Finally!! We're back on the Road Once Again!

It's been a loooonnnngggg time since we've been able to travel.  The COVID-19 pandemic that  exploded worldwide in March 2020 essentially stopped the world from traveling. Masks became ubiquitous.  We learned new terms such as "social distancing", washed our hands religiously, and couldn't visit family or friends for fear of spreading the virus that has killed millions world wide.  For a while, the world essentially shut down.  Businesses closed and many employees began working from home.  There was a global shortage of hand sanitizer and for some inexplicable reason there was also a shortage of toilet paper.

Fast forward to now.  Successful vaccines have been developed at incredible speeds to keep us from being infected and to slow the spread of the virus. Businesses have reopened and the ability to travel is now back.  For us who love to travel, it's been a strange two years.

We are thankful to be vaccinated and able to start exploring again.  As I type this, we are en route to Alaska for a much needed two-week break from all the storms and stresses of these many months.

We're happy to be traveling and blogging again.  First up -- Denali National Park.  It's very remote without cell or internet connectivity so it may be a couple of days before I post....but I will be posting :)

All Good Things.........

Unfortunately our time in Scandinavia has come to a close.  It's our final morning before heading to the airport for our flight home.  We've had a fabulous two weeks celebrating our 25th anniversary.  We've been blessed with great weather, great food, and wonderful hospitality.  Copenhagen has been a fun place to finish our trip.  We climbed the spiral steeple at the Church of Our Savior and spent time with the free spirits of Christiana. We experienced the local food scene at Reffen, the outdoor food court in the industrial section of Copenhagen right on the water.  We had fun at Tivoli, the City's amusement park which first opened in 1843.

But probably one of the single biggest memories of Copenhagen will be this view.  This is Nyhavn, or New Harbor, perhaps the most photographed site in the City and for good reason.  Our hotel was one block over.   Between the boats and all of the cafes and restaurants, Nyhavn was always hopping.  We ate dinner at 41 Nyhavn on our last night, sitting by the water, hearing a myriad of languages spoken, and soaking up the view one last time.

Reunited and it Feels So Good

We love being able to travel and are blessed to be able to do so.  We've had lots of incredible experiences, but everything is not always perfect.  "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" is how the old saying goes.  We've certainly made our fair share of lemonade.

Over the years we've had bad weather, travel delays, late arriving baggage, ailments, unexpected closures, and the like.  I don't write about them as I want to focus on the positives.  This year's trip got off to a rocky start, but I told Mona if it got resolved, I would write about it.

What happened?  I left my jacket on the plane when we changed planes in Copenhagen on the way to Sweden.

Leaving a jacket is not that big a deal.  It's an inconvenience for sure, but not insurmountable.  My issue?  My jacket is a special travel jacket I bought that has an interior liner with lots of pockets so you can pack clothes and other items to minimize the size and number of bags that you bring.  I basically left half my clothes for our two week trip on the plane.

Unlike your suitcase with a bag tag or other identifying information, my jacket had none of this.  The airline couldn't just put it on the next flight to Stockholm.  They had no idea whose it was.  I learned from the airline that it should go to the Copenhagen Airport's lost and found.  A faint glimmer of hope.

Once we got to our hotel, I looked up the information for the airport lost and found and saw they only keep and track things such as wallets, cell phones, and computers.  They don't track or keep clothes and other similar items.  Those are turned over to the Copenhagen police.

I emailed the Police Department's lost and found and provided all of my information.  I found pictures from the company's website to show what my jacket would look like.  I had to buy a few shirts since the only short sleeve shirt I had was the one I was wearing on the flight over.  I couldn't have two weeks of pictures in the same shirt- not to mention the aroma. 

Mona was confident everything would work out.  Me, not so much.  I had moved on and bought new shirts.  There were too many steps for my jacket to reach the police department.  There was no identification in the jacket.  It was a nice jacket with other clothes inside.  It will be too hard to find the owner.   Etc., Etc., Etc.

The glorious email came on July 9.  "We are pleased to inform you we have received your jacket."

Hallelujah!!  Praise the Lord!!  Happy Dance!!!  We are finishing our trip in Copenhagen so I can pick up my jacket.  We arrive late on the 10th.  We're at the main police station at 9am on the 11th when they open to claim my jacket.   Everything's still inside.  Another Happy Dance!!!

I told Mona it was all of her positivity that helped make it happen.  I'm grateful to everyone who had a hand in reuniting me with my jacket.  Thank You!

P.S. -- Mona got hives, but she's fine now.

It's not easy being green.....or is it?

Urban ski slope at the waste-to-energy plant

Denmark is a leader in environmental sustainability, renewable energy, and overall green living.  The country has a goal to be carbon-neutral by 2050.  The City of Copenhagen's goal is to get there by 2025.  Green roofs -- roofs with vegetation -- are now mandatory.  Bicycles are ubiquitous.  We remember Amsterdam having a lot of bikes.  Copenhagen may have them beat.  We learned that 35,000 people commute to work each day in Copenhagen by bicycle.  The city has bicycle counters on the main bridge into the city center so this number is very accurate.

One of the more novel ideas we saw was the City's new waste-to-energy plant.  Waste-to-energy plants themselves are not new technology.  What Copenhagen did was to make their's dual purpose.  The city is at sea level and very flat.  Because of the necessary building height of 85 meters, they created a ski slope so resident's can ski in the winter.  They put an artificial surface on it so it can be used year round.

Scenes from Copenhagen

Opera House

We've arrived at our final destination for our Anniversary Trip -- Copenhagen.  We'll be here for our final three nights before returning home.  We've returned our rental car so it's walking and public transportation the rest of the way.

Like Stockholm and Oslo, Copenhagen is on the water.  Also like Stockholm, Copenhagen is located on a series of islands.  We took a canal boat tour which gave us a great overview of the City and we got to see her from the vantage point of the water.  The Danes have a strong seafaring heritage.  In fact, many churches have some type of masted sailing ship hanging from the ceiling recognizing and paying tribute to this important history.

Amalienborg Palace

We passed by the Copenhagen Opera House, and like the others we've seen on this trip, is a modern-design performing arts hall located on the water.  It lies directly across the water from Amalienborg Palace, the classically-designed residence of the Danish Royal Family.  Copenhagen has a great blend of new and old.

Rosenborg Castle

The Queen's Crowns

Rosenborg Castle stands in the middle of Copenhagen and features a large garden and public space with which the locals were taking full advantage.  Rosenborg was built by Christian IV and completed in 1633.  Christian IV's great-grandchild Frederik IV stopped using it as a royal residence around 1710 and instead converted it to the home of the royal collections.  This is in large part why the castle is so well preserved.  It is also home the the Danish crown jewels.

There's so much to see and do in Copenhagen.  We've only scratched the surface so I'm glad we'll have more time to explore.

Legoland!

We couldn't pass up the chance to visit the original Legoland while we are in Denmark.  Denmark is home to Legos and I remember spending countless hours as a kid playing with them and seeing what I could create.  The park definitely caters to the little ones, but there's lots for the big ones to enjoy as well.  All throughout the park are mini-versions of famous sites including the Statue of Liberty and Parthenon, as well as recreations of entire places including Copenhagen Harbor and the Billund Airport.  Millions upon millions of Legos were used in recreating all of these icons.

Nyhavn (New Harbor) in Copenhagen

Statue of Liberty

The other interesting observation is that folks can bring in their own food and drinks to have their own picnics instead of purchasing in the park and they can bring their dogs.  I can't imagine being able to do that at Disney World.

On to Denmark

Aalborg Music Hall

Aalborg Music Hall

After our Preikestolen hike, we drove south to Kristiansand for our final night in Norway.  It was up at 0 Dark Thirty -- except it's not dark here at that hour this time of year -- to catch the car ferry over to Denmark.  After a fast two-hour jaunt across the water which included a lot of napping, we've arrived in Denmark for our final few nights of vacation.

We're spending our first day in Denmark exploring areas in the northern part of the country known as Jutland.  First stop is Aalborg to see some modern Scandinavian architecture, especially its Music Hall.  A quick stop, but worth it to see amazing design.

The rest of our day was spent in Denmark's second-largest city Aarhus.  Most folks have heard of Copenhagen and if they visit Denmark, it's probably the one place they visit.  However, Aarhus is a cool city in its own right with great culture, history, and architecture, including:

Aarhus Cathedral -- the largest cathedral in Scandinavia -- dating back to 1350.

Boy -- a 5 meter tall very lifelike sculpture

ARoS Museum -- both a great collection of art as well as innovative modern architecture.   The rainbow panorama at the top of the building is a popular feature providing a "colorful" perspective to your 360 degree views of the city.

Aarhus Court Building -- classic architectural design -- not all Scandinavian architecture is modern.


Aarhus has been a great introduction to Denmark.  We look forward to seeing more.