Copenhagen, Denmark: Day 1 in the Motherland

IT'S BEGINNING. This is my first post from my month of traveling. There are an INSANE NUMBER OF PICTURES. So, expect a lot of pictures.

On March 27th Kun-Wei and I left at 6:00AM from London Heathrow to Copenhagen's Airport. I was crazy excited for this part of the journey because, as some of you might know, I am part Danish. I originally thought that I was a quarter Danish, then I thought a sixteenth, now I know that I'm a full eighth Danish. So, that's pretty cool.

This is Kun-Wei and I at the airport. It was very early. Painfully early.

After a short plane ride Kun-Wei and I landed in Copenhagen and took the train into the city and found our hostel. We, ok, I was completely exhausted because I had to write two essays in the few days before we left. I was super tempted to pass out but we decided to explore the city for a while before going to bed. Because going to bed at 2:00 is LAME.

So, we explored! And it turns out the Copenhagen is crazy pretty! Crazy expensive, but also crazy pretty!!!

We passed a dude carved out of a tree because that's how we Danes do. We apparently carve dudes out of trees. AWESOME.

We then went to the Stroget which is the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe. It was really cool! There were a lot of nice shops, ranging from hole-in-the-wall sandwich and crepe shops to Urban Outfitters (or Abercrombie? honestly, all those stores blend together in my head).

We even passed my first "Jensen" sign! When I told my parents that Kun-Wei and I would be traveling to Denmark, my dad said that I should look up any Jensens that I could find and have a little family reunion. So, I dedicate all of the pictures of "Jensen" signs that I took on this trip to him. :) It was a lot. Many of which won't show up on this blog. Because it's too many and not really that interesting. But here's to you, dad!

This is a "Christensen" sign. This sign is dedicated to The Danish, my sistah from another mistah, Madeline who shares a partial common descent and partial common last name (representin' the "-sens") with me.

It's a horse statue! One of approximately a bajillion that we saw! I liked all the horses statues.

This is the Nyhavn canal. Lots of ships. Lots of different colored buildings. Lots of delicious looking food. All really pretty! Kun-Wei and I returned here quite a bit. These pictures don't do it much justice.

It's Kun-Wei and I at the Nyhavn canal! Now, the picture doesn't really show it but here's a fun story. In that picture I'm wearing a long eggplant and charcoal (please indulge a crayon enthusiast) sweater under a rather thin navy blue hoodie and gloves. This is because I packed my bag at 2:00 in the morning before we left at 4:00 in the morning for the airport. This led to some interesting packing decisions. I decided to only bring my backpack and purse because it would be less to deal with. I also decided that I only needed 5 shirts, the sweater, a pair of jeans, a pair of shorts and a skirt. Then I figured a jacket would be unnecessary, because, hell, I'm from Minnesota. In retrospect, that was a little silly. It was quite cold when we got to Copenhagen. Not unbearably so, but I wound up wearing as many layers as I could. I think a temperature thing said that it was 0 degrees Celsius when we landed. Oops.

I don't know what this building is but I liked it!

Dude. Dragon. That is a dragon. A flipping Danish dragon of DOOM.

Park! The parks in Denmark were pretty. Not super lush yet, but quite pretty.

I never thought that I would be proud of my Danish ancestry for the squareness of the trees but goddamn there were some square trees in the parks. Very sharp lines. Very impressive.

It's a little castle! In a park! More specifically it's the Rosenborg Castle built by King Christian IV. According to the internet he was quite popular. It is also where the Royal Treasury is, I think.

More park pictures!

It's a very fancy lady in a very fancy dress. More specifically, it is Queen Caroline Amalie. In a very fancy dress.

Statens Museum for Kunst. AKA an art museum! We didn't go in but isn't it a lovely museum?

I know that I promised not to post excessive "Jensen" photos but it's jjensen...Jay Jensen? Conclusion: my dad must secretly have a cinderblock company in Denmark.

I don't really know what this is. But it's cool so awesome.

Me in front of St. Alban's Anglican Church of Copenhagen! Spoiler: there will be SO MANY church/cathedral/basilica, etc. pictures in these posts that it will actually be ridiculous. You will think, "This is an altogether ridiculous number of pictures of religious buildings." And then you will get even more! You are welcome!

The Gefion Fountain! Another funny story, Kun-Wei and I spent a pretty decent amount of time trying to track down this fountain on the second day. So what is the picture doing in the first day post? It turns out that we found and photographed it on the first day but it wasn't going so...I guess we forgot about it being a fountain...that we were looking for...

Kun-Wei! Wearing a weather-appropriate jacket! And scarf! In front of a super cool column thing!

There was a lot of really pretty water. Everywhere. Oh man, I love it.

The Little Mermaid! Denmark is the proud birthplace of fairytale-superstar Hans Christian Andersen. He wrote the Little Mermaid. Which was a bit different than the Disney version. Check it out, it's actually quite beautifully sad. Or better yet! If you get the chance to ask Kun-Wei to tell you the story of the Little Mermaid DO IT. She's a crazy awesome storyteller. Oh man,I got to hear so many awesome stories on the trip. :D Thanks Kun-Wei!

A different view of St. Alban's Church! With water and sky. And trees. Mmmm.

This is an ACTION HORSE STATUE. You are welcome.

This is Frederiks Kirke-The Marble Church. It was being renovated. But it's still quite gorgeous.

Kun-Wei in her bunk-bed! We each got a top bunk in Copenhagen. So I dropped my camera from mine! It spent the rest of the time of the trip being rather unreliable. BUT NEVER FEAR THERE ARE MORE PICTURES. That evening I went to bed at 6:00PM. And slept until 9:00AM the next morning. That's right. Fifteen beautiful hours of glorious sleep.

So, there is Day 1. There are a lot more days coming! Eventually.

Much love and cheers!