Denmark Vacation 2013 {part 1}

Last summer we were in Denmark two separate times - we left to fly to London, then took the Eurostar to France, and --  after a visit there -- flew back to Copenhagen from Paris.  During our first stay, we walked and shopped along busy, touristy Stroget (Illum is one of my favorites) and had breakfast outside again at Cafe Europa 1989,  strolled along the harbor, visited Frederiksberg to walk around Frederiksberg Have and tour Carlsberg, and spent a day at Tivoli.

We usually go to Tivoli (website with information here) and the rest,  but this was my first time touring Carlsberg.  They have stables and some beautiful horses, along with all the other displays about the history of the company, and are located in a beautiful area.  If you'd like to go, you can get started planning a trip on their website here.

If you like beer, I recommend trying Tuborg.  Can't get it in the US.

bikes, bikes, everywhere bikes

Nyhavn

"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken." - Oscar Wilde

in Frederiksberg

We bought pastries and coffee from Lagkagehuset (these are all around, including the airport) and enjoyed them sitting on benches with this view.

pastries at Lagkagehuset

Frederiksberg Have

poster at Carlsberg

the other little mermaid - at Carlsberg

largest collection of beer bottles in the world

at Tivoli

boat rides at Tivoli

Madklubben inside Tivoli for lunch

shopping at Illum

I love the clothing designs for children found here. I bought that pink sequined ruffled skirt for one of my daughters.

The brand Wheat is another of our favorites.

at Royal Copenhagen

dinner at cafe Oscar

 The well known Hotel d'Anglterre (est.  1755) has recently undergone a huge renovation.  It is an absolutely beautiful hotel.  Right across the street vendors were set up with tables full of old Danish silver, jewelry, Christmas plates and much more (I don't know the days or hours for this).  I brought back three blue plates to add to my collection.

Some pictures from the second half of our Denmark vacation in the next post (Legoland, the Viking Ship Museum, and dinner at PONY).

xoxo

France {last summer}

I've posted about our stay at Chateau d'Esclimont when we visited Versailles, and here are some from the rest of our time in France.  We didn't stay in Paris at all - we were in the Dordogne region with family, where we spent half a day in the very charming town of Brantome and also toured some prehistoric cave paintings at Grotte de Villars.  We had a rental car and took a drive down to Bordeaux to spend one night, stopping to see just a little bit of St Andre de Cubzac and Limoges along the way.  We found driving and directions to be very easy here and did not run into any of the issues as we did in Italy (if you've followed my blog for awhile, you may have already seen this video…. what a mess that was.)

Here are some snapshots from France:

Brantome:

Grotte de Villars:

(no photos inside the cave but the tour was amazing and well worth the time to see the blue horse and all the beautiful formations)

Versailles:

Bordeaux:

a kir peche at Cafe Napolean 3

loved these chairs

a quick stop in Limoges for some plates:

I always like to visit grocery stores when we travel.  From France, I brought home some mustard and salt and one bottle of wine.  They have such great selections of mustard, salt and wine.

Denmark photos up next.

xoxo