July 20 Day 37 Copenhagen

A lovely morning.  Julie and Lars drove us about 45 minutes North of Copenhagen to spend the day with another cousin, Britt. It was a lovely drive and we were warmly greeted by Britt, her daughter, Freya, and Freya’s boyfriend, Oscar. Lars and Julie went on their way, and the five of us settled in for a very nice lunch and a chance to get to know each other.

Freya had been an exchange student in Texas and it was fun to hear about her experiences living in the U.S. for a year. We had a delightful time eating and talking and then it was time to stroll next-door to the gardens of the Fredenborg Castle.

The grounds were lovely, and we really enjoyed walking around seeing the place that the Danish queen live in the spring and the fall of every year. Dick and Patti were able to go on it a tour in English of the palace. Thanks to Britt, she got them to slip us into an already full tour. We really enjoyed seeing the palace and having a very nice tour of the art in history of this palace that had been around for hundreds of years. We really enjoyed learning even more about the Danish royal family.

After the tour, we met with Britt, Freya and Oscar and enjoyed walking through the beautiful gardens and taking photos and admiring the plants.  It was a lovely afternoon. All too quickly, it was time for us to be dropped back off the train station and head back down to Copenhagen, where we would meet up with yet another cousin, Anni, and her son, Kristian.

Because Kristian lived very close to the most famous cemetery in Copenhagen, we had a before dinner stroll over there. Among the famous people buried there were Søren Kierkegaard and Hans Christian Andersen. It was lovely to stroll and enjoy this lovely park-like atmosphere.

Then, we went back to Kristian’s apartment and we all carried the dinner that Anni had so lovingly made several flights of stairs to the roof top terrace. There, we had a beautiful view looking over the city and enjoy some amazing home-cooked Danish food. We enjoyed catching up on family news and what’s things Kristian and Anni had been up to. We had had such lovely times with both of them when we were in Denmark before and appreciated Anni making the trek up from the island of Møn to come and see us. She also brought her new puppy. Adorable!

It was beginning to rain and we easily caught the bus back to Lars and Julie’s having had another lovely time with extended family.