Carys in Copes (2) - Sakura & the Mermaid

Any trip to Copenhagen must include a visit to see the Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue in Danish), who really IS little. This statue was first unveiled in 1913 and the statue is 1.25 meters high and weighs around 175 kilograms, not so big for a statue. Since the mid-1950s the statue has been vandalized at times having arms broken and even be-headed! Here you can see that the statue has been recently vandalized with a blue heart painted at the base.















Unfortunately (if you are travelling to CPH soon) you may not find the little mermaid in her usual place. Apparently she will be taking her first international trip soon to the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010. I took this extra pic, as Den Lille Havfrue gazes out to see the swans meet in the sea - sort of a combo of TWO Hans Christian Andersen stories there....(i.e. The Little Mermaid and the Ugly Duckling)














Although the cherry trees are not nearly as plentiful in Copenhagen as in Tokyo there was a sakura-matsuri (cherry blossom festival) in Copenhagen the weekend of Carys' visit. Unfortunately, it finished up that Saturday aroudn 4pm and we didn't arrive to the area until after 5pm. Too bad too, we were day dreaming of mochi and inari-zushi! Zannen desu neeee! The festival was in an ideal place though to enjoy sakura...














Hmmm just a nice pic with M and the cherry trees as the sun was going down.