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

Instagram

We are on the road again and my attempts to post with pictures  to Blogger have not worked out so well.   If you follow me on Instagram @seaandtea I am posting some Hawaii pics and I'll sort out the European travel posts and shopping updates shortly when we return!

Aloha!

xoxo

Zara Sparkly Crystal Bead Necklace

Zara Sparkly Crystal Bead Necklace Ref. 1856/240

Before I get back to the travel posts, I have some snapshots of this great necklace that I was happy to be able to order online when it came back in stock.

If you google Duchess of Cambridge and Zara necklace, you can find some shots of the Duchess wearing this one not too long ago.  It sold out pretty quickly but then appeared under women's accessories though it was not available.  I filled in my email to be notified when available and did receive an email that it was back in stock - though when I tried to order it wouldn't work.  I tried later on in the day and it went through, and the necklace arrived via FedEx pretty quickly.  There are also some images online of Princess Beatrice and Mary Berry wearing this same necklace.

I don't see it online anymore, but I do like the looks of the Necklace with Metallic Flowers for a similar feel.  There are some other very pretty statement necklaces available too.

It seems very glam but I've already been able to incorporate it into my more casual wardrobe a couple of times.  Here are some close-up pics, and how I've worn it so far:

 the back

brown herringbone jacket (Gap, couple years ago), cashmere shell

Essie "Fifth Avenue" nail polish

Zara plaid jacket (last year), plain white shirt

xoxo

France {Chateau d'Esclimont}

my eight year old at Chateau d'Esclimont this past summer

On our last trip to France with the children we were only in Paris.  This time, we just travelled through.  We were with family in the southwest of France, then spent one night in Bordeaux, and two nights outside of Versailles to see the palace.  For the Versailles part of the trip, I found a castle-hotel online (a little over 30 minutes away) that looked interesting.  It turned out to be one of the most memorable, magical places we've stayed: Chateau d'Esclimont.

We had two rooms in one of the outer buildings next to the castle, where we had dinner one of the evenings.

Not long after we returned home, I read that Phillipe Cousteau, Jr had his wedding ceremony at the chateau in September.  My daughter had just been working on a project about Jacques Cousteau in 5th grade and we had made a detour on our way to Bordeaux in order to visit his birthplace, St. Andre de Cubzac.  It was fun to find out that his grandson was married at this place where we stayed shortly thereafter.

Here are some photos:

our rooms

dinner outside

the mosquitos were pesky, so they moved us indoors

walking back to our rooms after dinner

Turns out my son's new wand from Harry Potter in Leavesden works well at castles.

black swan by the moat

Upon entering the town of St Andre de Cubzac is this statue of a leaping dolphin holding Jacques Cousteau's red watch cap:

I'll post a few pictures from Versailles and Bordeaux before moving on to Denmark, where we spent most of our time.  Also, a few shopping/OOTD posts.  Have been doing quite a bit of shopping with all these sales.

xoxo