Copenhagen Trip - Day Five

Afternoon post!

Another slow start this morning, but we weren’t too ambitious today. Took the train down one station to Norreport and walked a block over to the Kongens Have park and Rosenborg Palace. Yes, Wynn got to walk around a castle today!

Copenhageners like to spend their Saturdays hanging out with family and friends, and the scene in the park this morning was fun and peaceful despite the occasional short spatters of rain. We saw some of the Royal Guard get ready to march from Rosenborg (the “old palace”) to Amalienborg (the “new palace” out by the open water.)

The palace was built 1606-1634 and used as the main residence until 1710. It was re-purposed into a royal museum for the public’s enjoyment as early as 1838. We walked through the main two floors – saw artwork, thrones, decorations, and armor - and down in the basement, where the crown jewels and other priceless treasures are displayed.
Afterward, we walked back to Norreport and had lunch at a very slow McDonald’s, then, strolled around the pedestrian streets a bit more. Time to start shopping for souvenirs…

Norreport station entrance; shops along either side of the street. Car and bike parking right down the middle of the street.

Here's the value menu - divide Kroner by 5 to roughly get US$ prices - so a hamburger is US$2 - a Coke is $3

More painted elephants!

Here's a Chinese-run Danish gift shop on the Stroget - where we decided to drop some change for a T-shirt and pencil set for Wynn. Keepin' it in the extended family, you know... She got real chummy with the lady running the shop, of course. Didn't get any freebies, but she did tell us the shirts shrink a lot & recommended the bigger size...

Radhusplasen - Copenhagen's city hall

This is a Netto supermarket. The sign in the window says, "open daily 8am- 10pm" which is a big deal as shops here have only recently been permitted to even be open on Sundays.

A bus ride back home put us here a bit before 3 pm; Ann’s taking a nap and Wynn’s watching TV quietly. We’ll probably go out to dinner tonight.

Happy Camper

Last week Wynn went to theatre arts camp at the Children's Theatre Company. In short, she had a blast. It was an absolute duck-to-water situation as she and her fellow campers took classic children's songs and acted them out. We've always known that she's an adept mimic and a bit of a goofball; theatre camp was a place where someone with this particular skill set can shine. And shine she did.

Each class ended with a ten-minute performance for the parents. By week's end, every man, woman, and child in that room knew what animal Wynn was going to choose to be, no matter the song: a gecko.

She'd come home each day and act out highlights of that day for her Baba, always taking a deep and sincere bow at the end - and waiting for the applause to subside before standing up.

My favorite thing from the week was when they taught her the three tools people in the theatre have in their toolbox: the body, the voice, and the imagination. Of course, she has a fantastically-elaborate way of explaining this concept, complete with gestures and dramatic shifts of intonation. I just love seeing this little cleft-palate, speech-therapy girl talking with such enthusiasm about the importance of her voice. Beyond the sheer fun and confidence-building of the week, I think camp really added another layer to her motivation to keep working hard on her articulation.

One happy consequence of theatre camp was that, due to its late-afternoon dismissal time, it forced Wynn and me to go out for dinner every night last week. We started out small with a McDonald's Happy Meal, but things improved greatly as the week ran its course. Wynn had a yummy sandwich at the cafe in the Institute of Arts, tried some sushi (thanks to Uncle Paul) at Obento-ya, and downed half a mango smoothie at the ChinDian Cafe. By Friday, she was thoroughly spoiled and responded to my suggestion that we just grab some tacos with a whiny, "Awww, I want to go to a real restaurant." We may have created a monster here, but at least it's one with good taste.

There are other camps at the Children's Theatre this summer, and Wynn has told me, "Sign me up," but we have to wait to hear from her surgeon whether or not she'll need an operation this summer before we can sign her up for anything fun. We go in tomorrow morning for another camera-up-the-nose assessment. Fingers crossed.

Yep, She's an American

Even though she's only been in speech therapy for a week, Wynn's already showing progress. She's talking more often, saying more words, and is getting clearer (and funnier!) with each passing day. Yesterday she cheered, "Gramma house!" when I told her we were going over for a visit; we've never heard her put those two words together before.

Our proudest moment of patriotism was as she and I pulled up to McDonald's to get dinner last night. She saw the golden arches and started calling out, "McDonal! McDonal!" while happily kicking her feet. She pointed. She smiled. She knew exactly where we were. When the voice came through to take our order at the drive-through, Wynn shouted over and over at the top of her lungs, "Hi, McDonal!! Hi, McDonal!"

We brought the food home, and she HAD to carry the bag. While I got juice out of the fridge, she set the table; we each got two napkins, and she put our sandwiches at the appropriate spots at the table. She pointed at mine, grinned with pride and said, "Hamugger!"

In one short year she's learned SO much about this country and what it has to offer.