Ryan's Denmark Trip

 In December, Ryan got to go to Copenhagen, Denmark for a conference. 

In the JFK airport there were selfie stations with... interesting arrangements of things. This one is apparently for a place called the Bag Shop.

Copenhagen is right by the ocean (or sea or something), and has a bunch of canals all over the place. This runs right through the center of town.

Visited a small supermarket and found some familiar items. This little bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's was about $6.50.

Down by one of the canals is a little harbor called Nyhavn, where there are a bunch of little shops and restaurants selling all sorts of little things. It's all right near a Christmas market that has a bunch of Christmas-y things and delicious foods.

This is a statue is called Biskop Absalon. He was a Great Dane.

The view from Ryan's hotel room at night. If you look close, you can see the ocean.

This was a protest parade (at least, that's what Ryan thinks it was. The music sounded happy, but the people sounded mad). I have no idea what those signs say.

This is the royal palace complex. The changing of the guard happens once a day here, and is quite an event.

This giant church is called Frederiks Kirke. It was built in the 1700s, and you can just walk in and look around. It was huge, and pretty, and also warm. A benefit since the whole time Ryan was in Denmark it was about 30 degrees (F), windy, and cold.

Here's that changing of the guard.

These statues are in the Church of Our Lady (that's English. It has another name in Danish). It includes the original Christus statue that has copies in all sorts of Church stuff.

This is the choir spot in the Church of Our Lady. It's on the second floor right under the organ. I bet it gets pretty loud.

This is called a chimney cake. They bake it over a fire wrapped around a wooden cylinder, then cover it with cinnamon sugar.

While he was there, Ryan tried really hard to find a good gift to bring back for Tricia. He strongly considered Christmas smoked eel, but decided it might be hard to explain to customs on the way home.

And of course, you gotta have a hot dog. Authentic Danish hot dogs have pickles, but we all know how Ryan feels about those. This one has fresh and fried onions, wrapped in bacon, and a yummy sauce.

And of course we had to visit the LEGO store. When you're in the home of LEGO, you gotta go. This is a LEGO palace guard.

Tivoli gardens was one of the inspirations for Walt Disney when he was designing Disneyland. Ryan almost went inside, but remember how he said it was cold? Well, after a long walk around Copenhagen churches, palaces, and Christmas markets to get here, the thought of a roller coast in the freezing cold was not very tempting. So all we have is this picture from outside.

Ryan and a couple friends took a canal boat tour to see the sights. It took the past the Little Mermaid statue (not very impressive), the opera house, the parliament building, a bunch of cool churches and down some really narrow canals.