Copenhagen

Next stop- Copenhagen, or København in Danish (pronounced Kuben-hown... where did we get Copenhagen?)

I loved this city.  With its bright colors, delicious food, and brisk pace (while also somehow remaining laid back) Copenhagen quickly became one of my favorite places.

Nyhavn in Copenhagen

We left our apartment in Reykjavik at 3 in the morning... it was painful (and confusing, the sun was so high already it felt like mid morning).  My mom, the eternal optimist, wanted to be sure that we were able to squeeze every last minute out of our first day in Denmark.  And that we did!  We crossed pretty much every item off our 'A' list of things to do in Copenhagen in that first half day.  Our efficiency was largely thanks to our fabulous tour guides Paul and Judith, family friends who moved to Denmark from North Carolina a few years back.  They walked us all over the city and gave us a taste of life in Denmark.

A tour guide with flair

Denmark is a constitutional monarchy with socialist leaning social and economic policies.  It doesn't take long to see that the people who live there are healthy and happy. What's incredible to me (and what I loved) is that the reason this system is able to work so well is the attitude of the people themselves.  It's an attitude of personal accountability... instead of trying to beat the system  everyone is just trying to play their part.  The same was true in Iceland.  A few examples... In Iceland, there are pools of boiling hot water with little to nothing to keep back curious tourists.  That's because if you stick your hand in the boiling water and burn yourself, the reaction is, well, I probably shouldn't have done that instead of reaching for your phone to call your lawyer and find out who you can sue.  In Denmark, bikes flood the street at rush hour.  If a bike mistakenly goes against the right of way and gets hit by a car, they will limp away dragging their broken bike and apologizing to the driver!  They feel accountable for their actions.  I could go on, but that's enough of that...

Sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses

We saw palaces and castles, had coffee in the sun and took a boat ride through the canals.

We even saw cute little baby ducklings! 

...and not so cute papa ducks

My parents celebrated their anniversary while we were there, 31 years and they're still best friends!

d'awwwww

It was so much fun after two years of living far away to get to spend time not only with my parents but with my cousin Katie and my Aunt Sophie.  I'm not sure how they put up with our shenanigans for that long, but I hope that they enjoyed the trip as much as I did.  

The whole Ilardo gang

After three and a half ridiculously full days, it was time to leave.  We walked so much while we were there I ended up with holes in my shoes! It was a fantastic trip and I would love to go back.  Although, it is nice to be back home, if only to finally see the sun set again.