Round the World 2015

Sunday, June 21, 2015

God Midsomer!

Good Midsummer / Happy Solstice! - and Happy Father's Day!

We're in Copenhagen. This is as far north as we have been thus far. With 17+ hours of sun, you can read outside at 10:15 at night here.

We are staying in the first apartment where the kids each have their own room. We've barely been able to extract Zoe from her room when we're in the apartment.

Ann-Kristin is astounded by the number of bicycles in Copenhagen. We rented bikes for a few days. It's cheaper and easier than the bus. 70% of Copenhagen households don't own a car. There are more bikes at an intersection here than cars.

We fit in here. These are our people. The faces are familiar. I saw mobs of girls that could have been Zoe today.

This is about all we've seen of Zoe

One of the bike racks at the Copenhagen train station - they are stacked 2-high in the background

The Round Tower - an observatory from the 1600s

Inside the Round Tower - note the spiral ramp for getting astronomical equipment (and us) to the top

Gelato - you've got to love Europe

Caritas Fountain - we ate sausages here

Copenhagen City Hall

Waiting out a rain squall

Christianborg Castle

Nyhavn

Nyhavn - sorry, but it's picturesque

One of the current Danish royal residences at Amalienborg

Frederik's Church

Copenhagen Opera House - there is a Red Bull competition and, if you look close, someone is about to cliff dive 90 feet from the roof

Copenhagen Opera House from a boat - no cliff divers

The Little Mermaid

People dancing at a may pole near the mill in the Kastellet, an old fortress

Nyboder - navy barracks dating to the 1630s that are still used today

Rosenborg Castle

Church of Our Savior - we climbed to the top

The stairs on the spire of the Church of Our Savior

A view of Copenhagen from the top of Church of Our Savior

Ann-Kristin at the top of the Church of Our Savior

The Danish Stock Exchange

The entrance to Tivoli Gardens

We rode most all the rides at Tivoli including this one

The biggest cotton candy ever

Berlin

Or as Zoe called it "Brrrlin." It was below 50F at night.

We stayed in an apartment one block inside the former East Berlin and 2 blocks from the Berlin Wall Memorial. The Wall, or "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart," as the East German government called it, ran for 90 to 100 miles (sources vary) and was actually 2 walls separated by a 100 meter "kill zone" with guard towers. How bizarre it must have been to live with the wall in a society that felt the need for such a thing.

You can see differences in architecture between the former East and West Berlin, but other than that, the city appears reintegrated/reunited. There is a lot of infrastructure work underway in Berlin (they simply close streets down to motor vehicles including trams). When you look close, much of the work is taking place along the alignments of the former wall. I don't know if this is due to the availability of real estate from the Wall's demise or a need to still integrate utilities or probably both. The War (WWII) and East Germany's subsequent existence as an Eastern Bloc nation, are still plain to see in Berlin.

We rented bicycles and pretty much wandered the whole core of the City from Grosser Tiergarten to Alexanderplatz. We rode around Museum Island and saw the edifices of the five very impressive museums, but did not visit any. We did visit the DDR Museum dedicated to life in the former east Berlin under Stazi rule.

A remnant of the Berlin Wall from the west side. I assume the damage is the result of people taking souvenirs