Lexi's Birthday Outing

With Lexi's birthday being on a Sunday this year, we decided that yesterday, Saturday, we should go do something fun for her birthday. So, we headed back into Copenhagen to do a little more site seeing. We went to the National Museum, toured through the Europa exhibit, which was very interesting, but the kids were mostly anxious to get to the Children's Museum. It was great for the kids. Very hands-on. There were a bunch of rooms that were all decorated to look like a boat, a classroom, a kitchen, a castle, an Indian food market, a Sultan's palace and more. The kids were in Heaven. We mostly just followed Noah around helped him out, while the girls went crazy. It was a lot of fun. When we were done there, we ate our PB&J sandwiches that we had brought. This was the first outing we've done that, and it was such a smart move. Food here is very expensive, so this helped us out a lot. After we left the museum, we just started walking. We went back to the Christiansborg Palace. Last time we just took a few pictures from the front gate, but this time we walked right through the middle of it. It is such a large building. We want to go back when it is a little warmer, so we can tour the Castle Ruins underneath the palace. After that we walked over to the Strøget.It was fun walking through there today, there were so many people and the streets just hummed with energy. There were street musicians and food vendors out and even a street entertainer. Lexi walked up first to put a coin in the slot, but as soon as the guy moved, she freaked out. But of course, Myra had no qualms about running up and posing next to him. After that, our destination was the National Cathedral of Denmark, Church of our Lady. This church was originally built in 1187, but was burnt down and rebuilt many times over the years. The building as it is now was rebuilt in the 1820's after it was destroyed during the Napoleonic Wars. Something I thought was interesting about the church's design is that it is built in the neo-classical design, which didn't include a tower. This design upset a lot of the local citizens, so as an afterthought, a medieval-style tower was added. Now, the thing that drew us to the Church of our Lady was the statues that are in it. Bertel Thorvaldsen was commissioned to decorate the interior with sculptures of Christ and the 12 apostles. They are absolutely AMAZING!!!! The cathedral was so quiet and peaceful as we walked up the side aisles viewing the apostle statues and then you get to the front. Towards the front is a baptismal font, sculpted in the design of an angel and behind that, in all it's glory is the Christus Statue. If you are thinking it looks familiar, you've probably been to the Salt Lake Temple's visitor center and viewed the Christus statue there. That's right, the Christus statue in Salt Lake is a replica of the Christus statue in the Church of our Lady in Copenhagen Denmark! This was such a great place to be. I came across a blog that talks a lot more about the church and gives information on each of the statues. I found it interesting. You can view it here. Our next destination was another church, St. Peter's church. Unfortunately, it was closed, but the outside was beautiful. Very old, it is said to be the oldest building in central Copenhagen. We'll have to go back to take a tour sometime. After that, we were tentatively headed back to the train to go home, but we came across the Rundetårn, or The Round Tower. We've passed by it before, but this time, we thought we should go in. The tower was built in the 17th century as an astronomical observation tower. It is a very unique building. It was an architectural project of King Christian IV. The tower was built as part of the Copenhagen University Trinitatis Complex, which included the tower, University Chapel and Academic Library. You enter the tower at ground level and a paved ramp takes you around and around and around all the way up to the top of the tower. It is said that the reason it was built as a ramp instead of stairs is so that the King could ride a horse to the top, instead of walk. Along the way you pass what use to be the Academic library, which is now an art exhibition center. We also got a view of the Tower Privy. Myra was a bit shocked when I explained to her what it was. So, after going up to the top of the tower, there is a tiny spiral staircase that takes you out to the observation deck. The stairs were seriously narrow and scary, especially since people were going both up and down them at the same time. It was crazy. But, the trip up was so worth it. We were able to get an amazing view of all Copenhagen. We were able to see spires of many churches and several castles. And they say, on a clear day, you can see all the way to Sweden. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a foggy day, so we didn't get that view. Maybe next time. It was great. After leaving the tower, the kids ran back down. I was worried someone was going to fall, but we all made it safely down. Every year they have a unicycle race to the top of the tower and back. I bet that's quite the thing to watch. Well, after that, we bought Danish pancakes (crepes) from a street vendor and then made out way fun. It was a fun outing!