Grateful Friday + Copenhagen

Hello from this lovely spot.

We got here yesterday evening.  I'm grateful to be here.  I don't know why I can't be two places at once, because I always want to be here and then I keep doing other things.

There was an air of neglect around here.  The yard was very overgrown and the house was dirty when we got here.  Adam mowed quite a bit and I trimmed the lilacs so you could walk on the sidewalk without being impaled.   Adam vacuumed and I wiped down the kitchen counters and the rest of everything is waiting for us today.

Also, I'm looking forward to walking with the ladies and we are going to make potato salad too.  I want to quilt with Olivia.  

This is all to say, I'd better get moving.

I'm grateful for America too.  Happy 4th of July!  I think we're on the struggle bus in a lot of ways, but I also have hope that despite the polarization and crazy misinformation and just plain crazy, things are OK.

We have people who care deeply and we all want the same thing: a good country.

Here's some travelogue for you: 

June 22-June 24, 2025

Copenhagen is beautiful and friendly and colorful and treacherous if you aren't wearing tennis shoes (cobblestones).

I've never seen so many bikes in my life.  

We stayed in a charmingly crooked apartment in the middle of the action.  When I set down my roller bag, it rolled away because the floor was so uneven.  

This is the little hall to the bathroom.  Walking around the apartment felt like a funhouse.

I loved how light filled it was.

This was the world's most uncomfortable couch, only matched by the Danish torture contraption that was the bed.  The second night I gave up and tried to sleep on the little bench over by the window.

There were a washer and dryer up this perilous little set of steps.  Adam dropped me off and went to return our rental car and I attempted laundry.  

I was using Google Translate to understand the washer and dryer.  I decided not to go with extra torrent.  Sounded dangerous.

This is us on the colorful escalator to the Metro on our way to church on Sunday.

Here's where we went to church:

The set up of the church reminded me a little of the Yale ward where we attended in New Haven.  Upstairs there was a big multipurpose room with chairs set up and that was the chapel.  It was way bigger than what we had at Yale though.  It was a full sized ward with an overflow down below.  About 5-6 people greeted us at the door.  They would say "hej" to us and we would answer with hello so they knew that we spoke English.  They all spoke English too and were super friendly and welcoming.

I got exactly three bits of information out of the meeting.  The talks were based on Elder Stevenson's talk from General Conference.  One sister missionary who spoke was from Fresno, CA and the other was from Layton, UT.

I liked hearing the meeting in Danish though.  I liked the singing and I was glad to be able to take the sacrament.  Adam told me later that it was meaningful to him to hear the sacrament prayers in Danish and consider that was how his great-grandparents first heard them.

There were a lot of kids in the ward and it was wild how loud it was.  (Granted our ward with very few children and lots of older people is extra quiet.)  I loved how the bishop smiled fondly at the ward the entire time.  He just looked tickled that everyone was there.

My favorite part of the meeting was the pianist.  He seemed to me to be about Braeden's age.  He had a man-bun and was wearing a closely tailored plaid shirt.  He added flair to the songs.  He added extra chords and runs and it was delightful to me.  He sat right in front of us between songs and pulled out a bag of knitting.  He was working on a really complicated pattern using 3-4 different colors of yarn.  I told Braeden about him and Braeden said, "I love this guy!"

I think they would be friends.

After church we walked about half a block to the Copenhagen Temple.

Beautiful!

Other highlights of our time in Copenhagen:

Vor Frue Kirke

The original Christus statue is in this church.  The same artist created sculptures of the twelve apostles.  Copies of them are at the temple in Rome.

Yes, I did switch into my tennis shoes after church so I wouldn't die on cobblestones.

I love going to all kinds of churches and I've noticed that I never quite feel the Spirit in the same way as I do in our churches.  This place felt like an exception to me.  It felt very reverent and sacred.  I just loved it.

We stopped at (you guessed it) Coop for lunch and ate on a park bench near Rosenborg Castle.  We took a walk in the King's Garden.  

Also, in Copenhagen we paid a visit to The Little Mermaid...

...and took a canal boat tour.

We saw lots of great stuff on the tour, including but not limited to the narrowest house in Copenhagen.

The tide was low, and this is how some of the canal bridges were!  I can't imagine if the tide was high!

What it comes down to is that I loved Copenhagen.  I loved it even more with this guy.