Copenhagen

The next morning we went on a little trip to Denmark and Sweden with a brief pitstop in Ireland. It was a bit different than we expected, but as much fun as we'd hoped! 

We arrived on Sunday evening and had a stroll around the Latin Quarter where our flat was. We liked it immediately. Monday was our big sightseeing day, where we toured most of the city. Unfortunately, towards the end of the day my camera died, and we had both forgotten our European adapters. So the rest of our trip was documented via phone cameras... enjoy the quality photos while you can!

Copenhagen Central train station

We made it!

The flat we stayed in was down this street. We loved it!

One of my first impressions of Copenhagen--BIKES EVERYWHERE!

Balancing barefoot like a boss

Christiansborg Slot--one of the many royal palaces in Copenhagen--
and the first place we popped a squat to people watch for a bit.  

After the palace, we walked to the harbour where we decided to rent some electric bikes. It didn't end up going too well. haha Apparently my leg wasn't onboard, because when we got to our first destination (about 5 min away) and got off the bike, I couldn't walk. (But I'll get to that later, because at the time there wasn't much that I could do but just plow on. So I did.)

Nyhavn

Since I couldn't walk very well for some ridiculous reason, we decided to take a canal boat tour so I could sit down for awhile. It actually ended up being quite a lot of fun, and we got to see a part of the city that we wouldn't have seen otherwise. So if you ever go and want to see a few cool things all while sitting down, I'd definitely recommend it!

This is what I imagined the historic Danish buildings to look like.
However, this is the only one that looked like that. haha

The Little Mermaid statue... just as underwhelming as I'd heard.
She won Spen over pretty easily though. ;)

The old Stock Exchange building. #fancy

Marmorkirken [The Marble Church]
An absolutely stunning building and a great place to ponder in silence

Von Frue Kirche [Church of Our Lady]
This stunning church was much more plain than I'd expected. The only decor was the statues of
Christ and each of his disciples (by Bertel Thorvaldsen, mid-19th C). Just as it should be. I loved it!

The LDS church uses the Christus a lot, so this was a sort of mini-pilgrimage for our trip--to visit The Original. In Situ. However, I hadn't realised how prominently each of the Apostles would feature as well, and I was really touched by that. I took pictures of each of them because I want to do some research on why they are each sculpted with the object(s) chosen. A few of them are obvious, but I don't know most of them and I feel like I should. They were and are incredibly important men who influenced the Church and the world then, now and throughout eternity. So here's to them.

 

The Christus
'Come Unto Me'
He's ever calling, pleading and encouraging each of us to draw closer to Him.

If you ever get to go to Copenhagen and see the Christus in person, DO IT! It was definitely a highlight of the trip for me!

Copenhagen, Denmark LDS Temple

Hair in face. Typical.

Rosenborg Slot
The castle has been a museum of Denmark and its monarchs since the 18th C.

Secret passage way!
We're both convinced that any house worth living in must have one of these.

  

The Danish monarchy has something called the Chivalric Order of the Elephant, so we saw lots of elephant pendants and motifs everywhere. Naturally we both started really wanting one.

#lifegoals

One of the other favourite highlights for us was this strawberry tart from a Danish patisserie, Lagkagehuset. Heaven. We finished the big one we bought before either of us even thought to take a picture. haha So when we saw the same patisserie in the airport on our way home, Spen managed to buy us a couple mini ones to take back with us.

Looking a little worse for wear by the time we ate them in Dublin, but still just as delicious as the first time!
Seriously, it's a must try if you're ever in Copenhagen and you like delicious food. 

Copenhagen is a pretty small city, so we felt like we were really able to fit in everything we'd wanted to do in the few days we had there, and that is with spending one of those days mostly in Sweden--which is the next post. A really lovely city and a beautiful country. We'd definitely recommend visiting Copenhagen if given the opportunity. And if you're ever able to go and want some tips, contact me because we came up with a few things we would've done differently or wish we would've realised beforehand.

Balloons and Tunes Festival

The day FSY finished I managed to do laundry, take a nap, pack and then set off again. It was slightly ridiculous, but I survived. haha

That night Spen and I went to a Hot Air Balloon Festival in Birmingham--not quite riding in one, but edging ever closer to fulfilling that life dream of mine (Seriously, it's number 1 on my Bucket List. It's a big deal!). The Balloon part of the Festival was actually incredibly disappointing (standard Brum), but the carnival that was there ended up being really fun!

There were only 5 balloons for the entire Hot Air Balloon festival.
All tethered.
I don't think Brum gets the point of a hot air balloon festival...

We rode a couple of the rides, and the first one made me feel so ill that I barely survived the second one. Tragic. I thought I still had a few years before aging took such drastic effect, but my body definitely can't handle those rides like it used to. Such a shame! 

The first ride was a spinning, swinging contraption that was a lot more intense than I thought it'd be.

Seriously looking as rough as I felt after that first ride.

But we survived!

We thought the Swings would be a nice mild ride to help our bodies settle down after the ridiculous Twister one we went on... Rookie mistake. You don't combat dizziness and nausea with more spinning, even if less violently. haha

Having fun but mostly trying not to throw up by focusing on taking a selfie mid-Swings.

But we did have an amazing view of the carnival from up there!

After that we called it a night because we had to catch an early flight to Denmark the next morning. And because my body literally couldn't even handle being there with the noise, lights, smoke, food, etc. after going on those rides. It's so weird how something like intense spinning can make you feel so ill for hours after. Why do we do that to ourselves? haha But it was fun while it lasted and I'm so glad we went!!

For the Strength of Youth (FSY)

I had the privilege of being a counsellor for a session of FSY (the British equivalent of EFY, i.e. a Mormon youth camp) in August. It was an incredible, exhausting and truly rewarding experience.

So many experiences. So many emotions. So little sleep. I absolutely loved it. And I'm really ok that this was my one and only opportunity to ever do it. haha

I had a fantastic co-counsellor, Martin, who was absolutely ace. He supported me every step of the way, and he took on a lot of extra work when I was off running around trying to help individual youth with various issues.

We had a wonderful group of youth to look after for the week, and our company name was 'My Work and My Glory' taken from Moses 1:39. I was so busy throughout the week that I was really rubbish at taking pictures, but I finally got my camera out on the last night for the formal dance. Below is a group shot, with nearly everyone.

 Honestly, I hope I can grow up to be as strong and faithful as these youth. Our group struggled through a few things during the week, and through it all they worked together to lift and strengthen each other. Their kindness, love, service, faith, courage, hope, strength, talent, humility (and the list goes on and on!) touched me so much. By the end of the week they really came together having learned to love everyone through service. I'm so proud of them. I'm honoured to know them. And it was an absolute privilege to serve them. So much love for each and every one!

And a special shout out to this guy who didn't make it into the group shot.
Disregard the fact that the flash made me look like a porcelain doll. haha #whitegirlproblems

Thanks to technology we've managed to all stay in pretty good contact with each other, continuing to offer love, support, prayers and encouragement when needed. What a wonderful blessing to know I can continue to look up to these youth for years to come, no matter where I live!