three hundred and sixty-six

it is 8:48 and the fireworks have been going off non-stop since before six.  well, they may have stopped temporarily for the queen's speech right at six, but then they resumed with a renewed fervor after her majesty's speech wishing every dane, near and far, a happy new year... telling them to take care of each other, and to encourage the youth to believe in themselves (and not live in cyberspace).  at least that is what i gather from the one 'rough translation' i could find on royalcorrespondent.com. (we tried watching online, but it kept stopping on us.) these two things, setting off fireworks and listening to the queen's traditional new year's speech, and a third, kransekage, a special marzipan cake, are how the danes (if you can generalize, and you can, to a much greater extent than in the u.s.) celebrate new year's eve.  and also, i believe, jumping off a chair at midnight.

but the fireworks... i have never known so many fireworks.  certainly denmark puts america's fourth of july celebrations to shame.  to shame!  and this is a very small country.  as greg noted (before six o'clock and then does not compare to now), they were going off at a rate of more than one every second, easily within our earshot, in our very peaceful part of the town.  we've had views from our house from three different directions, and i suspect we'd be able to see from a fourth, if not a fifth, if only we had more windows.  this incredible demonstration has been building up for days, if not weeks.  i can't remember the first day i began hearing fireworks here.  when we were in copenhagen there was a guy lighting off cherry bombs under his shoes.  greg and his mom saw a man carrying a rather impressive amount of fireworks from the super best this afternoon, where apparently they are sold (though i never noticed them there yesterday).  and twice within the last twenty minutes a reading of mary poppins has had to be paused to watch them from the sofa.

and... you didn't know this, but there was a long pause in writing this to have some more pie.  greg's mom made a second apple pie today to satisfy our completely over-indulgent whims...

and now, as i resume writing this at 10:17, the fireworks have not slowed down.  and we will drink a bit of glogg and play another game of scrabble now, so here are our random photos from tonight, where i am oddly in front of the camera for the first two shots... 

blue and green...

blues...

stripes...

green with blonde...

and a happy last day of 2012!  see you in 2013!  thanks for reading!

sunday

just one photo from today... 

from a lunch date with greg... rare for sure these days and so very lovely that our favorite café was open for us today, a sunday, and not even the very first sunday of the month...

later, a dinner oh so american... chicken, mashed potatoes, greens, and to finish, the best (not to diminish others, but truly the best) apple pie.

and now, a game of scrabble!

goodnight! 

waving my hat and shouting "hurrah!"

today we took a train to the island of fyn, just west and slightly south of us, about an hour and ten minutes away.  our destination was the city of odense, which is the birthplace and childhood home of hans christian andersen.  

yesterday we had no toys for the train, so today william made sure to pack some... 

and on our way home he asked why we had no books, so if we do another adventure, we will have books with us too.  but this morning it was very much a rush to get out the door in time.

when we got to town we found a place to eat.  we tried following rick steve's suggestion and eating at the hans christian andersen museum's cafe, but it was closed for the holidays, recent past and near future, and so we walked across the street to the ugly duckling restaurant and ate a very danish lunch of open-faced sandwiches on rye among other things.

henry loved the salt shaker...

william kept himself entertained after eating by making letters with his fingers...

outside, back in the burley, henry obliges me by posing for the camera with his new hat from his grandparents...

for just as long as it takes him to pull it off...

we head to the museum, which is built around the house it was supposed hans christian andersen was born in (though nobody, including him, ever knew for sure).  his parents were extremely poor and did not have a place of their own when he was born.

h.c...

the museum was really quite nice.  very well done.  and i was not alone in finding him to be such an interesting person. you may want to read a bit about him below...

i made them stand next to him...

he would make little paper cuttings and create picture books for his friends' children...

some photos of the museum...

william took this shot...

if you found yourself inspired, you could create your own paper cuttings.  i snuck one up onto the wall behind them before we left... 

taking a break from his own paper cuttings...

if i recall, this fairy tale isn't quite as benevolent as a nice big dog carrying a sleeping girl on his back...

at one point greg and i found ourselves sitting on a bench with too much light behind us for a good picture, but we took one anyway...

his hat...

back out on the street... tree done up in the christmas fashion with lamp pole...  

the inspired traffic signals...

just off the main pedestrian street... a little alleyway, all done up...

and lastly william showing off his new winter suit from his grandparents...

we made it home by eight, but somehow it is already 12:30, so, as per usual, this is a tired me saying goodnight.  goodnight! 

copenhagen

copenhagen was our adventure today.  we took the suggestion of our neighbor and got off the train at østerport and turned left and left... past the kastellet on our right... a star-shaped fortress... 

and a mostly frozen moat...

to the harbor...

past a maritime monument...

 and onward, for a glance of the more famous little mermaid...

then back to the kastellet... which saw attacks by sweden, england, and later, germany...

the windmill from 1847...

the anglican church, st. alban's, nearby...

ah, how did this scruffy bunch get into my photos?

at amalienborg, where the queen lives...

and after lunch at a cozy cafe called mormors (which translates into (maternal) grandmother's), we made our way to the pedestrian street...

where it is no secret that fur is widely embraced in denmark...

we took a break at the post and tele museum...

a free museum with an entire floor dedicated as a playspace for kids...

a slightly blurry henry...

by the time we left, the sun had gone down and the lights were turned on...

the round tower up the street...

 a peak inside the church attached to it...

and a much closer view.  someday we will go inside...

then on to our final destination... tivoli, for the christmas lights...

and of course a few rides...

but not this one... we just looked at this one...

tomorrow a new adventure, but for now, it's eleven o'clock and time for bed.

goodnight!