This afternoon I checked one of my final things off my checklist: visit Tivoli Gardens at Christmastime. Although it was a short visit in the midst of finals, it was as beautiful as ever. We strolled through the gardens, admired the Christmas lights, played with Santa’s reindeer, watched a light show, enjoyed some hot chocolate and danish æbleskiver (yum!), and tried not to freeze our fingers off in the bitter cold. The Danes really do love Christmas.
Study? Nahhh
And for some laughs…
Merry Christmas from the Ravnsborggade Family! Last night we invited all of our Copenhagen friends plus more to Holiday party in our home. We wanted to make the evening extra special and enticing (there were, after all, many different parties to choose from- Danes love Christmastime), so we spent two whole days decorating the house!
Complete with traditional gløgg (I know I keep talking about it, but it is just so good!), we set up a photobooth for the party. Here are some of the highlights from the night:
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
With less than a week left (eeek!) we’ve taken full advantage of exploring this city we have called home for the past four months. Yesterday, after a morning full of arts & crafts and Christmas decoration (post to come) we spent the afternoon exploring our neighborhood or Nørebro. We winded our way through the back streets, around the Christmas tree markets, and then through the cemetery to find the grave of (who else but) H. C. Andersen!
I ended my afternoon with a last minute wrapping paper and Santa hat run to Tiger. The city sidewalks were busy sidewalks, dressed in Holiday style.
In the air, there’s a feeling of Christmas.
Geez you guys have foul minds…I’m talking about FC København! Last night we enjoyed a little Thursday Night Football (soccer) courtesy of DIS. It was a big game, for FCK had to beat Steaua Bucuresti (of Romania) in order to maintain a spot in the Europa league. The coach even asked us fans to “create a hell”!
Ok…that’s not actually me…but I did get one of those awesome scarves!
They ended up tying the game 1-1, so unfortunately it was pretty anti-climactic. It was still an awesome experience, though. I’m so happy I was able to enjoy a football match while I was here (even if it was from the nosebleeds)!
If you follow me on instagram (and if you don’t my username is cflight), you have probably noticed that it has turned to winter in Copenhagen- or Snowpenhagen as we like to call it. Usually it doesn’t snow in Denmark until January or February, but it has already been snowing here since last Friday afternoon! It has given this already Christmas-fied city an even more magical glow. Danes have retreated in to cafes to enjoy the seasonal gløgg: a delicious warm mulled red wine.
Here are some pictures from my walk to school this morning: the doorstep of Kristin’s host family’s home, and my walk across the Nørrebro bridge. And yes, that is the height of the sun at 1:00pm…its peak today…
Yet, despite all the ice and slush (they don’t plow nearly as well here as in Vermont), the Danes continue to bike on as intensely as ever.
We’ll frolic and play, the eskimo way, walking in a winter wonderland.
Our weekend sort of went like this: breakfast (cappuccino), Christmas market, coffee break, Christmas market, dinner, Christmas market, cappuccino, repeat.
For our Sunday morning coffee break, we went to the famous cafe Demel. Despite the crowd, we managed to walk in and find 6 seats at the bar! Aside from the coffee, everyone (but me) got some sort of delicious pastry. I don’t know how they let me get away with it, but they each let me sample theirs! My friends are the greatest.
I could not ask for a better last trip to the semester. To see more pictures of Vienna (including those of the most incredible hostel I have ever stayed it- we had our own loft for heaven’s sake!) click here!
The Christmas markets were spectacular! I’m not sure how much I can say about them without giving away my christmas gifts… There were ornaments on ornaments, Santa decorations, delicious apple punsch!, and winter hats galore. There were 3 big Christmas markets that we went to, but even just the streets were merry. We even ran into a llama! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
As pretty as they were, though, they became so much more spectacular at night when all the Christmas trees were lit up and “Holly Jolly Christmas” is playing in the background. If you ever have the chance to go, I highly recommend it.
I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me! Plus, I gotta bring all these presents back!
Oh, and P.S. I’m winning the freebie gift this year- you ready Linda!
I went into Vienna with completely no expectations- my cousin Will filled be in about the music, but that was about it. Our trip to was planned solely to go to the Christmas Markets (you’re welcome family!). One of the cool things about Vienna, though, is that there are huge, monumental buildings everywhere you look! So, while enjoying the ornaments and Santa decorations, I was able to check out some of the Opera houses, churches, and town halls!
For those of you curious about Friday’s flight…
On Friday I left for my last trip of the semester: Vienna, Austria for the Christmas markets! We were so excited to go that we even left for the airport early (luckily). When I got to the airport, I wasn’t able to check-in, so I went to the counter to ask what was happening. Turns out they had canceled my reservation (although they still managed to charge my credit card…).
The airline thought that someone had entered the last name “Flight” as a joke when they were buying the ticket online, so naturally they canceled it.
Thankfully they were able to get me a ticket on the plane. And then (an awesome surprise) they flew me home first class! Seat 1F baby! Probably the only time I’ll ever see that combination on a ticket.