It was also the worst turbulence we've ever experienced. Everyone on board was unusually quiet, and when the plane finally touched down in Toronto, Lucas surprised the passengers with a "Yay!" at the top of his voice. There were lots of giggles as everyone agreed with his innocent exclamation, relieved at the safe landing.

The flight attendants had tried to allay everyone's concerns about connecting flights--evidently 85% of the passengers had a connection to make. We were assured there was an hour for everyone on the plane to make their next flight. But, it was Toronto, the land of long drives up to the gate, the disadvantage of sitting at the back of the plane, and having to wait for the stroller to be unpacked at the gate. All the cards aligned for us to still have time to get to the terminal's international departure zone for our flight. Final boarding call for the Denmark flight was announced while we were still making our way to the gate, so Grandma really had to pick up the pace. Thank goodness for moving sidewalks.

The international leg of our journey was on time and uneventful, and Lucas surprised his parents and grandparents with six and a half hours of sleep on the plane. We took the metro from the airport to Nordhavn where we are spending the next few nights. This is an up-and-coming neighbourhood in Copenhagen alongside the north harbour. Think of The Forks, but on a huge scale. It's a beautiful, well-planned development and David is enthralled with the activity taking place in the harbour. Tug boats, freighters, tour boats, and cruise ships frequent the waterways and we've got a nice balcony to sit on, so close to the water's edge. Bicycles are the paramount form of transportation here and you'll see in the photos a smart-looking bicycle parking garage just steps from our location, with an amazing playground on the top floor. With about twelve stories to climb to the top, it's my goal to reach the playground by the staircase before our last day in Copenhagen.

Today we walked over nine kilometres around the downtown, seeing the King's Garden, and walking through the colourful canal area of Nyhavn. The only shop we stepped into was an artist's collective and the clerk surprised us with news that she'd had an architect from Winnipeg in the day earlier. She'd heard all about our flat landscapes. Everyone speaks English and it hasn't been too difficult to translate most of the major signage along our walks. With so much to explore in this amazing city, Diana and Jon and Lucas will ensure we are getting lots of exercise everyday.

The impressive bicycle parkade

Yesterday's weather was cloudy but the skies became brilliantly lit with sunshine by the afternoon and it was glorious--just the 22C day we'd been waiting many months for. Today's weather started out with thunderstorms and a gentle rain but it has turned gloomy and cold as of dinner time. The moody seas of this harbour certainly warrant the "noir" label at the moment.

U.N. City Building, home of all of Denmark's UN agencies

in the Nordhavn development

There's an amazing playground on the top floor. Barb's goal is to reach the top by week's end.

Amazing architecture for a parking garage

Seems a great way to dispose of empty bottles!

View from David's balcony

Distinguished gentleman accompanied by aging woman in front of King's Park

Such colorful new buses. Note the sign on the bus says Stop Social Dumping. A phrase we were not familiar with, perhaps it means no more online break-ups. It actually means stop sending manufacturing to low wage workers.