Day 6: Train ride to Prague

Welcome to day 6 of our Holiday 1 trip and one entry that might not be that long (we’ll see about that!) considering that 8 hours of the day was spent on a train, so lets begin.

We got up and enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. The last breakfast we would actually sit down and eat together we later realized. I was glad to have a bigger breakfast since I knew we’d be on the train for such a long time. So we got on the tram car (exciting stuff to ride one of these, I’d never been on one before) and headed to the train station. We got there, found the train and were off. Because we booked our tickets in Warsaw our train was as if we had left from Warsaw so we had to change trains in Katowice Poland. Not to bad, the train was a few minutes late but we found our seats and were ready to go. We got spoiled on the train to Krakow because this was an older train, no air conditioning and not nearly as comfortable. Thankfully we had a nice cross breeze from the two windows (I think I was in the best seat to take advantage of this) and so the ride wasn’t too bad. We finally made it to Prague at 6pm and headed to the hotel.

This time I picked a little walk up hotel and so were went up to the 5th floor, dropped our stuff off and freshened up a bit then headed to the Old Town square. (I love how every city we visited so far had an old town square!) Now poor Amanda was starving at this point because they didn’t have anything easy on the train to eat and my snacks only did so much so we ended up eating at a tourist trap restaurant right next to the Astronomical clock which was way over priced and not that great. The clock itself was pretty neat though and on the hour there the little people danced around a bit so that was fun. The astronomical part of the clock was built in 1410 and the calendar part in 1490. The clock suffered some damage during the Prague uprising in WWII but has been restored. It was pretty cool to see!

I felt better after eating so we went on to explore. We walked across the Charles Bridge which is the famous bridge in Prague which King Charles IV had built to connect the new part to the old. The view from the bridge is amazing and you can see all of Prague castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, the oldest Gothic Cathedral in Central Europe. We even got to hear some cello music while walking on the bridge. We walked across the bridge in search of the restaurant Joe ate at when he was visiting Prague in March. We found it and decided we’d have dinner there the next night. We got some ice cream and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. In general it was a good start to our rather short time in Prague but I was looking forward to the adventures of the next day!

Day 5: Krakow Poland; Auschwitz

Today we visited the most evil place on earth in my opinion! This has been one part of the trip that I wasn’t really looking forward to but recognized how important it was for me to visit this place and learn about what happened here. In some ways looking back on the experience it doesn’t even seem real but I know it is and I walked the same paths that so many millions of Jews and other people walked not knowing what was in store for them.

Walking the path to the gas chambers in Birkenau

On the way to the camp we met some fellow Americans on the bus. There was an older couple traveling from Iowa as well as two college seniors who grew up in Maryland. They got excited when they heard I went to University of Maryland. So we grouped up with them for most of the day which was nice and made the experience a little easier. At the end of the day we met up with another guy so we had a nice little group of Americans going on for the day. :)

The tour of the camp took about 3 hours and unfortunately our tour guide wasn’t that great. She repeated a lot of the same information and I felt like we could have been told a lot more about the camp and the people who were in charge. It’s amazing how you can feel how truly evil this place was and it just makes me sick to think about the horrible crimes that were committed there. The tour started at the famous sign, “Arbeit Marcht Frei“ (Work Brings Freedom) which was in face a complete lie. The camp was originally designed to hold political prisoners of Poland but in 1942 the mission of the camp changed and it became one of the worst death camps to exist during the war.
The majority of the camp tour takes place in the barracks. Many of the prisoners here suffered in those barracks. The most difficult barrack for me was the one that held the evidence of war crimes. Within this barrack were many rooms full of different personal belongings of those murdered at the camp. The first room was full of hair. We were told that this room held 3 tons of hair and Joe said that on his tour he was told that that amount of hair was equal to about 120,000 women and girls. I can’t even wrap my mind around that number! This wasn’t even all the hair that was found when the camp was liberated, 7 tons of hair were found and many other tons were sent to factories to produce clothing for the soldiers and other textiles. I just don’t know how you could wear something made out of someones hair! This room wasn’t the worst for me, but the room full of shoes. I took some time to really look at the different types of shoes and noticed that many of these shoes were very fancy and it made me realize that this was not something that only affected one part of the Jewish race but that affected the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich. I just kept thinking to myself that someone wore those shoes, a PERSON owned those shoes and came to camp with them. The room with the dishes was also difficult. You could tell that many people had brought their most prized possessions with them, and why wouldn’t they have when they were told they would be settling a new place. I thought about the women who used to cook and serve with those dishes and it brought tears to my eyes. There was a room full of luggage and you could see where people were coming from and how old they were. Some people came came from so far away and may have been on a train for 10 days before getting to camp. There was no food or water on the train, nor any sanitation so may people died before even getting there, I just can’t imagine the suffering these people must have gone through. There were many other rooms with evidence including hair brushes, tooth brushes, baby shoes and clothing, glasses and artificial limbs. It was so amazing to me to think about the people who these things belong to and my heart just hurt for them and the suffering they endured.

I thought a lot about the people who ran this camp and wondered how on earth they could do these horrible things to another person. I realize that the prisoners were completely stripped of their identity which I’m sure made it easier, but when all was said and done and the camp was liberated how did these people live with themselves? Or did they? I certainly don’t think I would have been able too. 1.3 million people were killed in this camp and the design of the death was 20 minutes in a gas chamber, how do you live with that kind of blood on your hands?

The next part of the camp was saw was the death wall and block 11. The death wall is not the original wall to the camp, which was destroyed by the Nazi’s, but was rebuilt to show what it would have looked like. The people who were sent to block 11, which was known as the death block, would soon be killed. Many people were tortured there and in the basement we saw the starvation cells and standing cells which they would put 4 people in and there was no room to move or sit, only enough to stand all night after working all day. The minimum punishment for this cell was 3 nights. Many people died in these cells.

We also were taken into one of the smaller gas chambers that was not destroyed by the Nazis. I felt chills in this room thinking about the people who were slowly dying in here from the gas used to kill them. I can’t even imagine the panic they must have felt as they slowly suffocated to death. Most of this trip my mind was on the women of the camp and how difficult it must have been for them and so I thought about how hard it would have been to be a mother sent to the gas chambers with her children and trying to stay calm for their children. I admire these women for their strength and courage and feel heartbroken for their suffering. I wondered if people knew what they were heading for when going to the chambers. They were told they would get a shower and be disinfected, but I can’t help but think that some of them knew their fate and I wonder what must have gone through their minds in those final moments.

After a short break we took a bus to the Birkenau camp about 3 km away from Auschwitz. This is where the majority of the killings took place. Four large gas chambers were located here and most of them destroyed by the Nazis. You can still walk around the ruins of the chambers and see the stairs people walked down and where the crematorium were. There’s a large field next to the chamber where many of the ashes would have been spread from the burning. I could almost feel the presence of the people who had been killed in these chambers and just felt sick to think that so many had been murdered in this spot. In one given killing 1,500 people could be sent to the chambers. The people who dropped the gas into the chambers were actually prisoners themselves, after several months the Nazi’s would kill these prisoners because they did not want any witnesses to their crimes. I just couldn’t get over the horrible things that took place at this camp and wondered how for so long no one really knew what was going on. How did Hitler managed to keep this so under wraps for so long? I spent a lot of time reflecting on the trip on the bus ride back to the city (which took 2 hours even though the camp is only 37 miles from Krakow, they just don’t have highways there and we stopped a lot to pick other people up, though I had a hard time really complaining about my not wanting to be on a bus or being hungry considering the place I had just been) and I thought about the man who ran the camp that was hung outside of the gas chamber and how it just didn’t seem fitting for him to die that way after all the horrible things he did. I thought about the doctor who performed such awful medical experiments on women and children and how he somehow managed to get away and was never punished for his crimes (the thought of which made me sick!) It was a valuable experience to be there at Auschwitz and understand more about the people who were imprisoned at this camp and about the suffering they endured I don’t know how anyone can think this didn’t happen and for those who do think that way, I say you must just be in denial because it did happen. Millions of people were killed and suffered at this place and there’s no denying that when you’ve seen the belonging and felt the pure evil that comes from that camp.
On a lighter note, we got back to the city and found our way over to the Old Town square and market area. This was one of the places I was really looking forward to and so I was excited to see the area. I found some shops and purchased a few things including an egg ornament and then we got a snack and some ice cream and walked around. There’s a big cathedral in the square, St. Mary’s, and every hour a bugle is played. The bugle has been played for many years and announces the beginning and end of the day. We could actually see the guy playing at the top of the tower which was really cool. It was a great way to end the day and helped lighten the mood after being in such a dark place for most of the day. We went back to the hotel, got packed and ready for our next trip to Prague!

Day 4: Krakow Poland; Salt Mines

Monday morning we got ourselves to the train station and found our train to Krakow. Things got a little crazy because we assumed we’d left in plenty of time thinking that our train was leaving at 9:45am so we were going to grab some breakfast and then get on the train. I suggested we find the train first before getting food. Good thing we looked because it turns out our train was actually at 9:15 in the morning and not 9:44am and it was 9:10am already! (The 9:44am train was in fact our second train that was from Krakow to Prague.) So we very quickly found out train and ended up having a great train ride, very comfortable, quiet in the train car and nice and air conditioning. Thank goodness for my snack bag (or as Joe likes to call it my feed bag) though because we didn’t have any breakfast so it was very helpful to have some snacks! :)

So we arrived at the train station and went over to the mall for some lunch before starting our Krakow adventures. This time we picked KFC for lunch and ate quick then worked on finding out how to get to the Salt Mine which was the plan for the day. Here’s where I didn’t do so well in the planning. I knew we needed to take a bus but that was as far as I got. So we walked around the bus stations and train station in search of some information. At this point I got kind of frustrated with myself for not planning so well but we finally found someone to give us information and learned that we needed to take the 304 bus right to the mine. We locked up our luggage and found the bus. The ride took about 45 minutes but we finally arrived at the Salt Mine and were just in time for the next English tour.


So the Salt Mines of Wieliczka have been in operation since the 13th century. Currently the mine isn't producing but it's one of the oldest mines in the world and one that operated for the longest time. It's not as efficient to mine here anymore so it's not done. The total mine goes 327 meters underground and is 3000 kilometers long, the tour only shows you about 1% of the total mine and takes you down about 140 meters underground. Since the mine is so old there’s only so many places that can be visited because some parts just aren’t safe anymore. The total amount of steps we took were over 800 stairs, almost 400 to get down into the mine! Thank god for a lift to take us back up! It was pretty crazy to be so far down underground! So everything in the mine is made out of salt, which makes complete sense considering it’s in the salt mine so we got to see all kinds of cool sculptures that were made by some of the miners.

The most amazing part of the mine was the huge chapel of the Blessed Kinga. It was so beautiful in the chapel. There were these amazing chandeliers made out of salt as well. They had many religious sculptures in there including the Last Supper and Nativity. It was really beautiful. You can actually get married in the chapel and they have a big room at the end of the tour that they use for receptions and other parties!



Apparently the air quality in the mine is excellent for people who have asthma and helps people breath better. It was so cool to be so far underground and see some of the places the miners worker. There were many famous people who came and visited the mine, including some Popes and Chopin himself. It was really great to think about such famous people walking the areas of the mine. Since some of my ancestors also lived in the Krakow area it was fun for me to think that maybe some of my relatives worked in the mine. We learned that many of the people who worked in the mines in the early years were paid in salt and that salary and soldier come from the word for salt because these people were paid with salt. I really enjoyed being in the mines and learning how things worked down there. During the tour we even got to pull some salt off the wall and eat it and taste some salt water. It was really cool! :)


After the Salt Mine we went back to the bus station, got our luggage and headed to our hotel in the old Jewish district. We checked in to a pretty comfortable room and asked the receptionist where we should have dinner in the area. She suggested a place call Avocado so we walked down to the restaurant, sat outside and had some polish food. I ordered a breaded chicken breast with potatoes and Joe got some Perogies and a pork chop. The food was delicious and it was fun to sit outside. After dinner we walked over to the Wawel castle. We weren’t able to go into the castle grounds because it was closed at that point so I don’t know much about the castle but from the outside it was beautiful. We stopped at a little market and got some snack and headed back to the hotel to relax. Our first day in Krakow was a lot of fun and the Salt Mine was really amazing! Special thanks to my friend Anna who suggested it!!! :)

Side Note: European Fashion

So this doesn’t have a whole lot to do with our trip but it’s something that struck me during out travels. European Fashion is so different compared to American fashion. Since we had the opportunity to sit outside a lot and eat we also got to people watch. I was really amazed at how well put together everyone always looked and just how dressed up everyone was. I actually felt very under dressed sometimes in my jeans and t-shirts! I was especially impressed by the way the women dress and how they all looked so nice! I don’t think I saw one person who would have been nominated for Stacy and Clint’s “What Not to Wear” show the whole time we were traveling. The other thing that impressed me so much was the fact that no matter what these women were doing they all had GREAT shoes, big tall heels that looked wonderful with their outfits! I was kind of jealous! It really seemed like everyone took such pride in the way they look and it was something I was very impressed by!

This isn't the best picture but it gives you some idea. The most impressive looks where on Saturday and Sunday evening when people we going out for dinner and drinks, etc.

Day 3: Warsaw Poland; Chopin Day!

Our first Sunday of the trip was extremely relaxing! We decided to take things a little easy for the day and take part in the some musical sights and enjoy the fact that Chopin is so popular in Warsaw. We got up and got ready and then got some donuts at a little shop just outside our hotel. It always smelled SO good while they were baking them! Then we walked over to the park where the Chopin monument is located. Chopin is of course a big deal in Warsaw since it’s where he was born and raised. He did not live there his whole life though but also spent some time in Paris; however, Warsaw loves Chopin and he’s very popular there.

Side note: On the way to the park we found the US Embassy...how funny we are as Americas! All the other embassies were so nice and classic looking and then ours was all protected with huge gates and video equipment. I took a picture of it and then noticed I wasn’t suppose to because there was a no photography sign on the building, are we really that paranoid?

So every Sunday in the summer they have Chopin concerts at the base of the monument at noon and 4pm. We decided to go to the noon concert and found ourselves a nice spot on the lawn and listened to a young pianist play some Chopin music. The pianist was very talented and we were told that he had been a finalist in the Chopin competition last year. He’s currently preparing for this years competition and they community is hoping he’ll win. It was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful music. Sunday was absolutely beautiful outside and in fact we both got some nice sun sitting outside for so long! :) It was a great way to start the day!

After the concert we decided to walk through the park and continue to enjoy the beautiful day! We shortly discovered many hidden treasures in the park and came upon a beautiful Palace with an outdoor theater and two peacocks living there! I later read that the grounds of the palace had at some point been a zoo for the royalty in the area but one king decided to make the grounds into a big garden instead and its been that way ever since. We got some ice cream on the way back towards the city and headed over to the Chopin Museum to continue out musical day.

While Joe was here two years ago he was unable to visit the museum because they were remodeling it so we were glad to make it there this time. The museum was very interesting and provided a lot of information about Chopin’s life but the layout was kind of strange. Every display had a screen next to it and you could watch little bits about each display. Great idea, expect the museum was busy and so it took a long time to get to the screens to be able to watch things. We eventually gave up and just looked around and read the descriptions and if something caught out eye we went to the screen. The coolest things were the last piano Chopin used before his death and the lock of his hair and death mask from when he died. It turns out that Chopin was actually pretty sick most of his life and was kind of a complainer. It was a lot of fun to learn more about his life and music though. All in all a good experience and cool to see some of the artifacts from his life.


By this point we decided we were hungry so we stopped at an outdoor cafe and got some pizza and salad. Again, it was enjoyable to people watch and just be outside. After our late lunch we wandered back towards Old Town because on Saturday we saw that there would be a big fashion show on Sunday. Now I don’t know much about fashion aside from the one time I actually watched Project Runway so I wasn’t really interested in the whole experience but it was cool to see some of the designs and all the people gathered for the show. After walking around some more we decided we were hungry again so we went to a Turkish restaurant and of course picked an outdoor table. The food was really good and since it was cooling off a little it was very pleasant to sit outside. I was sad to think that our time in Warsaw was already over because I really enjoyed the city!

It was such a great experience to be in Warsaw and think about my ancestors who used to live here. I enjoyed thinking that maybe they went to some of the churches we visited or walked the same streets I walked. It was a great way to feel connected to my family history and enjoy being where my family came from. I was excited to visit Krakow as well since some of my ancestors also came from that area of Poland, in general it was just a great experience to be in Poland and feel that connection with my family history!

Day 2: Warsaw Poland; Old Town and some Zombies(?)....

Day 2 of our trip found us traveling by plane to Warsaw Poland. This flight was one of the few flights actually taken on this trip considering that the rest of the trip until coming back to Denmark would be via train. So we got to the airport, got out tickets and headed to the plane. Somehow on our very full flight Joe and I were not sitting next to each other but did both have window seats, until Joe discovered he was in the very LAST seat of the plane with no window, sadness! The flight was quick and easy and we landed without any problems. :) I had been a good planner and knew exactly what bus we needed to take in order to get to the city center and so we got some money and bus tickets and headed for the city. (Go me for being well prepared for this part of the trip, this did not prove to be the case on Day 4 our first day in Krakow, but more to come on that). We got to the main train station in the city center, got out train tickets to go from Warsaw to Krakow and then Krakow to Prague and headed over to the mall. Like good Americans we decided to have some Burger King for lunch. This being one of several fast food meals on our trip which is kind of funny considering that I never eat fast food in the States but it’s quick and easy and you know what to expect. So after ingesting some calories we were ready to walk and find out hotel then start our adventures.

I had picked a cute little B&B for us to stay in while in Warsaw. The only problem was that we had to check in at a hostel owned by the same people around the corner. This proved to be worth it however because this hotel was by far the best accommodations we had our entire trip. We were staying in the San Francisco room which was extremely comfortable and all around very nice. The other great part about our hotel was we were literally right off the main street so we were close to everything we wanted to see.

After getting settle we got ready to wander around the town and headed off to Old Town. Prior to getting to Old Town we stopped at the Presidents house. Since the President was recently killed in a plane crash there was a big memorial outside the house to honor him and the other people who were killed in this crash. It was very touching to see people remember the President and sad to think about the utter tragedy this was for the county.



We finally made it to the center of Old Town and started to explore. I think Old Town Warsaw was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Most of this area of the city was destroyed during WWII (We certainly saw a lot of the devastation this war caused Europe on this trip) but when the war was over the people of Warsaw decided to rebuild the area to make it look like it was before the war. Everything about the area is so classic looking and just beautiful! We walked around and saw the walls of the Old Town area and the Warsaw Uprising monument as well as the Young Soldier monument. Warsaw really struggled against the Nazi powers but they were a strong country and were able to maintain their nationality despite many trials. We also went to the Church of the Holy Cross where Chopin’s heart is buried, apparently in a jar of Cognac. We had a traditional Polish dinner of Perogies and Pancakes which was really delicious. We stopped at one of the outdoor cafes for some refreshing drinks and then headed back to the room for a while.



While we were relaxing in the room we heard all kinds of screaming and yelling outside. We looked out the window and saw several soldiers shooting at something (but couldn’t see what) and nothing else. I honestly thought some kind of crazy attack was happening outside our window until I happened to notice that there was a mob of people following these soldiers and they were all dressed as Zombies! This is also when I noticed that the guns the soldiers were shooting had the orange caps on them so they weren’t real. There were so many people though. Joe and I decided it must have been some kind of flash mob or something but they looked like they were having fun.



After the Zombies cleared we decided to go back out and enjoy some of the social life Warsaw had to offer. We picked another restaurant and sat outside people watching. It was so much for us to watch people wander around the streets and see how everyone was dressed and ready for the night. It was also great to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful evening. All in all a great first day in Warsaw!

Holiday 1: Day 1: Copenhagen and a Birthday Celebration

I know you’ve all just been dying on the edge of your seats wondering what on earth Joe and I have been up to for the last 10 days, well have no fear there are many stories to tell and adventures to report on as we were crazy enough to visit 5 cities in 10 days! So the full blogging for the Holiday 1 will likely take me the rest of the week and at some point I’ll manage to organize all 800 plus pictures taken between our two cameras into some Picasa web albums for you all to enjoy. But to get your started let’s begin with Day 1 of our adventures: Copenhagen, Denmark.

Joe and I took an early train to Copenhagen and arrived shortly after 11:00am. The train ride was pretty relaxing and easy. We checked into our hotel which thankfully had a room ready for us even though we were earlier than check in and headed out to explore the city. Since I’ve never been to Copenhagen there was a lot for me to see! We decided to wander around near the shops and enjoy the nice weather. We went into the Carl Jensen shop. He's famous for his work with silver and I was extremely impressed. I found a nice Christmas tree ornament that I’m planning on buying when we go back (ornaments are the things I like to collect from the places I visit) but didn’t want to have too much to carry with me during the trip. We know at some point we’re going back to Copenhagen because we certainly weren’t able to fit everything in in one day.

Throughout the day we noticed several trucks with many teens on them celebrating. We had learned that they had just graduated from high school and were out celebrating for the day. It was fun to watch the trucks go by with all the kids in them having a good time. Here’s one of the groups of teens celebrating.


So we made our way to the famous Nyhavns harbor area to have some lunch. We picked an outdoor cafe that Joe ate at with his parents when they were visiting in April and enjoyed a wonderful lunch of burgers and fries. While we were eating there were two street musicians playing violins along the harbor. They were so talented! It was nice to sit and relax with the wonderful classical music in the background. The area was really beautiful and has some great houses.


After lunch we walked over to the four palaces and the cathedral. We started in the Cathedral with was very beautiful inside. I love going into these old churches and seeing all the beautiful artwork and the details in the structure. It’s amazing. Then we walked over to the palaces which we later learned were originally built for four nobles. Each palace is exactly the same, we decided not to go inside because it was pretty expensive but we enjoyed looking at them from the outside.

The next adventure was a 60 minute boat tour of Copenhagen. It was a fantastic way to see so much of the city. We sat in the back of the boat and had a great view. My only complaint was the two girls sitting behind us who kept talking the ENTIRE time we were on the cruise, and not just talking quietly either but loud enough to make it hard to hear the tour guide. Why even get on if you’re not going to pay attention? But, I digress, the boat tour was really excellent. We got to see a lot of the city which was really cool. We saw the Opera House and the palaces from the water, the old stock exchange building and the sight where the Little Mermaid is SUPPOSED to be, but she’s currently on loan to China for the Worlds Fair or something like that, pretty disappointing to not see her though! While we were on the cruise we went past a HUGE Yacht. The tour guide informed us that this yacht belongs to one of the guys who wrote Microsoft excel and that every summer he comes to Denmark because his girlfriend is Danish. I forget where he’s actually from, Norway maybe, but it was pretty crazy! The boat tour also took us through Christina which is a cool part of the city as well. I really enjoyed the trip.



Next stop: TREATS! We all know how much I love my treats and especially Birthday treats. Joe took me to this great bakery where we picked out two different fruit tarts, I picked strawberry and Joe picked a mixed berry. They were SOOOOOO YUMMY! I was in Heaven! Excellent birthday treat choice! :) After our treat we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening activities.


Joe took me to Tivoli Garden’s for my birthday. We got there around 6pm and enjoyed a chamber music concert just inside the park. Following this concert we headed over to the larger music hall to purchase tickets for the Symphony concert that evening. Joe and I happened to be some of the youngest people in the line but we didn’t care because we both really enjoying going to the symphony. Three different pieces were being played including a Schumann piece for 4 horns, a Mozart clarinet concerto and a Brahms symphony. The Mozart concerto was our favorite. The guy who played the clarinet was amazing! It made me miss playing my clarinet! But that piece was one of the highlights of the night! :)


After the concert Joe purchased tickets for us to ride the Star Flyer, really high up swing chairs. So we found a place for our stuff (nothing was allowed on the ride and I later realized why) and headed to the ride. The ride takes you up 80 meters (about 263 feet) into the air and swings you around. The view from the chairs was AMAZING! You could see the whole entire city which was so cool! That night there was also an out door rock concert so we got to see all the people there for it as well. It was really so crazy to be so high up but it was an awesome experience! Even though I was a little nervous to go on the ride it was so completely worth it and absolutely breath taking. (Now the reason why they don’t want you to have anything with you is because you’re so high up and you go around pretty fast so if something came out of your pockets it could do some serious damage!)


Anyway, after the ride we got some pizza which wasn’t the greatest and then got some delicious hot chocolate (pictured above) and went to the lake to watch the water and lights show. The show was pretty cool with lots of neat water fountains and lights mixed in. It was a perfect way to end the first day of our trip and an excellent celebration. Around 12:30am we finally headed back to our hotel room to get some rest before traveling to Warsaw for Day 2 and city 2.

Midsummer's Eve

Hello Everyone!

One final update before we head off for our first European Holiday adventure! :) I’m really getting excited about our traveling and can’t wait to see new places! :) The weather in all of the cities is looking really good, nice and warm, mostly sunny and just all around perfect! I really can’t wait! I think I’m the most excited for Poland since it’s a place I’ve always wanted to go to. Most of my family immigrated from Poland back in the late 1800s and so I’m looking forward to seeing the towns where those people were born! I think it’s going to be so amazing and very tempting to not want to buy a million things there. I will admit that even though I really want to go to Auschwitz I’m very nervous about it. I have a really difficult time with that historical event and that people could be so cruel to others. I know its very intense from what Joe told me already so I’m trying to prepare myself! We shall see, either way I feel like it’s something that if you have the chance to see it you must. How people can think this didn’t happen is beyond me! I’m sure I’ll have tales to tell when we get back.

So last night was Midsummer’s Eve. This is a celebration associated with the longest day of the year (Which in Kolding happened to be 21 June). This tradition dates back to pre-Christian times and was originally a fertility festival which had different customs and traditions done in hopes of a good harvest and to celebrate nature. In addition to this the Vikings celebrated the holiday by visiting healing water wells and burning fires to ward off evil. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer) The holiday is also a way to remember the witch burnings that took place in the 16th and 17th century. The tradition now is to burn a straw witch that you can see at the top of the bonfire. The third reason why Midsummer’s Eve is celebrated is to commemorate the birth of St. John the Baptist who is said to have been born 6 months before Jesus Christ. (http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/annualeventstraditions/a/midsummerseve.htm). With a little history under my belt I was looking forward to celebrating something that we don’t do in the states.



During the day I stopped at the tourist office and asked the girls about the celebration. I was told that the lake at Koldinghus would have a free celebration and that there would be music, activities for the children and the bon fire. Joe and I decided to go over around 745pm and get a spot. There were so many people there! I was amazed at the amount of people who had come out to celebrate considering that you normally don’t see that many Danes out and about, unless there’s something good going on. When we got there they were playing music and everyone was having a good time. We found a good spot to see and waited for a while then they set the fire. The witch burned away quickly so hopefully no evil will come to Kolding this summer. :) After the witch burning we went closer to the stage and got our blanket out and listened to the music for a while. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and Joe and I had a good time relaxing on the blanket and enjoying the beautiful night! :) We took a walk around the lake before heading home.




Now you’re all going to have to sit on the edge of your seats while Joe and I travel since there won’t be any updates until we get back. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and continues to enjoy the summer months! I’ll look forward to updating when we get back!

Love from Amanda

Oh the Danes...and the swans....

Some random bits of news to share for an amusing update.

Danish advertising. The Danes, they’re funny people when it comes to advertising. I though that America had some pretty sexualized ads often involving sexy women with little or nothing on selling something completely unrelated to the woman as a person. Well here in Denmark they also use women in advertising. A lot of ads have come in the mail the past week because this week most of the stores are having big sales, I think because it’s midsummers eve on Wednesday, so I was flipping through the ad for Føtex (the grocery store) the other day and happened upon these two ads. Now the first one I just find amusing, a good way to advertise pillows I guess.


The second ad I was dying of laughter when I saw. Now what you might ask does the advertisement say? Translation: This week we have great sweet melons. I was dying! So I thought it would be amusing to share that. I apologize to anyone who may take offense to this but I really thought it was entertaining and it certainly got your attention. Now, not because of the ad, but we did buy a watermelon tonight. Nothing says summer little watermelon! (It was pretty delicious too!)



In other news, Joe and I have been enjoying long walks around the lake the past several days. We enjoy (ok well really I enjoy but Joe allows me to amuse myself with it) visiting the baby ducks and swans who live at the lake. Well we noticed one of the swan families the other night and decided to go see what they were up to (on the other side of the lake of course and we had just walked around from there!) so we walked over and the mom and dad swan and one baby were hanging out on the edge of the grass next to the bike path and street. This little baby, he was really cute, but LAZY, every time he would eat something he just plopped himself down on the ground and ate what he wanted. Well finally daddy swan decided that it would be a good idea to wander across the street. Thankfully this isn’t a super busy street but none the less there’s cars. So daddy swan wanders out into the street followed by mommy swan and baby. About half way across the first section (the road is divided by a median) daddy swan decided that was where he wanted to stop and baby swan plopped himself right back down again! Mommy swan just hung out looking around. Two cars came down the road. The first, a taxi, started honking to try to get the swans to move with no luck and finally had to stop. Since there were no bikes on the path he went up onto the curb and drove around. The swans didn’t like that very much. The second car also had to go up on the bike path to go around but for some reason the swans really weren’t too happy about this. They started to hiss at the car and puff up their wings. They were MAD! Joe and I commented that they claimed the road as theirs and that was that! The car made it around and the swans eventually wandered back to the grass by the lake but we were completely amused for some time while watching them. I realize the swans really have no idea, but the car would have won! So needless to say the swans came back safe and sound and when we went for a walk today we saw the family swimming in the lake so all is well for now.

With midsummers eve approaching Joe and I are hoping to celebrate in some Danish fashion. They will be setting bon fires in different parts of the city as a midsummer tradition. We’re either going to go to the lake or the geographical gardens to enjoy the festivities. I’ll blog more about that later and explain more about what it is.

We’re off on our first European Holiday on Friday starting with a birthday celebration in Copenhagen! So more to come and then a slight break while we travel (no computers while traveling so I’ll probably have several posts when we get back). Anyway hope everyone is well in the States. Miss you all.

Love from Amanda

Denmark weather, wait 5 minutes it will change

A quick little update for everyone. Today we had some crazy weather here! There was a lot of rain clouds and even some thunder and lightening and 9, yes that's right NINE rainbows that appeared throughout the afternoon. The weather in Denmark always seems to be changing and the rain clouds are like the little Winnie the Pooh rain clouds that just seem to come and go. The storm clouds never actually came near Joe's apartment but you could tell it was raining hard down by the fjord. So here's a few pictures to show you what we experienced today! In another 5 minutes it will probably change! (The sun even came out for a while today too among all of this) Enjoy the photos!

Double Rainbows (two of many for the day)

Little dark rain cloud floating by

I don't know what the stream of white is coming from the cloud,
hail maybe but it was pretty cool looking!

Forest, Dinner and Trapholt

Hello everyone!

This week I’ve had some fun adventures. On Tuesday I decided to take my bike over to the forest in Kolding. Joe and I rode our bikes there last week but just road the trails and then came home. I didn’t have my camera so I couldn’t take any pictures, this time I came prepared with my camera and ready to explore. I took a new trail which ended up connecting with one Joe and I had gone on last week. I stopped at the fields and admired the animals there. There was a deer and some horses. I love watching the animals. The deer was so pretty! It’s nice to be so up close to the animals and nature. I was going to keep going but some threatening rain clouds made me choose otherwise and I headed home.

Last night Joe’s co-worker invited us to his home for dinner. I met Joe at work and we took the bus down to his house. His home was beautiful. The Danish architecture is very open and spacious. He had a beautiful backyard with lots of trees and plants and a nice sun room and patio. It was a beautiful day yesterday so we were able to eat outside! (I even got a little bit of a tan from sitting in the sun!) He made us a traditional Danish meal of chicken with a tomato based sauce and rice. We had some salad as well (fresh cut up veggies and cheese) and bread. It was a delicious meal! After dinner we went for a walk in the neighborhood. The area was very beautiful and the houses are so gorgeous! Joe and I agreed we are both big fans of Danish architecture! :) I made my famous brownies (most of you know the ones I’m talking about) and they were a big hit! He really enjoyed them. Apparently they don’t have brownies in Denmark. Maybe I should stay here with Joe and open a brownie business? :) I bet it would be successful. :) We got home late but had a very enjoyable evening!

Today was the day I had decided to visit the Trapholt museum in Kolding. In true Denmark fashion I decided I would ride my bike the 5.5km or roughly 3.5 miles to the museum. I knew there were going to be some hills involved so I was ready to get there. Several times I was convinced I was lost and about to call Joe to tell him I needed help and then a wonderful sign appeared telling me to turn right to get to the museum. After going down an extremely steep hill (which I knew I’d have to go back up later) and then up and even steeper one (I didn’t even bother trying to ride this one, it wasn’t happening) I finally made it to the museum. I got my ticket for free. The first several sections of the museum were under construction in a way because the exhibit is changing. The Kolding Design School will be exhibiting the graduation classes work after June 23 so I missed out on that. I did get to see some of the pieces and was impressed by what I saw. I continued on to see other modern art and enjoy the museum. The Danish furniture was my favorite part! The Trapholt museum is featuring several pieces from the “Walk the Plank” award which is “given to a furniture designer or cabinet marker who works in accordance with the principles of a refined craftsmanlike standard, a through aesthetic appreciation, and not least the will to date to ‘walk the plank” (http://www.trapholt.dk/00258/00585/). The museum was featuring designs from GamFratesi, two designers. They had many different pieces and explained how each of the chairs were designed and how they were inspired to make these pieces. There were several other chairs which were all very cool. I really do like the Danish designs. After wandering around a little longer waiting for the tour of the Arne Jacobsen summer house I met a family traveling from Indiana who was also waiting for the tour (turns out no 1pm tour would be given because everyone was at a meeting...really? you schedule a meeting when you’re suppose to be giving a tour? Joe claims this is very Danish!). We talked for a while and discussed some other things they might be able to do while visiting Kolding before heading to Copenhagen. It was fun to talk with someone else from the States and find out what they were planning on doing while visiting Denmark. So I wandered around the summerhouse and peaked inside to see what I could and headed back to my bike to get home. I might have to go back again after the Design School exhibits are set because I would like to see those as well. We shall see! :)

So it was a good week here in Denmark. We’re thinking about a day trip this weekend (thinking about it, nothing planned for sure yet) to Odense the home of Hans Christen Anderson. We’ll see how expensive the train is. :) So more updates to come and one more week till Holiday 1! Holiday 2 is almost all planned. We changed it around a little and will now be visiting Barcelona (YAY beach since we’re unable to visit VA Beach this summer, and sad to miss that time with everyone), Rome, Naples and Pompei. I’m still in search for a Barcelona hotel but other then that everything else is set. Exciting stuff!

Hope all is well in the States with everyone.
Love from Amanda

BBQ and Vejle

Greeting everyone!

Time for an update on our latest adventures in Denmark. Again, I swear this entire blog is not about food but I do have to start with Friday night which requires a discussion on food. :)

Joe’s building is also the same building that is home to a restaurant called Bone’s. Sounds appealing right? Many a nights we’ve seen people walk out of the restaurant with these big take away boxes and wondered how good they might be. Well this weekend we decided to give them a try! Turns out, SUPER DELICIOUS! :) So Friday night we ordered a “Family box” complete with 2 spare ribs, 2 BBQ chicken breasts, 4 orders of potatoes (1 baked potato with garlic butter and 3 orders of Pommes Frites (fries)) a big salad and some sauces. Equipped with our take away box we came back to the apartment and stated to eat. We split one of the ribs and a chicken breast and had some fries (me: potato with garlic butter) and salad. It was really good. Now for those of you New Yorkers this BBQ certainly didn’t compare to a trip to Dinosaur BBQ but it was still very tasty! (Joe and I did discuss how we could really go for some Dinosaur when we get back to the states, I guess I’ll have some before him!). We had a repeat dinner the following night which was fantastic! Easy way to get 2 nights worth of meals for not a bad price in Denmark.



So enough about food lest I make everyone crave some BBQ, on to the rest of the weekend. We had an enjoyable weekend here in Kolding. The rain finally decided it didn’t need to grace us with it’s presence anymore and the sun tried to come out though it was still pretty windy. We were extremely lazy on Saturday but decided we would make a day trip to Vejle to explore the town and visit one of the Gothic Churches and a Museum. We got up a little earlier than normal for the weekend and headed over to the train station. I packed us a picnic lunch to eat between our stops and we were off.

We got to Vejle around 11:15am. Vejle is a little bit bigger than Kolding so their main street area had more things to explore. Now being there on a Sunday none of the shops were open so we couldn’t go into any of them but we still walked around and enjoyed the scenery. We saw the classiest looking McDonald’s I’ve ever seen too!

The Sankt Nicolai Kirke was suppose to be open from 9:00-12:00; however, they were in the middle of mass so we decided to walk around for a bit. This church is Vejle’s oldest building dating back to the Mid-13th century. On the outer North wall is the skulls of 23 robbers who were beheaded and their skulls bricked into the wall. (eww). Here I was expecting little skull faces to be looking at me but there’s not much there but the holes in the wall. Joe mentioned that probably from the weather and everything the skulls wore away and all that’s left is the back (Kind of more gross than skulls looking at me!). We finally made it inside after the mass was over and were welcomed with some interesting sights. The church holds the remains of a woman that was once thought to be the Viking Queen Gunhilde. The remains were found in the Haraldskaier Bog in 1835. Upon further examination it is now estimated that this woman is much older and likely came from the Iron Age. One of my favorite features of the church was the beautiful baptismal font. The information guide told us that this font was 1100 years old! The other interesting feature of the church was a beautiful wooden plaque that listed all the church leaders from the 1500s to the present. In fact the last space has the current leaders name. I guess they might need to start another one. Despite the fact that the church was small compared to other churches in Europe it was very interesting and provided a great amount of insight to the towns history.


Our next stop was the Vejle Kunstmuseum. The Frommer’s Denmark book suggested this art museum and pointed out its to main features being a self portrait of Rembrandt and the Eckardts Sambling Collection including 2,000 prints and drawings from 1450-1800s including some of Albrecht Dürer’s works and Rembrandt’s works. So we paid our admission fee and were off. The museum wasn’t very big but had some excellent modern art pieces that Joe and I enjoyed. We got to the last room and found ourselves wondering where this Rembrandt portrait was as well as the rest of the collection. (We actually walked back through most of the museum to see if we missed it!) None of the art we saw was older than the 1900s. So I asked about the Rembrandt art and was told that this portrait was in another room that required a key and when she asked if we wanted to see if I said yes. A man took us up to a room with about 20 prints and left us to observe the Rembrandt art. He was an extremely talented man I must say! The details of his works are amazing. After enjoying the few prints available in the rooms I again turned to our book and though "where’s the rest of the collection?" I again asked the woman in the museum and we were told this collection was not on display and that the Rembrandt art was saw was the highlight. We left a little disappointed considering that was the reason why we came. As we walked around we discussed why on earth a museum would not exhibit such a wonderful and important collection. Joe pointed out that the Danes like modern art, which I fully support. I’m a big fan of Modern abstract art, but I also like the classics and that’s why we came. Overall is was a good museum but a little disappointing when it came to the reason why we decided to go.


After the museum we stopped to eat our picnic lunch and decided to search for the Munkebjerg or “Mountain” in the town. This mountain offers a moving stairway to the top and gives a great view of the Vejle fjord. We found a city map but couldn’t find any indication of this stairway so we decided to bag it and head home. It was a nice day on Sunday but very windy and we were both a little cold.

This weeks adventure will be a trip to Trapholt the art museum in Kolding. And next week we’ll be preparing for our holiday 1 trip. Copenhagen, Warsaw, Krakow, Prague and Munich here we come! I won’t be bringing my computer on that trip so you’ll all have to wait in suspense to find out about all of our adventures but I promise I’ll post things as soon as possible! :)

Love from Amanda

New designs!

On a completely unrelated note..YAY for new blogs designs! What do you think?

Tomorrow we're adventuring to Vejle Denmark to go to the Sankt Nicolai Kirke a Gothic church and the Vejle Kunstmuseum one of the art museums. A post on those adventures will soon follow. :)

Love from Amanda

Koldinghus Castle...and a good history lesson :)

Hello Everyone,

I hope that everyone back in the States is doing well! I miss everyone at home but am continuing to enjoy my time here in Denmark and Europe.

Yesterday I asked Joe to get me passes to the art museum so I could go. Instead he got me the passes for Koldinghus which was also on the list of things to do so despite the rain today (the weather this week has been a little less than favorable!) after having some lunch off I went to Koldinghus to discover some Danish history!

These are the inner walls of Koldinghus

Most of the plaques were in Danish so I didn’t learn a whole lot at the actual castle but the website provided some addition insight to what I observed while visiting the old castle. So to start off Koldinghus has been a museum in Denmark since like early 1990s. The original castle was destroyed by fire in 1808. The castle was build in 1268 and has served in many capacities in Denmark since being built. When the Renaissance period started in Europe Koldinghus was the home to King Christian III. He died at the castle on January 1, 1559 after battling illness since Christmas Eve. His wife and Queen remained in the castle until her death in 1571. King Christian III had the first Protestant chapel built in the castle which was used for many years. This chapel was destroyed by fire in 1581 and replaced in 1585. When King Christian IV finished his Palace chapel in 1600 there was no need for this chapel. It was converted into additional royal chambers and a bakery. During the restoration of the castle the chapel was restored to its original purpose. It is not currently used as a chapel but is used as a lecture hall.

The Palace Chapel

Other interesting aspects of Koldinghus include the following:

The Ruin Hall is currently used for many different exhibits. This halls shows the majority of the damage from the 1808 fire. This area is found in the south wing of the castle. It was really cool to see the inner walls from where the fire damage was done. So much of this part of the castle was destroyed.

Danish art, silver and fine and decorative art. Koldinghus houses many pieces that have been awarded the Karl Gustav Hansen Prize for silver. These pieces were so beautiful! I loved the detail and complexity of the designs. In one of the rooms they were showing a video of how a silver vase was made. It was so interesting to see how this flat sheet of silver was transformed into a beautiful and intricate piece of art. They had a beautiful porcelain collection as well. In addition there were several pieces from the famous Danish designer Thorvald Bindesbøll. He designed many beautiful pieces of furniture and provided pieces for the 1900 Worlds Fair in Paris. He also has many famous silver pieces and silverware.


While continuing to explore the castle I happened upon a very old book. Thankfully one of the security guides was there and explained to me what I was looking at. Turns out that the book I saw was the written law by King Frederick III that made Denmark an absolute Monarchy and no longer allowed for elected leaders in the Monarch. This law was very instrumental in Danish history and caused quite a stir with the nobility of the time. This is the only written copy of this type of law as well.



One of the last things I saw was the room full of toys! Who doesn’t like a room full of toys!? Especially toys from far back in history. I learned some new and interesting things while exploring this little room. First off did you know that the original doll houses were not actually used to play with? No, these fancy little houses were actually taken our during special occasions for adults to admire. No way! Who wants a doll house if you can’t even play with it! :)

After the toy room I climbed a bunch of stairs to get up to the tower. On a cold and raining day it wasn’t to pleasant to be up there but I managed to get some good photos anyway. The original tower had four statues on each corner that represented the great kings of the time. One of those was Hercules. These statues bore the Coat of Arms of the King they represented. Parts of the Hercules and Scipio statues remain in the Koldinghus visitors center; however, the the rest were destroyed.



So I keep talking about this fire so maybe I’ll give you a little more about it. On March 30, 1808 fire broke out in one of the chimneys of the castle. The Hvlid family was residing in the castle at the time. In addition there were many Spanish soldier staying in the castle due to the Napoleon wars. It turns out that people were worried about the possibility of a fire with the soldiers there so there were watchman assigned to make sure this didn’t happen. The fire burned for several hours and the smell of smoke was throughout the castle but everyone thought it was just from the fire which happened when the wind blew just right. Well interesting fact the watchman weren’t actually there when the fire started in the guardroom! By the time anything could be done about the fire tremendous damage was already done. The fire burned in the castle for a long time. Thankfully Mrs. Hvild was able to save many of the family items through a window. The castle ruins remained in Kolding for many years without plans to restore or rebuild the castle.


Eventually it was decided that Koldinghus would become a museum and plans to restore the castle were finally put into place. In 1991 the castle restoration was complete the castle has been used as a museum ever since.

This trip through history was fun and exciting. I really enjoy learning about European history since it’s so much more in depth than American history!

(I’m such a trained graduate student too and feel like I have to cite everything, though in my blog not strictly APA style, so for those of you who would like to read a lot more or want to know where all this came from please visit http://www.koldinghus.dk/ If you click the British flag it goes to English!)

Thanks for reading! More to come soon!
Love from Amanda

Seeing the Queen and other adventures!

So, I know you’ve all been dying to know what on earth has been going on here in Kolding Denmark! Well let me tell you it’s been an exciting few days! :)

Holiday 1 is pretty much set. Last week I spent a good amount of time finding accommodations for us while we’re traveling. So the good thing about Eastern Europe is that it’s extremely cheap! I found an adorable little B&B to stay at in Warsaw. It has 7 total rooms and and was a great price. After that we head to Krakow and again I found a great hotel in the Jewish district of the city for not a lot of money! Heading onto Prague I found a great little room in an older building in the heart of Prague. Joe’s in charge of the Munich hotels since he was just there with his family so I’m on to planning Holiday 2! Right now the most challenging aspect of this is the cost of travel. Mid-July is a big time for Holiday here in Europe so things are pretty expensive. We may change our plans and go to Barcelona instead of Valencia but I still have some planning to do. Either way I’m super excited about our first trip! When we get back to Kolding I’ll have visited 5 countries in Europe and if you count my flights in and out of Amsterdam I’ll have been on the soil of 6 European Countries! AWESOME! :)

Friday night was a big celebration and sale in the shopping area of Kolding. We went out for some ice cream and to listen to some music that night. On Saturday when everything was closed we looked up why and discovered that June 5th is Constitution Day in Denmark. Here’s a little history for you. in 1849 the Danish king signed the Denmark Constitution which established Denmark as a constitutional monarchy. Another constitution was signed in 1953 which is also adopted on the same day (See Wikipedia for more details). In addition to that the Secretary of the State, Hillary Clinton recognized the day in Washington D.C. on June 3rd this year. There’s some history for you! :)

So this weekend was absolutely beautiful and so Joe and I decided it would be fun to take our bikes to the beach and have a picnic and go for a ride along the trails. Joe took us to this great little spot where we had a picnic lunch of runde stykker (round pieces or rolls) and cheese as well as some fruit. We had a beautiful spot and after we ate we went along the trails for a while and saw some beautiful Danish Country side! :) It was wonderful!

On Sunday we decided to go for a walk by the lake and as we were there we noticed a parade across the lake by the train station. We walked back into town to discover what was going on. We stopped at the Town Hall and discovered many guards and such on horses parading down the streets. We stayed and watched for a while and then when we got home I used the wonderful internet to figure out what it was we just watched. (Everything was spoken in Danish so we had no clue what they were saying). So low and behold what we had witnessed was the rehearsal for the Queen’s visit to Kolding which would take place on Monday June 7th. So naturally I got really excited and decided that since I don’t have anything else to do during the day that I would walk over to the middle of town and watch the parade on Monday and see the Queen!

So here’s some more history for you! (Oh no my blog is turning into a history lesson!) Denmark has one of the oldest Monarchies dating back to 936AD. There has been an unbroken line of Kings and Queens since this time. (http://kongehuset.dk/english/history/lineage/) . The current Queen of Denmark is Margrethe II and has been Queen Regnant since 1972. She is 60 years old. Margrethe is the second female Monarch since Margrethe I who ruled the Scandinavian countries from 1388-1412. (Compliments to Wikipedia and my Danish Language book for the information!)

Each year her and the prince make a tour of Denmark in the summer and today’s stop was Kolding. So this morning despite the fact that it was pouring down rain and a little cold I got myself up and ready to watch the parade from town. I got there around 10:15am and the Queen and Prince were suppose to start their tour at the Harbor area at 10:25. I had a great spot right near the front and was able to see everyone as they went by! It was so amazing to watch the Queen and Prince go by in the carriage! Such a cool experience.

The rain finally stopped this afternoon and so tonight Joe and I went over to the lake to see the baby ducks we’ve discovered. I brought some bread to feed them and such enough they came off their nest right up to where we were to eat! It was adorable. We kept walking around the lake only to find that the family of swans (7 babies) were coming to the edge of the lake to feed so we got to watch them for a while. Ultimate cute factor to see 9 little baby birds at the lake! I fully realize that I’m a big dork for being so excited about that but they were just really cute! :)

So a good ending to the evening. This week I’m planning on doing to the art museum in Kolding so I’ll post about that later this week! Hope everyone is doing well at home!

Love from Amanda