Author: susannekee

The twins had their Grade 2 Open House at CIS. They have been learning to express themselves through art, song, dance, and writing. Seriously impressive job by everyone. Kids were so proud.

Andrew’s masterpiece, his Mona Lisa, which in his Mother’s opinion, obviously rivals da Vinci’s.

Andrew’s rendition of his favorite painting, van Gogh’s The Starry Night.

Katherine’s version of Water Lilies by her favorite paint, Claude Monet.

Katherine’s shape art is based on Russian Wassily Kandinsky’s work.

Their abstract art also based on Kandinsky.

Styroform sculpture by AK, other two sculptures by KRK.

Andrew and Katherine with our fav grade 2 teachers- Ms. Wendy and Ms. Sarah.

So proud of my people.

 

This is this part where I apologize for the amount of videos, unless you are the twin’s grandparents. They feature a song on the recorder, two comedic songs, a piece of hip-hop dancing and some poetry.

Andrew and Katherine reading their poetry.

 

xoxo-sk

With Carey in CPH, we got to do some fun activities I would never do solo. Andy got to join in too when he could. Now, onto the fun, the food, and the foolery.

One day we ventured to this place that Andy had come across online… Sounds bad, I know. But, it wasn’t. It was Copenhot. It’s an outdoor saltwater spa and sauna on the harbor. It was a little tough to get there, but once there was awesome.

We took the harbor bus to get to Copenhot, my first time on one.

Walked through some industrial areas and lots of mud.

The fire heated sauna is straight ahead. It had an open window on the backside that looked out over the water. The barrel salt water spas (not pictured) sat six people and were heated by fire underneath. Really fun experience, similar to using a hot tub in the snowy mountains. Plus, they sold beer and wine.

Freezing outside and nice and toasty in the sauna.

Heading home on the harbor bus.

Another cool activity we got to do was visit Fish Kiss. I had heard about this before and walked by this place while shopping. Now, with Carey here, it was time to try it. We had fish eat the dead skin off our feet. It felt weird and tickled at first, but you got used to it a couple minutes in. It was actually quite soothing, and my feet were so soft at the end. No polish though, which was a good thing due to the boots going back on.

Flip Flops on, cleaning feet for the fish.

 

Onto the food. We took Carey to some of our favorite places.

Lunch from Pixie Cafe- Cucumber on rye bread with smoked cheese, roasted kernels, woodseed (?!), pepper and olive oil; Potatoes with basil mayo; Avocado on rye bread with lemon peel, onions, basil mayo, cress, and ham. So good, I wonder if I can reproduce that basil mayo at home.

Brunch from Wulff and Konstali- I am just working my way through their brunch menu. This time I got pink blueberry skyr w/ granola (so did Carey,) grilled panini w/ricotta and lingonberries, chia porridge w/ mango-apple compote/ roasted almonds, and poppy seed waffle w/ dulce de leche/ roasted hazelnut/ raspberry cream (my only repeat, couldn’t help it.) Carey got the blueberry skyr, fried beef sausages, fried bacon w/ thyme, and ”Øllebrød” with chocolate, blueberries, and whipped cream. No words, so good.

Warpigs. Drinks and Pork rinds with parmesan (Andy’s pick.)

Everybody got burgers and fries at Tommi’s Burger Joint. (K was at a sleepover.)

Carey’s last big night we went out (minus kids) to ‘Ramen to Bíiruin’ in Nørrebro. Miso ramen for Carey, Spicy Miso II for me, and Spicy Miso III for Andy. I got Spicy I last time, thought I was ready for II. I was not. Still, very good, just needed some water to sooth the burn.

And drinks after at Ølsnedkeren.

And my contributions- meat and cheese plate and breakfast with eggs, bacon and danish waffles. I did cook more, promise. These were just the most photogenic.

It was so great having Carey here. We haven’t had this kind of time to spend together in a long time. I got to show her the Danish sites and also the day-to-day of how my life is here- the cool stuff, the stuff I’ve gotten used to, and the stuff I sometimes struggle with. We had an amazing time, can’t wait for her to come back.

ps. I beat Andy and Carey in Danish Yatzee whenever we played. I killed it. They weren’t pleased. I get it though. I was not a humble winner. Shocker.

xoxo-sk

 

So happy to have my best friend from Atlanta, Carey, come to visit. College roommates reunited once again. With Carey here, we got to do some more urban exploring. And yes, it was cold. She was prepped, before hand, with the essentials needed for survival in Denmark. Examples being- hat, scarf, gloves, winter boots, long coat, crossbody bag.

The changing of the guard at Amalienborg Palace, where the Royal family lives. It happens daily at noon.

The Marble Church across the street from the Palace.

Chilly picturesque Nyhavn.

KRK at The Church of Our Saviour. (Yes, that’s how they spell it.)

Warm drinks were needed to sustain ourselves.

 

We visited the Round Tower which was built in the 17th century. It is the oldest functioning observatory in Europe. To get to the top (36m), you have to walk 209 meters up a spiral ramp. The ramp twists 7 1/2 times around the tower’s hollow core.  It once housed the Danish University Library.

The Privy halfway up.

The platform at the top. Hello Copenhagen.

 

Christiansborg Palace houses the Danish Parliament, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Supreme Court. It also houses the Royal Reception Rooms used for state visits, audiences, and banquets. It was previously the primary residence of the Royals, before they moved to Amalienborg in 1794.

Underneath are the Palace’s Ruins. It shows the evolution of the building over 800+ years. It was a fortress originally built in 1167 by Bishop Absalon of Roskilde for defense against pirates. It was destroyed in 1369, and Copenhagen Castle was built. This was then demolished in 1733 for the first Christiansborg Palace, which was completed in 1745. A few fires and rebuilds later, we arrive at the currant Palace.

Fun Fact- A Palace generally refers to a beautifully appointed residence for royalty or heads of state. It is built for comfort, leisure, and ceremony. Castles are typically fortified buildings, built for war, with safety and protection in mind. Hence, Castles have moats, drawbridges, towers, and battlements.

The Royal Reception Rooms are beautifully decorated. They include the Throne Room, the Great Hall, the Dining Hall, and multiple other ceremonial rooms. (For more pictures of the rooms see Kulturnat/October 2017 post.)

My favorite room is the Queen’s Library. Obviously.

We also visited the Palace’s Kitchen’s where the food used to be prepared. Presently, food is cooked at Amalienborg and transported here for special events.

We went up the Palace’s 106m tall Tower via elevator (yay.) It’s the highest tower in Copenhagen and has a beautiful (cloudy on that day) panoramic view of the City. It also houses the Lumbar Room, with old relics and models of Christiansborg.

Queens of the Castle (or rather Palace, I guess.)

xoxo-sk

 

The Danish Winter feels never-ending for this Southern girl. It’s dark, gray, and gloomy the majority of the time. It’s also windy, so windy. But fear not, I am taking my Vitamin D supplements and praying Spring brings us some sun and warmth.

The usual temps have been -2 to 4 degree Celsius and that doesn’t factor in the wind chill. That’s the worst. We have snow often, but never in any large amounts. Britain, Sweden, and Norway take the brunt of the cold for us. Copenhagen is also surrounded by water and is flat, which keeps the temperatures from freezing (Thank you Jesus.) But, Copenhagen does consistently have wet sleet/snowy days. And one day, when it felt like -18, I felt like I was going to die.

The Scandinavians have a saying- There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad cloths. I have gotten very good at layering- hats, gloves, long underwear, thick socks, boots, the works. I’m trying. My hands are the only thing that are consistently hard to keep warm. Apparently, mittens are the way to go. I miss my sunglasses though, I love my sunglasses.

On a positive note, the weather doesn’t slow anything down. Copenhagen does an excellent job of keeping their walkways, roads, and bike paths salted and cleared. I was once woken up at 5 am, on a Saturday, by a super efficient person, clearing our courtyard. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard, but no- metal shovel on cement. Thanks, I guess.

xoxo-sk

Water is free and unlimited in the States. Water is not cheap, but doable in Copenhagen. Water is expensive in Germany. In Germany, a pitcher of water is the same price as beer. And this wasn’t fancy water, it was tap water. Shock and awe. How are these German’s staying hydrated?! After spending 20 euros on water we went in search of refillable plastic water bottles to bring with us to restaurants. Yes, we are super classy and no, they didn’t mind.

Stay thirsty my friends.

xoxo-sk

ps. Bring Euros with you, surprisingly a lot of German restaurants are cash only.

 

One quick train ride from Hamburg and we were in Berlin. I really liked Berlin. It was fascinating and steeped in history.

Typical Euro hotel room for families with small children. Our room in Hamburg had a double sofa bed, we (kids) prefer the bunkbeds. Not always typical, the bathtub. I love baths, and I was so happy this hotel room had one (our apartment has 1.5 baths and no tub.)  The King(ish) bed uses two small duvets and no flat sheet, very normal for these parts.

Those environmentally friendly Germans.

Chocolate muffins and eggs and bacon, fancy-style.

Checkpoint Charlie was a well known crossing point in the Berlin Wall between East and West Germany.

The Brandenburg Gate.

The Berlin Wall Monument. A piece of the Wall in situ.

It was very surreal to see all through the city markings of where the Wall had been.

Right beside this is the Topography of Terror. Built on the previous site of the Gestapo and main Reich Leadership Headquarters, the museum tells the history of Nazi German terror. The evil is chilling.

The Holocaust Memorial / Memorial to The Murdered Jews of Europe

The Memorial has an underground Exhibition detailing the persecution and murder of the approximately 6 million victims.

 

Our very German dinners. Currywurst, schnitzel and the German version of ham and cheese.

 

We walked in the huge Tiergarten. It is a massive green space with ponds, playgrounds, and monuments.

In the middle of Tiergarten is the Victory Column. It was built to commemorate a Prussian’s victory in the Prussian-Franco War. It is 67m tall.

The Soviet War Memorial remembers some 80,000 Soviet soldiers who lost their lives in 1945 fighting in the Battle of Berlin.

 

Birthday breakfast bagels. They do have bagels in Europe, but I find that they use them more as bread for a sandwich. It is crazy to them that we want only cream cheese on the bagels. No, we don’t want tomatoes. No, we do not want cucumbers. And, no- they do not toast them. I’ll take what I can get though.

Late one night, Andrew fell into a fountain. It was dark, and frankly, we all almost did. It looked very similar to the street. He was fine, wet, but fine. We blowdried his shoes and jacket for dinner. This picture is from the following day. You can see the crack where he fell.

Yes, on Valentine’s Day, we went to Legoland. The kids loved it.

Lego Brandenburg Gate, Lego Checkpoint Charlie, Lego Reichstag Building

Some intense lego car building and racing.

 

We stayed right beside the historic Potsdamer Platz. It has shopping, restaurants, the Sony Center, Legoland, a little bit of everything. The Berlin Mall had an awesome three story slide. Kids rode it twice. Not pictured- Andy rode it too.

Another mirror selfie for you.

xoxo-sk

 

 

We visited Hamburg and Berlin over the twin’s Winter break. The kids and I took the train from Copenhagen to Hamburg Hbf (Andy was already there for work.) Interestingly, the train actually boards a ferry to cross the Baltic Sea. The train goes, via tracks, onto the ferry’s bottom deck. Passengers must exit and go up to the main deck for the forty-five minute trek across the water.

Andrew and Katherine and the Baltic Sea.

Dinner aboard the ferry. Yes, that is a whole glob of mayo. That is how they roll here.

Andy met us at the Hamburg Station.

Our German breakfasts. Andrew was in heaven. He loves his bread.

They have lots of lovely churches in Hamburg. We visited Katherine’s namesake, St. Catherine’s Church.

We also visited St. James Church and St. Peter’s Church, where the kids lit candles.

 

St. Nicholas was my favorite place in Hamburg. When it was built in 1874, it’s steeple was the highest in the world at 173 m. Most of it was destroyed during the air raids of World War II, when the Allies bombed Hamburg. The Church was turned into a Memorial to commemorate the victims of the war.

The steeple has a glass elevator that takes you up 76 feet to a outlook platform, with a panoramic view of Hamburg.

The current St. Nicholas Memorial and the original St. Nicholas Church.

Statues of Peter and Paul from the original high alter.

In the crypt is a museum. The museum has information about life and the destruction of Hamburg during the air raids of WWII. It details the physical damage the bombs had on Hamburg and discusses the life (before, during, and after the bombing) of its inhabitants, both German and Jewish. It is very interesting to see the German take on the WWII bombings by the Allies.

Lunch- the Germans love pizza and pasta. Good thing, because our kids do too.

Hamburg is a mix of old and modern.

The beautiful Hamburg City Hill (Rathaus) right by Jungfernstieg, the pretty promenade on the lake.

We shopped around in Alsterhaus, super fancy. They had an amazing gourmet food hall, filled with mouth watering food, none of which our kids would touch. They did have a large alcohol section, with an area devoted to whiskey. Good old American Jim Beam among the fancy stuff.

K modeling the cool German fashion.

And a mirror elevator selfie.

We woke up to snow one morning in Hamburg.

Exploring Speicherstad. We went to Miniature Wonderland and the Hamburg Dungeons (Andrew’s fav), which actually made us sign waivers for K and A. Hamburg Dungeons is ninety minutes of interactive scary stories of Hamburg’s past. A little scary, but the kids loved it.

Miniature Wonderland is exactly that, various scenes- Las Vegas, the Alps, Italy, Hamburg, and more, in miniature.

German Chocolate Cake, Apple Crumble Cake, hot chocolate, and really expensive water from Kaffeemuseum Burg. It is technically a coffee museum, but we don’t like it, so…

We walked by the new Elbphilarmonie in the port area.

We shopped a little while waiting for Andy to finish work and meet us at the train station. For a little snack we got- quarkbällchen (doughnuts,) franzbrötchen (streusel,) and Brezel (pretzel.)

We came across these refreshments in the train station version of a quickie mart, looking for snacks for the train ride. We passed, but were very intrigued.

KRK and AK waiting to board our train to Berlin.

I found Hamburg to be a nice city to visit. A mostly modern city, due to the damage it suffered during the war. It is not as picturesque as some of the other European cities. I did not realize Hamburg was such a large port city, with lots of canals and waterways. There is defiantly a mix of people here. I have been spoiled in Copenhagen and some other European cities, everything here is in German, even the visitor pamphlets at the hotel. Not everyone spoke English, but I did not find communication to be a problem. Having the kids with us, we are not able to do everything we may want. They can only handle so much history and can only stay out so late. It was an enjoyable trip though.

Found!! A little bit of ATL in Hamburg.

xoxo-sk

 

 

Yes, I came all the way to Denmark to learn how to make American Pie. The American Pie Company is a wonderful little place that sells sweet and savory pies and teaches pie-making classes on occasion. I took a class with some friends, and we learned how to make a hot pie and a cold pie, with a pre-baked crust (they called it a blind bake.) A really fun morning, and I left feeling pretty proud of myself (and with two pies.)

Look, I’m making pie crust. From scratch.

Cherry filling in, Lattice done, crust crimped (kinda) and egg wash on. So far, so good.

Ready to roll. Apple Pie and Cherry Pie.

Tucking into some Chicken Pot Pie and tea while the hot pies bake.

Starting my lemon curd, and enjoying some of American Pie Company’s sweet pies.

The Hot Pies are done.

Whipped up my meringue and added it to my lemon curd. A little toasting, and its perfect.

Lemon Meringue and Tart Cherry Pie.

xoxo-sk

It was a crazy holiday break for us this year. We left for Atlanta on 21/12 and finally got back to Copenhagen 6/1 (using the European date formatting on ya, welcome to my world.) We were so happy to see our families. Love them.

Neen and Billy came to get us at the airport and took us down to Callaway.

Christmas in Callaway.

How old does she look in her chocker?! She wanted it bad. Aunt Mel got it for her.

Then down to my parents on Christmas Eve.

Cousin love.

A rousing Cousin rendition of Jingle Bells, minus Andrew. Not really his thing, he said. ok.

Christmas morning with my favorites. Santa visited us at our apartment in Copenhagen. He brought scooters.

Andrew’s twin Hatchimals hatched. Then we promptly left one in Athens when went back to CPH. Whoops. They will be reunited in the future.

Beyond happy kid that finally got to eat his McDonalds chicken and hashbrowns.

Then onto Athens Christmas.

Kiki and K got her hair did. K and “her stylist” Joey decided to go with purple.

New Years in Athens. Such a good time with such good friends. I love them, and I love that we have all grown up together.

 

I couldn’t leave without going to see my GMC buddies and work-wife Lisa. I don’t necessarily miss working, but I definitely miss them.

 

There is never enough time to see everybody and do everything. But, a lot did get done, and my heart is full. I got to play board games and cards with Travis and Melanie. (And by I, I mean Andy and myself in most instances, like the Royal We.) The kids got to see the lights with Mimi. My Dad cooked us steak and ribs. A and K got to snuggle with Neen all day. The kids got to go to Chck-fil-A and play with Norah, Lily, and Molly. I got to drink pitchers with my friends in my beloved Athens for New Years. I got to eat queso, Chick-fil-A, Fox Brothers, white cake with white frosting, drink Miller Lite and American Diet Coke. I got to laugh at Dad with Daniel and Katie. The kids got to go to the Varsity with Didi and Kiki and eat Dunkin Doughnuts. I got my hair cut and highlighted for half what it costs in CPH and shopped at Target. I got to watch an epic Georgia Rose Bowl win with my best friends. And so much more. Much love to the ATL. We will miss you.

And then we finally celebrated our Christmas in Copenhagen.

ps. I wish I had more pictures, blame it on being so happy to be back, with a touch of sheer exhaustion. I’ll do better next time.

xoxo-sk