So remember how I was complaining that if felt like we didn’t do anything on New Year’s? A lot of that feeling centered around two big missed activities: shopping at Tiger (we had shopped around on New Year’s Eve, but we didn’t actually buy anything, and then it closed before we could go back) and climbing the Round Tower.

The top of the Round Tower is likely my number one most favorite place in the entire world, so you can imagine my heartbreak when we decided to leave it for New Year’s Day, only to find that it was closed all day for the holiday. It seemed there was no way around these losses, seeing as we were scheduled to entertain/ be entertained by the Jensen family (my Danish host family when I studied in Copenhagen) all day long.

But wait! Sara’s bus didn’t get in until ten, so we wouldn’t meet up until eleven or so. And Tiger opened at nine. And the Round Tower opened at ten. A coincidence? I think not! It was reckless and crazy, but I was going to Copenhagen in the morning, gosh darn it. The crew decided to join.

Of course, the crew became sidetracked when they saw how close the train station was to a Lagkagehuset. This is my favorite bakery in Denmark, and my go-to pastry is the stor chokoladebolle, or ‘large chocolate bun.’ I picked out Jonathan’s favorite (meaning I assumed it would be his favorite thing in the store, and he swiftly became obsessed), a jordbær kage, or ‘strawberry cake.’ Less a cake and more a tart, this delicacy consists of a tart pastry cup dipped in chocolate, filled with such delicious and fluffy whipped cream, and topped with a healthy heaping of fresh strawberries with a sweet gelatin glaze.

Sorry if that made you drool at all. After trying his first one, Jonathan declared, ‘I think I could eat five more of those.’ This became a regular phrase when in the vicinity of a jordbær kage. My mom was more adventurous, as she chose not to limit herself and to instead order two to three different pastries each day. Don’t worry, don’t worry. She didn’t eat them all herself. I think her favorite ended up being the little pepperoni pizzas, though.

As we guiltily shuffled out of Lagkagehuset for the umpteenth time, a familiar ‘Lizzy!’ was thrown across the busy street of Strøget. Everybody turned but me, though I eventually realized it was indeed someone we knew. A wild Sara Jensen! She had been on her way to the Round Tower to tell us to meet her at home so she could go take a nap. Pretty funny timing.

Then on to Tiger and its less-lit, classier sister, Søstrene Grene, where we spent around forty dollars on many adorable things we did not need. Eventually, we did make it to the Round Tower.

As usual, the views were ahhhmazinggg…

Jonathan got pretty freaked out by the view down to the bottom. Supported by nothing but a plexiglass plate… He was mostly terrified because he didn’t see the glass at first, so he thought I was just trying to kill him. Whoops.

Then time for some posing!

 

It was bright. Tehe. Turned out we picked the right day to climb Rundetårn, seeing as the other days, we’d have been drenched, and our view obscured.

On our way to the train station, we caught sight (and sound) of something I’ve never seen before! It was the march that the guards perform before the changing of the guard at noon, but this time they were led by the royal guard band!

We’d have followed them if we had more time, but alas. A quick pølser stop…

Then running late as always, we took the S train to my Danish hometown of Birkerød, and I was able to show the crew my daily commute home. I had a moment of hesitation when trying to remember which bus to take to my house after the train, but we made it safely to the Jensens’.

Love this place. We exchanged hellos and my mom finally met my Danish dad, and then we went on a little walk around the neighborhood to take advantage of the sunlight.

This was all just a precursor, really, to the buffet at Louisiana Museum.

I cannot adequately describe how delicious this food is. It is just… Golly goodness. Jonathan went back for thirds or something crazy because he was bitter that we didn’t get a discount on Sara’s membership card. ‘Gotta get our money’s worth,’ he kept saying. Everybody looked stuffed and satisfied by the time we made our way to the actual museum. We started with the outdoor sculpture park and a view of Sweden across the water…

Then in to the winding depths of Louisiana.

This room was very strange. The lights were a mix of bright greens and blues, and it messed with our vision such that my blue shirt looked grey, and my mom’s red jacket and Jonathan’s red pants looked black.

This piece was also super cool. There were three sculptures covered in volcanic ash, and if you made enough noise by clapping or stomping around near one of the sculptures, more ash would rain down from these vents up above. Jonathan was very good at this, seeing as how he is essentially a child with no respect for the serenity of silent art spaces.

It was actually really cool though, and we got a bunch of other curious onlookers to join in. #art.

Then some colors and lines…

Mom was especially intrigued by this piece, called something like Mr. Hand, Mrs. Butt, Mrs. Knee, and Mr. Foot.

I was caught a bit off guard in that one.

Now these shoes. These shoes tell a story all on their own. You see, Thursday evening as I was leaving for work, I got a text from Sara Jensen. She had been in Seattle a couple weeks before, and she had found some Vans that she really really liked, but she had convinced herself she didn’t need them. Then she got home and discovered they were $35 more expensive in Denmark, and she instantly had to have them. (I’m paraphrasing.) So for the remainder of Thursday night and into Friday morning, Sara Lee went on a mad goose hunt for these shoes, and my mom carried them all the way to Denmark for Sara Jensen. Both Saras seemed rather pleased with the transaction.

This is the permanent infinity mirror installation in Louisiana. Yayoi Kusama designed the space. It was funny to see the hubbub created for her exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum a few months ago. Tickets were upwards of $40, and people stood in line for hours to get them, only to find that they would be sold out for the day. When I studied in Denmark, though, Yayoi’s exhibit was at Louisiana, and I saw it three times for the measly price of a one-time $20 membership! What a win.

This was some crazy ten-minute slow-motion video of about twenty people getting doused with firehose-type blasts of water from both sides. Not sure what it symbolized, but it was very dramatic and mesmerizing.

And theeennn…

More Jensens! I actually slept through the first hour or two of bonding because I was positively pooped. Jonathan, Mama Bear, Sara, and Maria played Partners, a game similar to Sorry but better in every way. I also forgot to take pictures because by the time I woke up, I was ravenous again, and I was so super pumped for Jesper’s cooking. He had made lamb, potatoes (so good!), a tzatziki sauce, and salad with my favorite Danish feta cheese. Seriously so much satisfaction. And my mom was super pumped that Jesper had gotten some gløgg for her.

We rounded out the night with some more games and some leftover fireworks from New Year’s.

 

Sara drove us to our Airbnb at the end of the night, but when we arrived, I realized I’d forgotten my jacket (with our keys in the pocket) back at the Jensen home. On our way back for round two, everyone was giving me a hard time, until I looked over and pointed out that Jonathan didn’t have his coat, either! Turns out he realized his mistake shortly after I did, but he had planned to sneakily grab his cost without letting us be any the wiser. Disgusting…

We were tired as can be, but we managed to stumble our way through packing before crawling into bed.

Aaaand that’s pretty much a wrap on Denmark. You’ll get an update from Norway tomorrow! Until next time…

Venlig hilsen/ best regards,

Lizzy-wa