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!

IT'S MILNE

Kun-Wei, Steven, Professor Gustav Milne, Yours Truly, Ilona

Final Milne Post

I know, I know, I'm really sad too. Actually, quite sad. Super sad. But, we must keep a stiff upper lip and continue on! Ummmm...so, before we start I should probably admit something. I should probably admit that I don't remember a ton from this lecture. I'm sorry. I'm going to try really hard but...it's a little fuzzy. I have the quotes! But this wasn't a super quote intensive session. OH WELL. We shall forage ahead regardless of any memory obstacles.

Without further ado about nothing...I present: London right before the Great Fire and immediately afterwards.

First we have a basin! And it's filled with nasty algae water! Woot! This particular basin is from...Egypt? I think it was a gift to London. Shoot. Don't believe anything I say about that. I want to say that it was either from Egypt or Norway. If it was Norway then it was given out of gratitude to St. Olaf of Norway who helped the English somehow? I'm sorry, I'm messing this all up. Dang it. Let's move onto the next picture!

This, this is a wall! Yay! We've seen a lot of the old Roman wall on our adventure through London history and archaeology, so it's really fitting that we wound up back by it again in the end.

Also, being near the wall led to this moment.

"This is part of the Roman Tower and that is a mallard. Which is more interesting? See, there's the male and there's the female... *Duck impression*"

What? Professor Milne did an impression of a duck? Hell yes he did. That man quacked like...like an angelic chorus of human-ducks. It was truly a beautiful moment. The next picture captures that moment, kind of, because the duck is in the picture. However, I'm pretty sure that you would have to be Superman's optometrist to see it (I'm assuming that Superman's optometrist would have especially good eyesight. Why? Because screw logic it's finals season!)

Did you see the duck? Liar, of course you can't, I can't zoom properly. This next picture is in the courtyard of a church. Which church? I really don't know.

I can tell you that this next thing is a piece of old Roman road on the side of the church! Why is there? Ummmm, if you were a church that got it's hands on a bit of old Roman road I'm pretty sure you'd past it to the side of your building too. Duh.

Oh! This next thing is pretty cool! Ok, so, it is a part of an...Iraqi(?) tablet. What's an Iraqi tablet doing on the side of a church in London? How did the church even get the tablet? Dude, it's so cool. Guess who gave it to the church. I will give you a hint. That person went to the church. Ha ha, sorry, that was a terrible hint. IT WAS AGATHA CHRISTIE'S SECOND HUSBAND: Max Mallowan. Oh snap, it turns out that Agatha Christie married an archaeologist and they attended this church. Then, when he had this tablet he apparently decided that the church totally needed a tablet from Iraq. So what does the tablet say?

[Reading, while tracing along with a finger] "If you read this [the tablet] it says quite clearly 'On the 4th of March _______ walked up the road and sold a bust of wheat for £2.40.' Well...not really...probably."

Oh look! Another church! I don't remember which one it is!

I think it has something to do with Mary...maybe? Shoot. I'm sorry. If I figure it out or am told by someone who knows I will include an edit.

I do recognize this pretty little structure though! It's another place of worship. A cathedral, in fact. St. Paul's Cathedral! And this is the view from the top of a shopping structure. It's a very lovely view. If you couldn't tell...

Getting up to the tower we all had to crowd into this elevator. Now, the elevator was pretty large, but then so is the class.

[Whole class crowded into elevator *Milne holds the door open for a random dude*]

Random dude: "Friendly group..."

[Random dude leaves]

Milne: "Well, we're not friendly."

It's true. We were way more vicious than friendly.

More St. Paul's Cathedral. I really liked the view from this street. There was something about this street. I think the buildings look a lot like the buildings would have after the fire? Except for the top floor? Dang it. BRAIN WHY DO YOU HATE ME?

It's a gate! I think that gate was moved from somewhere else to this present location. Um. I'm not totally sure where it was from, or what time period. But. It's a gate.
Buildings made of bricks charred by the fire! I think. The Great Fire. Of 1666. It supposedly started in a bakery one night and then spread and consumed London in a very short period of time. Apparently only six people were responsible for planning the rebuilding of London after the fire. Between the time of the fire and 1675, around 9000 homes were built. (I think) Crazy!

This a picture of St. Paul's Cathedral! It was designed by Christopher Wren. I think he's one of my dad's favorite architects. Probably because he's Rick Steves's favorite London architect. He was a pretty cool dude though. When wandering around London with the father, he kept pointing out churches designed by Christopher Wren. Including the church that inspired the wedding cake! YES!

Ok, wow. I can't believe this is our last Milne post. :( Damn. There is one more picture that I will need to post. It is a great picture. But, alas, I don't currently have it. But once I get it I will post it! For sure! I would wait to include it in this post but I feel like I've been negligent enough! So, enough! Here it is! Real content!

Much love and cheers!

Sorry for the complete lack of update-age

I'm sorry. I've been terribly lax. And this is just going to be an apology. No real content.

I was going to be super amazing about updating because I was going to use it as a nice break from my intense studying but my idea of nice breaks has been more youtube and hulu based than blog based and the studying intensity has been less than admirable up until, like, a day or two ago. Whoops.

So. I have SO MANY THINGS to write about and SO MANY PICTURES to post and I promise that will start coming relatively soon. My developmental neurobiology is on Friday and assuming it doesn't kill me faster than a generous helping of tetrodotoxin I will start for realsies updating with some regularity. I think I have one last Milne post and then a crazy amount of traveling posts long overdue. So that will happen.

Since I don't have the time or mental capacity currently to for realsies write a post, please accept these tidbits from Kun-Wei and my study session at Starbucks today.

Kelsey: What does the neural crest make?

Kun-Wei: Spotted...pig cows...that are dogs.

Kun-Wei: YOU SHOULD MAKE A CAKE BAKING FRANKENSTEIN!

*When discussing the face line thing again*

Kun-Wei: I can't believe it took me three years to notice the line.

Kelsey: Well, it took me eighteen years to notice it...twenty...

Much love and cheers! Wish me luck and, perhaps more importantly, sanity and Pope John Paul II's next miracle!!! GAHHHHHHHHHH!

Back in Ye Old London Town

Hello hello!

If the title of the blog post was not clear enough, I am back in London. I got back on April 29th around 3:00 PM. By then the Royal Wedding was over (sorry, folks) but the aftermath was still very much around. Mumsie darling and I had to walk down to The Strand to pick up an adapter that the parents left at their hotel before we left for Rome and we decided to take the past-Buckingham-Palace route. There was trash and people everywhere. EVERYWHERE. St. James Park was an absolute mess.

See? It is a mess. A super mess. I do not envy the people who have to clean this up.

This is all the people who were around Buckingham Palace at 3 in the afternoon. It was a lot of people. Some of them were drunk. Many of them were wearing very silly clothing and accessories. It was kind of awesome but mostly crowded.

SO MANY PEOPLE. It's like a flipping parade.

See? It even included folks in fancy hats riding fancy horses. Oh the glamour.

So, anyways, I am going to try very hard to update with all of the stuff from my travels but I am also going to be revising a lot for my exams because I'm pretty sure that they are going to kill me. Oh dear. O.o

Before I go, I will share something that I learned about myself on the first leg of my journeying. While riding on the train Kun-Wei turned to me and said, "Do you know you have a line on your face?" My first thought, logically, was how did I manage to draw a line on my face and how long ago must that have been because I have not held a pen for at least several hours. That is not what she meant.

This is what she meant.

Five moles or freckles or something trace a line roughly along my cheekbone. Weirdness.

There may or may not have been more self-discovery on these travels [spoiler: There was! Sort of...I feel like it's hard to travel that long without any] but that will have to come later.

Much love and cheers!

Very brief update

Hello lovelies!

I'm currently in Paris with my parents. We saw Rome and Florence (where I met up with Steven and Olga one night).

Now, this is the reason for my update: a conversation that I just had with my mother.

Mom: Clear your plate.

Kelsey: I can't...I'm studying.

Mom: No you are not. You're watching...food porn...

Check out Food Porn Daily. It's AWESOME [also, has it been obvious when I've imbedded links? I've done it in a couple of places but can't tell if it's noticeable]. I went there after reading Madeline's incredible BLOG.

Cheers and much love! We're in Paris two more nights and then it's two nights in Bruges and back to my beloved London!

Brief Update

Hello hello!

I leave tomorrow morning for Rome with my parents. However, I have at least a second to post a hopefully tantalizing peak at what will hopefully be a more detailed and thorough recounting of Kun-Wei and I's travels when I get back after April 29th. I have decided to include a picture from each city that we visited, not necessarily the most representative or whatever of that city, but one that at least stood out in reminding me as I skimmed the 1000+ pictures that I took on our trip. These are from, in order, Copenhagen, Munich, Vienna, Venice, Marsaille and Barcelona. More stories and pictures to come when I have time.

Much love and cheers!

Kelsey