Sweden

Wednesday we took T&W to "that other" Scandinavian country. Malmo, Sweden is a fun little town to visit. It is a short hop skip and a jump away from us and we get to ride over the amazing Oresund Bridge. It is a bridge and a tunnel that goes under the water. This was our third trip to Malmo and enjoyed it. Our day was filled with parks, baby geese, coffee, and lots of walking. T&W said they were thankful we saved this walking day to closer to the end of the trip or they might have decided to just stay at the apartment the rest of their trip! haha.

We always compare going to Malmo with crossing the Border in El Paso to go to Mexico. But the truth is, it is nothing like that at all. Its a cute little town that is cheaper than neighboring Denmark. While they are just a strip of water away you can definitely feel that you aren't in Denmark anymore. At least in my opinion.

When we arrived none of us could go on without coffee. Well, Tanya could, but shes sweet and didn't mind the three of us stopping for coffee. Wayne surprised her with this delicious looking hot chocolate.

Ummm YUM!!!
Espresso House

Pretty Girls and Pretty Flowers

Snake head fountain
Tall Trees

Have you ever walked inside of and through a hedge?

We have!!!
Resting our feet while looking at something pretty
Flowers Flowers Everywhere
T&W in Malmo

Canal

Flower Market

Nuts, Spices and Dried Fruit

Wierd Creepy Fountain with water falling out of its eyes

Wayne loves Coffee, so when when we saw this "Wayne's Coffee Shop" Wayne had to go buy a mug...and of course,it was filled with coffee

Wayne's Coffee

T&W Roskilde

Tuesday we all hopped on a train to Roskilde to visit the Viking Ship Museum. This is one of the coolest museums I've ever been to. I've been through the museum a few times and learn something new each time that I missed previously. This time however, I just couldn't go through it again. I failed to mention this to them until we got to the front to get the tickets. haha. Michael has never been inside and while I insisted that morning that he go ahead, he didn't want to. So while they toured the fabulous museum, Michael and I sat and looked at the fjord while drinking a pot of coffee. We had planned to do Roskilde on what we thought would be the coldest day because we would be inside. This worked great except that Michael and I still spent the whole day outside. Oops. On our way back to the train we went inside the Roskilde Cathedral which is beautiful. Again, we've been through it alot and I thought they might really like to see it, much to our surprise, they let us in free because it was so close to closing time. YAY! We only had 10 minutes in there but we ran through it. That night, T&W had asked if they could go to the grocery store, and make dinner. I of course said, YES! We were so proud of them for not only going to the grocery store alone, but suggesting it. They were such great first time overseas travelers!!!

Boats docked in the fjord with pretty yellow fields in the background

Boats

Roskilde Cathedral Under Construction

Inside the Cathedral

Flowers

T&W cooking.
Well, Tanya's cooking
Wayne is just drinking. :)

T&W Party and CPH

Sunday was another holiday in Denmark. Our Gym Friend Matt invited all four of us over to his house for a traditional Danish lunch. We knew this would be something really cool for T&W to get to do. Some of our favorite memories on trips are being invited into the locals home's for traditional meals. As I mentioned before, Matt is a gym friend. We started talking one day and realized we were all Americans. He is from California but has lived in Denmark about 24 years with his Danish wife and kiddos. We all had a fantastic and fun time. We even got to play "Garden Games". They were Bocce ball and a viking stick throwing game. T&W have already found where they can order them online so they can play them after Denmark!

Eating

Playing

New Friends and a Bottle of Schnapps

Monday we went back to Copenhagen for another tour of the city. This time we visited the little mermaid, Kastellet, Amalianborg, Rosenborg, and the Botanical Gardens. Sometimes while we are in Copenhagen we see some really beautiful and big boats and yachts. We ran across one on this day. It was the most gorgeous yacht. I got the name of the yacht (Pelorus) and looked it up when I got home. The only reason I knew the mans name that it belongs to is a few weeks one of our friends was talking about him. Anyways, It belongs to Roman Abramovich. AKA, A Russian Billionaire,and Pelorus is said to be the 11th largest yacht in the world.

Windmill

Me with the Pelorus

Pelorus

People enjoying the weather in Rosenborg

Baby Duck!
We have seen about 2,504 of then in the past 2 weeks and Tanya has a picture of every single one!

Hillerød

After my previous post I felt likeI skimped a lot because those three days were filled with a ton of fun and loads of pictures, so starting now I'm going to go day by day! Plus I think the rest of the family back home may like to see more pictures of T&W's visit. :)

We are still super duper busy over here in Denmark! Our days have been really filled, but we are having fun and I can't believe it is passing so quickly. The weather has stayed absolutely beautiful, warm and sunny. It feels like the middle of summer. The flowers are all in full bloom and every area we have been to in Denmark this past week has been simply beautiful with all the colors of the flowers. All the Danes keep telling T&W that this isn't "real" Denmark and they couldn't have picked a better time. I agree with them completely. Last year while Mary and Jason were visiting at this exact same time, we were still in warm jackets and there were lots of days of rain. I don't know how T&W planned this trip so perfectly!

Saturday we went Hillerød so T&W could see their very first castle. Frederiksborg Slot has always been our favorite in Denmark and had to share it with them. We have been inside the castle several times and have taken visitors as well. All of the visitors we have taken through the castle have said that they could have done without it and it got long and boring besides the chapel, so, we opted not to go inside this time but I think they enjoyed seeing only the outside. :)

I was thrilled to see the Fruit Stands starting to sell cherries.
As soon as we got off the train, I bought a bag of them. YUM!
Flowers in Cemetery in Hillerød

The beautiful Frederiksborg Slot

Waiting for everyone to catch up to me

Denmark seems to also be filled with baby ducks!
It is making Tanya very happy!

Michael with Flowers

Me at the castle

Me at the same spot back in 2003
I was dressed much warmer...it was Christmas Time
The Castle

Michael about to sneeze

T&W
Grrrr
Gardens

Pretty Flower

The Wayne and Tanya Tour

Michaels mom and stepdad, we will call them, "Tanya and Wayne" got here on Tuesday and we have been busy having fun since. As each day passes we are all quickly getting more and more red. The weather has been more than beautifully perfect. It's mind boggling. Today the high was 70 degrees, tomorrow 72. Last year while Mary and Jason were here at about the exact same time, in fact, actually it was a few days later, we were still in warm jackets and it was quite cold. brrr...

Day 1: They arrived and we took it easy. :)

Day 2: "Lyngby Fest" (as Mary called it)
We gave T&W the grandtour of "Our Lyngby". It mostly included the main street that we walk on daily and the things we see and do around town. We got to visit inside the Church, which Michael hadn't done before, and we took a little tour of Michaels office. They got to meet several of the Danish students that did the DTU/TTU program that lived in Lubbock and Dallas for a while. After that we went and showed them some of the forest and the older area of Lyngby. While we were walking around town these loud strange sounding sirens started going off. Michael and I mentioned to each other that it sounded like something from WWII warning of an attack that you might hear in the movies. We asked one of the Danes at work about it and sure enough, they test these sirens every year at this time to make sure they are still working. They were put in to say, "The Germans are Coming!!" For me, that was something pretty cool to hear.

The forest in Lyngby

Forest

Day 3: Copenhagen
We spent Thursday showing them what I call, the city section of Copenhagen. They saw the main train station, The Town Hall, Strøget, Kgs. Nytorv and Nyhavn. We drank coffee at one of our favorite cafes, ate lunch at Nyhavn and stuck them on a canal tour while Michael and I baked in the sun on the canal ledge. We finished the day with a nice cold, "Soft Ice".

Tanya found a new favorite chair at "Illums Bolighus"

Flowers at Kgs. Nytorv

Tuborg Man and horses

T&W on the Canal Tour Boat

Sun-Burning

The Must Have Shot at Nyhavn

Day 3: Beach, Bakken and Dyrehaven
Anyone that knows Tanya knows she loves, loves, LOVES deer. The first time we lived in Denmark we knew she would love "Dyrehaven". We were lucky enough that today the deer were out in full force and we were able to get quite close to them. We spend much walking through the park and a lot of time watching the deer walk about.

At Bakken

Stopping for Lunch

Michael and the statue

This Picture is for Mr. Jason Graduated from Law School today loves the hunting lodge Partney!
Congrats from the Hunting Lodge Jason!

Chillin' with the Deer

Still Chillin with the Deer

Michael pretending he is on Safari

We have a ton planned for the rest of their trip. I'll try to get stuff up here more often especially for Nana and the rest of the Family in Lubbock! :)