Copenhagen, Denmark

Jon and I are freshly home from two weeks abroad touring the Scandinavian countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. It was a trip of a lifetime, allowing us to visit many countries far off the beaten path of our typical European travels. Since our heads are still spinning from all that we saw and experienced, I thought I would just update my blog one country at a time. The first stop on our journey was Copenhagen, Denmark. All six Dickman family members left from three different US locations and met in Copenhagen at the end of July. Our three day visit in Denmark included visiting the famous little mermaid sculpture, made to represent the main character in one of Hans Christian Andersen’s (a Copenhagen native) most popular fairytales. We also visited Amalienborg Palace, home to Denmark’s royal family. (This was to be the first among MANY royal palace visits on our trip!) Perhaps my favorite site was the Nyhavn area, a bustling canal-side part of town jam-packed with Danish restaurants and shops. What a great place to people-watch and take in the local culture!

One of our early surprises on the trip was the shortness of nighttime darkness during the summer months. It really messes with your internal clock - we walked around the city until 10:30pm on the first night and it was still perfectly light outside. As we continued our travels further north and closer to the Arctic Circle, our nights continued to get shorter and shorter. While I loved the longer evenings, the flip side of this is that the sun also rises at crazy hours before 4am. However, the bright mornings made it so much easier to get up early and feel rested.

On our third day in Denmark, we boarded a 17-story cruise ship (the one on the right) that would become our home for the next 11 days. Cruise ships never cease to amaze me – they are nothing short of floating resorts, fully equipped with every entertainment or culinary delight that your heart may desire. Our stateroom was on the 14th floor (the Lido Deck) with a beautiful balcony view of the Baltic to wake us up each morning. This last picture is of Jon's 29th birthday celebration onboard the ship. From here we set sail to Sweden!