Denmark Birthday Celebration: Copenhagen

Good morning!  It's time to head to the big city in Denmark.  

We packed up our luggage and said goodbye to the original Lego hotel.  From there we took a bus to the train station and boarded our car for a 2.5 hour ride to Copenhagen.

Once arriving in the big city, we checked into the Nobis Hotel.  The staff was so gracious and gave us a run down of all the must sees.  Since our day was nearly over, we rented bikes from the hotel and headed to the town square.  We wondered around, grabbed a late lunch/dinner and made a stop at the Glyptotek Museum.

I forced my family to have one authentic meal while in Denmark.  Thankfully the hotel was able to make reservations for us at one of the most well known Smorsborgh restaurants.  I learned a Smorsborgh is basically an open faced fancy sandwich.  I thought it was delicious.  Clay liked it and Jack wasn't so sure.

But the danish on a stick offered by the street vendors was just to his liking.

The following day was a biggie.  I'm glad we all had our walking shoes on.  After breakfast, we headed out for a half day guided tour of the city.  I can't believe how much there was to see.  

The Rosenborg Castle {complete with guards-the Queen was home!}...

The Little Mermaid Statue {Hans Christian Andersen}...

Hans Christian Andersen's Home...

The Canal District...

That evening we took a sunset bike tour through the city.  Bikes seem to be the primary form of transportation, so it was extremely enjoyable with lots of bike lanes.  Our guide took us through back alleys, neighborhoods, and to many other places we would have never seen otherwise.  It was definitely worth the chill in our bones.

That evening we walked to the meat district to ironically have a casual seafood dinner.  This was Jack's birthday trip after all and the boy can devour any and all seafood.

The next day, we didn't have anything scheduled on our itinerary..  I had left it open assuming Jack would have a few sites he would want to go back to.  But, he had other plans.

Next thing I knew we were all on another two hour train ride, but to Sweden this time.  Why not? Right?

The train took us to Elsinore, DK where we poked around the town a bit.

 
We went to the amazing Kronberg Castle and had lunch seaside.

And from Elsinore we took the impromptu ferry ride over to Helsingborg,Sweden.  I can't deny it was  a good call on Jack's part.

 We explored town and visited more castles. We split up for a short bit while the boys visited some animal sanctuary and I shopped.

Once united, we all enjoyed some Swedish chocolate {yum!} and the most delicious Swedish candy.  I'm seriously hooked and I'm not even a candy person.

We made it back to our hotel for in room dining and called it a night.  It's not too often that we visit two countries in a day.

Sadly, the following morning was departure day.  But, Jack had one last wish on his bucket list.  He wanted to climb the 600 helix stairs to the top of The Church Of Our Savior tower.  

So, we did...

The view was amazing and it was truly the best way to end our visit {especially right before a 9 hour plane ride}.

From there we biked back to the hotel with jello legs and caught our flight back home to the good ol' USA and our girls.

This was certainly a vacation and birthday celebration that will never be forgotten.  Spending one on one time with Jack as he enters a new phase of his life was beyond precious.  Love this boy!

Denmark Birthday Celebration: Billund

I can't believe this is happening, but my big boy is about to be a teenager!  Birthdays around here are uber important, so I wanted do something very special for this milestone celebration.  Not to mention, Jack one hundred percent deserves it.  He is the most responsible, well organized, hardworking kid I know.

Since third grade, when Jack's class did a year long study on Denmark, he has been fascinated.  Not to mention this country is also the home to Lego.  Two obsessions all in one place.  When it came time to plan a special birthday trip for him, I knew just where we should go.

And although I had to sway Daddy on the idea just a tiny bit, in the end we both agreed Jack deserved it and would appreciate it.  He was ready for Europe.  We also knew we needed an entire week to get everything in, so we made plans the week of Jack's school spring break.  Now note this nearly a month and a half before his actual birthday, but it was the only way to do it.

The best part of all is that Jack had no clue!  To get him to the airport, without suspicion, we did tell him we wanted to take him on a birthday trip. We asked him to choose a city in the US.  He chose Chicago and was fully anticipating the architectural tour.  So much so that I actually got nervous closer to date that he was going to be disappointed when he found out the truth.

I worried for nothing because this boy was ecstatic to the point of pure shock.  We arrived at the domestic terminal of the airport, told Jack we had some time to kill, we suggested grabbing a bite to eat {with our luggage}, and then BAM!, surprised him.  

I handed him a gift bag with his "birthday present".  Inside was European plug adapter, a book on Denmark, Danish cookies and a pair of gloves and a hat.  He pulled out every item with pure confusion until he realized...he was going to DENMARK!!  At that point we handed over the itinerary and the boy was in awe!

Off to the international terminal!

We arrived in Billund, Denmark after a 10 hour flight.  I had strategically arranged the timing for sleeping on the plane.  That, unfortunately, did not go as planned.  Jack was so excited he could not sleep fo rate life of himself.  As you can imagine when we arrived to Billund, big guy was utterly exhausted.

We checked into the Lego hotel and arrived to our hotel room to find it covered in balloons and three wrapped Lego sets.  What?!?!  I seriously have the best travel agent ever!  From there we grabbed a bite to eat and took a much needed nap.  The rest of the evening we explored the hotel before heading to bed early.

The next morning we were off to the Lego House.  This was quite the treat as it is the only one in the world.

It is basically a museum of Lego creations with a lot of history and current creating going on.  There are several interactive opportunities as well.

But the for sure highlight of the day was meeting a real life Lego Creator.  We got a behind the scenes look at his office {no pictures allowed} and a little bit of intel.  Amazing!

My favorite part was lunch and not because it was delicious.  We had to build our lunch with Lego pieces, insert it into the computer docked at our tables and then pick it up from the Lego robots.  Nuts and totally cool.  I have never seen anything like it.

After a full day a the Lego House, Jack scored a bag full of Denmark exclusive Lego sets.  We could have called it a vacation right there.

Outside of the Lego House we made our way around the Lego design offices.  I kept looking for Jamie and Amy.  Lego Masters anyone?

And we made a visit to the original founders home. Fascinating.

We followed the full day with dinner in downtown Billund and a good nights sleep.  The next day we were hopping a train to Copenhagen to get a look at all those Castles and Churches Jack has told us about.

See you in Copenhagen!