Tivoli

On Tuesday last week, class was done by lunchtime and our family decided to visit Tivoli Gardens for the balance of the day (which got me in a bit of a hole on preparation and grading, but nothing too fatal!). Tivoli has been around since the 1840s—right in the heart of the teeming city!—and its carefree atmosphere apparently so inspired Walt Disney on a visit there that he used it as inspiration for the feel of his own theme parks. Josiah declared it the best thing we did in Denmark, and it certainly was a great day: beautiful gardens, super fun rides, really good food, an orchestra concert...

Obviously because Mommy is super-duper boring, my favorite parts were the gardens and the concert. Enjoying latter was cut short by a small personage who wanted to run around the grass shrieking. 

I also really loved the Star Flyer. Shocking, given that I can barely climb a step ladder without freezing in fear. These swings go a few hundred feet up—we were twirling above *everything* in the city of Copenhagen. Breathtaking! 

It's nice that we have a kid who's big enough to go on certain rides on his own now. There were several he was keen to try that Jesse and I were pretty sure we'd regret mightily....rides of the twisty, droppy, lose-your-lunchy variety. In the two pictures above, the one on the top went in crazy fast circles. The one below did free-fall drops, and Josiah was nuts for it. He must have gone on 6 or 7 times. 

By 9 p.m. we had one tuckered out 4-year-old who, after his last ride, climbed into the stroller, put his head down, and fell fast asleep....and one pleeeeease-can't-we-stay-until-it-closes 7-year-old who was desperate to stay on (with his windswept curls from the fast rides!). Both signs of a grand day out!

For Sweyn!

Saturday we went to the Viking Ship Museum. It's been our only jaunt outside of the heart of Copenhagen (albeit a mere 30 minutes out), so it was great to see some countryside—and the boys were especially psyched to ride on the upper level of a big double-decker commuter train.  :)

The day couldn't have been more beautiful. We soaked up the sun, enjoyed views of the lovely Roskilde fjord, and learned lots.

On our walk from the train station to the museum, we obviously had to take a picture of our little Wilhelm in front of a house with his name!

At the museum, they care a great deal about authentically representing the sea-faring abilities of the Vikings. Their specialty is making replica Viking ships, using the same tools and techniques that were employed a millennium ago—right down to choosing and felling trees from surrounding forests for the lumber. A highlight of our day was going out in the Roskilde fjord in one of these ships. The boys got to hang out in the stern, but every able bodied adult had to row. It was fun—seeing as we only had to stick with it for about 20 minutes! Then we put the oars away, raised the sail, and sailed back into port again.

Another treat was when an especially enthusiastic guide, pictured above, unexpectedly recruited us to fight with our fellow Danes to take over England, c. 1010. Putting aside our usual English sympathies, and lured by the promise of all the riches and renown we could imagine, we accepted the call. So, along with two middle-aged tourists from Beijing (who were totally clutch in battle), we headed off on a grand adventure through time and place. We rallied around the cry "For Sweyn!" (....and later around the cry "for Cnut!" once Sweyn met an untimely end shortly after being crowned king of England and Denmark).

Check out those warriors!

It was pretty funny, to be honest. For about 45 minutes, we ran all around the place with (real) spears and (real) axes and heavy wooden shields, doing as we were bid, on and off of ships, crying out in battle, etc. We learned a lot along the way! Meanwhile other visitors gave us ample amused looks, and I don't really know how we got this fun opportunity seeing as I didn't observe anyone else battling the English at any point in our ~5 hours there that day. 

These pictures were taken later, inside a building where the "bones" of five ancient ships were on display. They were discovered, removed, and restored from the bottom of the fjord about 50 years ago; displaying them was the impetus for creating the museum in the first place. So cool. And obviously we made completely authentic and natural looking Vikings. I'm pretty sure those are 1000-year old earphones.

What a great day!!

*  *  *

P.S. - The only quasi-blight on the day came at the very end. We'd packed a picnic lunch for midday but had decided to splurge by going out to dinner in the evening, since we knew we'd all be weary and it would be too long to wait for supper at home. We passed up restaurant after restaurant, finally settling on a little burger joint that had the lowest prices we could find in town. You know, a cheap spot, where our bill was only...over $80! That was for two little kids burgers and two regular size burgers (fries included). No drinks. No desserts. Nothing extra. They were excellent, don't get me wrong, but....yikes! 

A match made in heaven

A model of the church and tower. 

On Wednesday evening, Jesse and I went out on a date. We felt so lucky to score sitters for the night (sisters from Portland whom we met at church)! So while the boys were playing a few rounds of Sorry and getting tucked into bed by newfound friends, Jesse and I enjoyed dinner at a touristy Danish style restaurant, then carried on to the Round Tower in the center of the city. The Tower was built in the 1600s, is attached to a beautiful church, and is topped by the oldest astronomical observatory in Europe. Although we were there after hours so couldn't tour the tower in full, it was exciting to walk up the steep, old, old, old spiral ramp that constitutes the interior of the tower. Our destination was the library hall, accessed about halfway up. Today it's a huge gallery space but 350 years ago the big room housed the University of Copenhagen's entire book collection. We were there with tickets for a cello concert, held in the far end of the hall; the rest of the hall is presently taken up with a fun and funky hat exhibit!

Crazy hats of all shapes, colors, and sizes!

The concert was intimate, perhaps 50 in attendance, and we were delighted to sit all of 10 feet from the musicians.

The cellist was wonderful. What's more, through the course of the concert we were treated to two pieces that unexpectedly paired cello with....you'll never guess....accordion! Yes, really. One of the two duets was an experimental, crazy work that sounded like the soundtrack to a horror movie (seriously, it made "Night on a Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky—known in our house as "the scary one" and which William adores—sound like a chipper commercial jingle in comparison). But the other was incredibly beautiful, romantic and melancholy and lyrical all at once. We loved it.



Over dinner Jesse and I had been talking about marriage, and about how thankful we are for each other and for our marriage. And how that's no small thing. We also had commented on how similar we are in so many fundamentally important ways. Of course there are still days when I feel like we're as odd a pairing as a cello and an accordion—but I guess even that can work!  :)

My handsome husband.

Hopefully this works: Here's a little phone video Jesse shot.

The Glyptotek...cough, cough, cough

Sunday afternoon we visited the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, with free admission on Sundays. It's primarily an ancient Roman, Greek, and Egyptian sculpture museum (with some amazing French art thrown in for fun). Jesse and I were blown away—and not just by the collections, but by the beauty of the rooms that housed them. The museum is a work of art in itself, each room with mosaic inset floors, intricate ceilings, lovely shapes and proportions. Beautiful.

Hmm...one of these busts looks strangely familiar...

Josiah was so excited to see one of the casts of Degas' Little Dancer, since he'd learned about her in art class at school. 

Can you just imagine taking in a concert in this hall?

This bust of Juno was enormous, and so beautiful. 

I regret to say that when William was invited to pose like a statue, he started working on his shorts button. He was rather inspired, shall we say, by the many works of art au naturale...

I was happy to make the trip seeing as I got pretty sick last week (I've not been mentioning it here...). Thursday and Friday I made it through classes only with the aid of much medication, much sleep, and much help from Jesse on the home front so I could save up all energy for getting downtown and teaching. Saturday I was in bed all day. And Sunday I skipped church to sleep, mustering the energy for a couple of hours at the Glyptotek. The last 6 months have been frustrating and hard; this has been my third bout with illness. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!

In any case, the symptoms made us worry about pneumonia, so yesterday (Monday) I spent the day observing the Danish medical system—which is to say, seeing a doctor. I assumed I'd pop in, probably get an antibiotic or something, and be home an hour later. Ha! It was a 7-hour affair during which time I was IVed, x-rayed, temporarily admitted to hospital, blood tested twice, and poked/monitored/prodded in myriad other ways. I guess one initial test made them fear a small blood clot in a lung, so they kicked into high gear. Thankfully no clot! In the end the diagnosis was either a mild walking pneumonia or else a very bad virus; they gave me some huge dose of something and told me I'd probably be better soon with rest. And indeed, today I'm doing better than I have for nearly a week so fingers crossed am on the mend. Now I just need my hands to heal, as my tiny rolling veins required many awful attempts to place the IV.

As far as class is concerned, yesterday I cancelled and we'll make it up with a "double-header" sometime later this week. And today I had arranged a field visit to a quintessentially Danish institution, a "forest preschool" where the children spend all day, every day, in—you guessed it!—the forest. The woman who was joining us to facilitate the visit has been amazing and told me she'd handle everything so I could take another day of rest. I'm so thankful (although I'm very disappointed not to be there too).

Oh! And one last crazy note. I didn't pay a penny for the services yesterday. I mean, they never even took my full name, let alone contact information, a billing address, or insurance. When they told me I could go, I kept asking if, as a foreigner, I needed to sign anything...do anything...check out anywhere. Nope. Nothing. Unbelievable.

The Founder of the Feast

Bikes, bikes, and more bikes. Nearly half a million people commute to work by bicycle each day in Copenhagen. 

It seems only fitting to write a little something-or-other about class, given that that's why and how we're here. I've put a Herculean amount of effort into the enterprise (although hopefully with a little more sense than that mortal man of muscle was known for...), and fortunately, present environs and outcomes have mostly legitimized the strain.  :)

To cut right to it: class is going well. We're here through the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, which ordinarily does all of its own programming with its own faculty—but this summer has invited a few folks to bring their own groups via a new "faculty-led" option. On Monday morning, all summer students and faculty met in an historic stone building in central Copenhagen for opening ceremonies. There were several orientation-type talks interspersed with the most beautiful music by a string quartet from the Royal School of Music here. As I sat—eyes closed—in that acoustically magnificent hall, with "Morning" from the Peer Gynt suite shimmering all around and through me, I couldn't imagine anywhere I would rather have been.

Opening ceremony

The class itself began that afternoon. I've titled it Child Development in Cultural Context (syllabus). It's been a new prep, a proposition guaranteed to put ice in the veins. But it's been so worth it, and not just for the excuse to be here! Developing this course has been a much-needed impetus to engage myself with a side of my field that I've just not been able to carve out the time to explore previously. It's changing the way I see developmental psychology, exposing many of the (arguably) flawed assumptions that have underpinned the discipline for much of the last century.

I have 10 students here, and they're super. Here's the group on Thursday at the start of class, which we held in the courtyard of our class building seeing as DIS didn't think to tell the non-Danish faculty that it was a national holiday and the entire place would be shuttered and locked!

One of the fun parts about being here for a course like this is just how differently the Danes view childhood. I've arranged several special speakers and excursions so we can use it as a lens for many of our discussions. Below is a picture of some of the students observing at a playground the other day. Danish playgrounds tend to be elaborate and incredibly thoughtfully designed. What's more, many are staffed full-time. And not just staffed, but by people who are university-educated in child development and learning!

Clearly we blended in seamlessly...

Most of the time I'm leaving the students to their own devices to sightsee, feed, and take care of themselves. (Mothering my own two is job enough in itself!!) But we arranged a group canal tour this week and took in several of the main sights of Copenhagen by water. Jesse and the boys came too. It was beautiful.

Copenhagen Opera House