Catching up - Carys Comes to Koebenhavn!

Well its been ages since I put up a post, setting aside the time to do so has been a luxury that never came around, since March! I've been simultaneously working on my thesis, supporting Morten in trying to find an apartment for us to move into, working on a PhD application, doing a part time job for my uni in Sweden, and trying to keep in healthy mental and physical shape! Oh yeah and trying to enjoy some of the brilliant spring weather we had to wait through 3 grey and rainy months to get to!

In April my dear friend Carys (and former roomate in Japan) came for a fantastic long weekend. We hadn't met up since I visited her in Zurich in November so there was lots of catching up to do. Her first day here started with a big brunch with some of my girlfriends at a fantastic organic yummy place near my house. With full bellies we met up with Morten downtown to take a canal tour of Copenhagen.

I had never been on one of these tours but would highly recommend it. We had a brilliant sunny day and mostly by accident found a tour that was half the price of what we expected (for those of you interested the DFDS tour is 60 kr/per person, the other one also leaving from Nyhavn is only 30 kr/per person!).

The tour started off in Nyhavn (New Harbor) which is known for its rows of colorful house and store fronts and shi-shi cafes and restaurants. Here's a peek of it from the boat...












This is a photo of the fountain at the entrance to Amalienborg Palace, apparently the winter home for the Danish Royal Family....













Yep (like most of the rest of Europe) they love their royales here. There is a Queen of Denmark, her husband is alive but he is a Prince since he married into the Royal family. He is French and apparently after a long time in Denmark still doesn't speak Danish very well I am told. The trend of marrying non-Danes continued in the next generation as well with the oldest son marrying a woman from Australia.

Here is a pic of Carys and I on the boat :-)

















The tour also took us to the area of Copenhagen called Chistianshavn where there are also a lot of these bright colored houses, sort of reminds me of San Francisco a little bit...














In Christianshavn there is a nice church with a very unique steeple called the Church of our Savior. The church was built in the 1680s and 90s and is known for its corkscrew external staircase (which you can apparently go up on CulturNat, Culture Night a once a year event in copenhagen in October). The spire however, was not finished until nearly 1750. The spire was first climbed by Frederik V in 1752. Heres a pic of the famous spire.