Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen...I am in love! Of all the places we have lived and visited, Copenhagen ranks right up there at the top! Don't worry, it is too cold there to convince Tony to ever make a permanent move! Why do I love it? Mainly I love it for the lifestyle. Bicycles, trains or your feet will get you anywhere you need to go! No need for me to get behind the wheel! The other night at dinner, the General Manager of the Copenhagen FLUOR office was asked, "What do you do in the winter when it is cold?" She answered, "The same thing we do in the summer." It is true. I have seen it. People walk, jog, ride bikes and SWIM!

Me bundled up in front of the swimming platform while they swim in their swimsuits or perhaps their birthday suit. (I refrained from those photos.)

The first time we were in Copenhagen was in November. Tony was off at site and I had planned to just hang around the hotel and read. The sun came out, though, and the day looked too beautiful to stay inside. I bundled up, laced up my shoes, turned on my maps...and got lost! (Just me, isn't it?) Only this time it was a wonderful adventure through Kastellet, Copenhagen's military fort. Apparently the Kastellet is free to visit, but I was a little worried at the time as I was the only one in the area besides the guys in camouflage holding guns. 

He seemed friendly!

This beautiful church greeted me as I exited the gates!

The entire area was absolutely stunning!

Fast forward to when we were there for work last week. I laced up my shoes again and hit the streets. What I have found is that if you bundle up enough and keep moving, the cold isn't so bad! I made my way back to the park near the Kastellet to see The Little Mermaid statue. I didn't even know she was there on my last visit. 

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale, 

she was donated to the city in 1913.

From there, I walked over to the Amalienborg Palace (Danish Royal Residences). 

I didn't get a good picture of the entire area, 

but here you can see the Danish flag flying meaning one of the Royals was at home!

Just outside of that area is the Marble Church. Funny enough, it isn't made out of marble. Construction began in 1749, but there were many bumps along the way. The church finally opened its doors in 1894. I guess marble had gotten expensive after the 145 year pause, so they switched it out for limestone.

I eventually made my way to Nyhavn. 

Hans Christian Andersen lived and wrote 

several of his fairytales in this area.

The other thing I love about Copenhagen is that one of my first and dearest friends from our Australia days lives about 20 minutes outside of the city. She has been my wonderful tour guide these last two visits! This time she took me on a boat tour.  It was a bit dreary this day, so my photos didn't turn out great, but I did get a few. 

The Royal Danish Opera House

Our tour guide said the top is the size of three football fields.

I don't know what they were filming, 

but I do know it was freezing!

I don't know how the boat captain managed going under 

this bridge without scraping the sides!

After our boat tour, Joy took me to some places around town that I would have never found on my own. She also introduced me to some traditional Danish food.

Fastelavn is their equivalent to Mardi Gras...

only it sounds much more family friendly. 

The fastelavnsbolle is a bun filled with cream or jelly. 

You can only find them this time of year around Fastelavn.

This translated to a fish meatball and a fish filet. 

Not quite my favorite, but I had to try it!

Joy and Me

Back to the lifestyle...

the market area where we ate had the most 

amazing looking fruits, vegetables and flowers!

On our last day, Tony took me in to see his office. He may have made a mistake. On super cold days, I could just go up there and people watch!

The FLUOR office is up on one of those floors.

View of the public swimming platform.

Tony tested it out back in October. I would 

give a lot of money for those photos!

They swim day or night, with or without a swimsuit! 

Remember, y'all, it is literally freezing! I read that the

warmest the water gets is around 64F...in AUGUST!

It is possible that Tony may find me in his office watching the sunset on future visits!

Nah....they don't serve beer.

Well, maybe I will try to convince Tony to move here.

I'll take one of those apartments, please!

Hamburg, Germany

 Last week, Tony had work in Hamburg, Germany. Of course I joined him! When Tony set off for work that first morning, I had no real plan, but a quick search while at breakfast led me to something called St. Pauli Bunker. I laced up my shoes, turned on my maps and hit the streets. Honestly, I could just walk around cities in Europe and take in the architecture. I have a dozen pictures of buildings in Hamburg because I thought they were so pretty. I have no idea of their use! Well, except for the Rathaus...

                    

I found it funny that the name of their 

town hall looks a lot like "rat house"

After a few wrong turns (am I the only one capable of getting lost while using Maps?!), I reached St. Pauli Bunker...

A VERY brief description behind the St. Pauli Bunker:

It was built in 1942 as one of two flak towers in Hamburg to serve as anti aircraft defense and a shelter. It contained a hospital, stored ammunition and sheltered up to 30,000 Hamburg civilians, soldiers and government leaders. Interestingly enough, it was built with the help of about 2,400 "forced laborers" from areas of Europe occupied by Germany. Because of fuel shortage, these workers loaded heavy building supplies on to trucks and pushed them by hand to the construction site! After completion of the bunker, were they given use of the shelter? Nope!

They wanted to demolish all of the flak towers after the war. This one, though, was too massive and thick of concrete that they feared it would be too destructive to the surrounding areas if torn down. It served many purposes after the war, but just this past July, they opened a green space and five additional floors that were built on top of the existing bunker. There are restaurants and a hotel occupying these floors. 

Back to my walk.....

Now remember, I just did a quick search at breakfast. I had no idea I would be climbing to the top of this structure. I just fell in line with the rest of the folks. The stairs wrapped around the side of the structure and at one point I realized how high I had gotten and could see below on both sides of the walkway. My heart started racing (I have a major fear of falling), my head got light and my ears started ringing. I took a deep breath and put one foot in front of the other until I finally reached the top....

I have to say that the views were amazing!

                    And I am certain the sunsets would be spectacular!

This area is underneath the hotel and restaurants.

The center area was the control center for the towers.

The stairs wrapped around AND AROUND the structure

Pretty sure this is the spot that I panicked...

While the St. Pauli Bunker was a cool experience, I prefer the architecture of the other random buildings I came across on my walk...

And anything on the water....

It was a quick, but wonderful trip!  Next stop....Copenhagen