Copenhagen - Day 4

As a first thing today we visited the little Mairmed statue. And surprise - we did not only see the statue, but also a little ice pinguine next to it :-).































We then passed by Rosenborg castle which unfortunately was closed and walked through the pretty croweded pedestrian zone.































Our next stop was the Round Tower - the oldest functioning observatory in Europe. The interior of the tower was pretty intersting and consisted of a spiral ramp. The tower also hosted a very nice exhibition on Greenland - a combination of photographs and drawings.























































From there we strolled to the national museeum where we made a tour through the Danish history. In addition, the museum hosted a temporary exhibition on the rain forest and on climate change which both were quite interesting.



































































After we left the museum Werner had a call from KLM on his mobile phone letting us know that our flight got rebooked (to Hanover and from there to Munich). When we arrived at the airport it started to snow and I started to wonder whether we will be able to reach Munich today. Boarding started on time. However, when sitting in the plane we got informed about problems with de-icing leading to at least a one hour delay. Since our connection in Hanover was very short this meant that we wont be able to reach the flight to Munich. However, we were very lucky and managed to get rebooked on a direct flight to Munich (which as initially fully booked, but due to the bad weather some people could not make it on time) and even arrived earlier in Munich than with our initial flight :-). Thus, we did not mind that our luaggage did not make it as it will be delivered to our home in the next couple of days.

Copenhagen - Day 3

Today, we visited Copenhagen and did an extensive walk through the city.

We started our walk at Kastellet, one of the best preserved forifications in Northern Europe.











































From there we walked to Amalienborg - the winter home of the Danish Royal Family.













Even though we did not plan for it, we just came on time for the changing of the gards at Amalienborg.





























































Copenhagen opera












Fredrics church


































































Our next major stop was Nyhaven which is known for its numerous small restaurants and bars, its old pituresque houses and its old wooden ships.























































































































































Not far from Nyhaven at Kongens Nytorv was a great outdoor photo exhibit “100 places to remember before they disappear” with wonderful picuteres from several countries around the world. It took quite a while to have a look at all one hundred photos. At Kongens Nytorv they also had numerous globes in all different kinds of colors (like the cows or bears you can see in many different cities).



































































Old Stock Exchange






























Holmen church



















After lunch at an Indonesian restaurant we strolled through the extremely busy shopping streets of Copenhagen towards Tivoli park.





















































































Tivoli














































































































































































































































































After taking some pictures at Tivoli we took the train back to Malmö.

Copenhagen - Day 2

In the morning we met with a friend of us who lives in Copenhagen for more than 3 years now to visit some of the castles near Copenhagen.

Our first stop was Fredriksborg castle in Hillerød which was built as a royal residence for King Christian IV and is the largest renaissance palace in Scandinavia.





























































































































































































































Frederiksborg Palace church

















































































































































































































































This chair was used as an "elevator" allowing the king to quickly get one floor down.



















The Big Hall

























































































































































































































































Our next stop was Fredensborg palace, the summer and autumn residence of the Danish Royal Family.





































Next we stopped at Kronborg Castle, which is also known as Shakespear's Elsinor Castle, at Helsingør.



































































We concluded our day with a very nice Sushi dinner close to Copenhagen.

Copenhagen - Day 1

Very early in the morning we left for Munich airport to fly to Copenhagen for a prolonged weekend.

Since the climate conference is taking place in Copenhagen these days we decided to stay in Malmö overnight (which is just across the bridge in Sweden). When we arrived in Malmö in the evening it was snowing heavily - just the right thing to really get into Christmas mood.

America's Southwest - Day 10

Today we spent the morning getting everything ready for our flight back. In addition, together with Linda we did some final shopping before heading off to the airport.

Although this was a quite short trip we saw a lot of wonderful nature and enjoyed some very nice time with Linda and Karl who took such good care of us.

Thanks Linda & Karl !

America's Southwest - Day 9

Today we started our day with a hike onto one of the local mountains in the city park close to Linda's and Karl's home. The hike was not too streneous and offered us great city views. It was quite busy when we started as this trail is used by many, many locals for training and exercise.

















































































































































After our hike we had lunch at Linda's and Karl's home. Since the weather was not too pleasant and it even started to rain we decided to spend some time at a very upscale shopping mall.

It soon cleared up a bit and we visited the Frank Lloyd Wright' Taliesin West in Scottsdale to learn more about the famous American architect. Taliesin West served as Wright’s personal home, studio, and architectural laboratory. Wright is originally from Wisconsin and he came to Taliesin West during winter times to escapte the cold weather in Wisconsin.

Wright used for his buildings only local materials and he always wanted to ensure that his buildings fit very well into nature. His style became known as organic architecture. Each winter Wright brought his students to Arizona, they built Taliesin West under his supervision and learn(ed) by doing.

America's Southwest - Day 8

Today we spent most of the day driving back to Phoenix where we arrived in the afternoon. We then went shopping for a few hours in our favourite stores (REI and Barnes & Noble). After that we headed to our friends' home (Linda and Karl) where we stayed till we flew back on Monday.