a trip down memory lane

at the beginning of april, my parents, sister, and uncle came to visit me in copenhagen for a week. eager to show them my life and new home, i took them around to as many places as the wind and cold would allow. we went around to the same spots i had visited during my first week to get situated around the small city that included nyhavn, christiansborg, strøget, and rådhuspladsen. after a day, even my sister seemed to know her way around. 

an underwater bronze sculpture inspired by the old scandinavian tale, agnete and the merman, is placed under the canal right across from christiansborg palace

the opportunity was great, however, to also get to visit some of the sites and spots of copenhagen that i had been wanting to visit and see. one of the best sites in copenhagen is rosenborg palace, about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. rosenborg palace was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 for king christian iv (why he would build his summer palace a mere couple of blocks from his main castle, i still can't understand).

the long hall (also the knight's hall) was
originally intended as a ballroom, then used as
a royal reception room and for banquets.
it includes the coronation chair and the
throne of the queens

a guitar covered with tortoiseshell and ivory
from 1703

the castle contains quite a large number of artifacts, as it should, seeing as the danish monarchy is the oldest monarchy in europe and thus contains items spanning a breadth of royal danish culture, from the late 16th century of christian iv to the 19th century. although the castle and artifacts throughout were dimly lit without any extensive, or even basic, descriptions for that matter, everything was beautifully arranged and well preserved.

crown of king
christian iv

of special interest were the crown jewels and the danish crown regalia. also the life guard, who guards the castle, were fun to watch and parade around for formal matters and, more importantly, tourist entertainment. the king's gardens, behind rosenborg just started warming up and though the gravelled walkways were still brown and the windy rather cool, it was nice to see the small number of danes coming out of their winter hibernation as families strolled and runners ran through the soon-to-be green and flowering area.

another nice aspect of having the parents in the picture was the food situation. while it would have been nice, it would have been a little difficult to have my mom cook for us all sharing the kitchen with my 10 other housemates in my apartment, so we resorted to eating out every lunch and dinner. a number of restaurants proved to be hits, including restaurant kronborg, madklubben bistro -de-luxe, and the indian restaurant down the street, while others proved to be expensive disasters, which my family now incorporates into daily family jokes. whatever the circumstance, it was nice to eat with them and share an aspect of copenhagen's culture that i was not able to afford on my own.

after such a stretch of gray and cold, it was so nice and hygge to have my family and become a part of copenhagen with them. it is thanks to them that i have had the travel bug since before i could remember and why i could take a semester of study abroad, and make the most of it. thank you for showing me the world mami and oci. i love you both so much and am so grateful for the opportunities you have given me. happy father's day!