In which nothing is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Ha, weeell, I'm pretty sure that's false, as my brain has recently been invaded by a whole lot of Hamlet and (Spoiler Alert!) its multitude of corpses hints otherwise. Not that I allowed ol' Billy Shakespeare to falsely color my initial perceptions of that fine land, of course.

Righto, righto, here we go. Once upon a time, last year, there came upon a midday clear a Special Guest from a faraway land. It just so happened that this Special Guest had Special Relatives in that most Special of Countries known as Denmark. Special Guest's travel lust not yet having been satiated after thousands of miles on the air, it was decided that we would entrust ourselves to further modes of transportation over land and sea, to see what there was to see, and to see Special Relatives. Additional information: The train that takes one from Hamburg to Copenhagen actually trains itself into the belly of a ferry for a 45 minute pleasure cruise across the misty, gray Baltic. Neat, eh?

Along with the added bonus of Special Relatives, København greeted us in a very wintery, that-part-of-the-world kind of way, namely with rapidly darkening skies, rapidly face-licking air, and extremely proficient, high-tech rapid transit.

Our time in this city, however, was spent at a very non-rapid pace. In fact, it was quite leisurely and a delight to simply walk, walk, walk, and practice my simultaneous-umbrella-holding-while-taking-photographs-with-an-expensive-camera balancing act. Here's some fruit salad of those toils:

I think a great story could be written about the characters in this one. Any takers?

Once upon toward the beginning of that time, we stumbled across the changing of the fuzzy-headed guard.

All the monkeys had come out of their tour buses for the show.

It appeared that most of the city had decked its already-colorful walls with boughs of holly for the season. The particularly photo-hogging Nyhavn area looked particularly smashing sporting its holiday best and Christmas market booths and boaths.

Further perusal of the streets unveiled a great abundance of shiny <3 hearts <3, filling the night streets with, uhh, <3 loooove 'n' shyit <3. By which I mean red light. But not in a red-light district sort of fashion. (Well, not everywhere.) Even Danish kroner has <3 hearts <3 on it.

 

 

One evening had us following the rain parade to Tivoli, Kopenhagen's famous realm of family-friendly amusement, which had its best "Russian Christmas" bling on display. (The Blogger spellchecker doesn't yet recognize the word "bling." Snark.) There sure was a lodder purdy lights, ayuh. Additionally, reindeer.

(!!!)

My favorite sight of the evening, however, was this scene found in the window of a lingerie store. The creatures were dancing. With undergarment bling.

And now, a short study of Spotted Blue Baltic.

I watched the storm system above for a while as it slowly tap danced all splitchedy-splotchidy over the wrinkly waters. Standing there reminded me very much of watching storms move across the desert back in the Land of Enchantment, only with more rain and fewer pineapple tamales. (Profound sigh.)

Another stroll along the water later that morning was a perfect breath-provider before training/floating back in a southerly fashion toward the Deutschland.

Now prepare for some great stripes. Ready, set, go!

'Twas a short little jaunt, but a rewarding one to be sure. I was happy visit this exotic land after a year of almost having done so the last time around. As it turns out, the rumors of high expensiveness were true, as were those of high pleasantness. I don't think I really have too much else to say on the matter, except maybe this: <3.