Thanksgiving in Copenhagen

We traveled to Copenhagen for the Thanksgiving break. A quick 6-hour drive through Sweden and a $50 bridge/tunnel (eat your heart out NYC) to get to Denmark and we were reveling in the bicycle crazed city of Kobnhavn.  We parked our rental car and didn't move it again until we left two days later.  If every city in the world had as many cyclists and pedestrians as Copenhagen, the people that make documentaries would need new material besides obesity and global warming.  We walked across a pedestrian bridge to the mall the first night there to pick up some supplies and there were some nice decorations as well as a play area for kids outside the supermarket.  Our first full day, we spent an ambitious day at Tivoli Gardens, a cross between Longwood Gardens by us in PA and Disney World (Tivoli was apparently the inspiration for WDW).  We walked through the gates at 11am when it opened and excited at 9pm when the rides for the younger crowd closed.  If you talk to our girls they will call it an epic day, which is a good description.  65 times on a ride per person, no lines, holiday light show, eating at a restaurant shaped like a whale.  They will never go to another amusement park without being disappointed. The bar has been set impossibly high.

 Sleds in the morning when the sun was still out

 There were 5 different carousels to try

 Sydney and Elizabeth on the spinning swings, Svingkarrusellen

 Joshua, Evelyn and Juliet in the ferris wheel, Ballongyngen

Double decker carousel, Musikkarrusellen

 On the ferris wheel for the second time

 Sydney and Evelyn braved a larger roller coaster to start, Rutschebanen, Elizabeth said it was smaller version of Thunder Mountain at Disney

 With no lines, this smaller up and down free fall, Stejernetarenet, tallied 8 times ridden throughout the day

  The little dragon, Den lille Drage, was also a favorite, but not big enough for Joshua's legs

Juliet liked the small side attractions, even without coins inserted

 Sydney and Elizabeth on the Odenexpressen, a train roller coaster

 The antique cars went through a winter scene

 The temple tower, Tempeltarnet, was a ride where you controlled the up and down by pulling a rope

 The Panda, Pandaen, was Joshua's speed, even though only 1 adult can ride at time.

 Sydney and Elizabeth did the Golden Tower, Det gyldne Tarn, which gave a great view of Copenhagen from the top before dropping you into a free fall.

 Another carousel

 Outside Juliet's first roller coaster, Karavanen, which was the favorite ride of the day and was ridden 10 times.

 There also was a play place on top of Rasmus Klump's Pandekagehus, pancake house inside a whale, with a slanted ship

 A submarine

 Everything was lit up with Christmas lights, hence the Longwood Gardens reference

 Rasmus Klump's Pandekagehus

 Smaller ride where you had to pump pedals to rise and fall while spinning

 The girls with Petzi, the mascot of the park

  On the "sail" boats ride, Dragebadene

 

 The Snow Queen in the Hans Christian Andersen ride where you sat in a "flying" chest, Den Flyvende Kuffert

 Double decker carousel at night

 Spinning swings at night

 Evelyn got more adventurous during the day, and did rides with Sydney that she did solo earlier in the day

 Light show on the lake set to the Nutcracker music

 We are tired, we are fading, will this rabbit carry me home to the apartment, a 30 minute walk away?

Second to last ride

 

 Fun house mirrors with polar bears in Santa hats

 Mountain roller coaster with lit waterfall at night

 Another view of Sternetarnet

 Antique cars with Juliet

 Elizabeth braved the Panda, even after the Golden tower

 No great pictures of the Karavanen, but you can tell everyone is having fun. We were the last riders of the day and during our last ride, the music and light show was happening over the lake.