Copenhagen from Up Above

Ah Kong and Ah Ma were too tired from the previous days of walking so we decided to go on our own. The itinerary was to attempt the Church of Our Saviour again. So after getting ready, we headed to the bus stop to sit on the Colorful Copenhagen bus which stops very near to the church. And you wouldn't believe it! There was already a queue!

So we waited patiently and it was finally our turn. There was crowd control so it took a while before we finally reached the ticketing counter. 

Even walking up was not easy as we sometimes needed to stop and let the people going down to pass us. And at long last we all made it up the 400 steps of the church. The view was breathtaking. A bit slippery as it was drizzling, but we made it!!

The 3 of you made it further up the very narrow (and scary spire). I gave up. My jelly legs would not let me go further.

See? This is proof that we made it up *grin*:

Took more photos before heading down as it was rather crowded up there:

While we headed straight up on the way in, we took our time to look at the interior and take some pictures:

Evelyn asked me to take a picture of the cherub. But there was no way I could take a "decent" photo:

Then it was lunch time again. As we were close to the Bridge Street Kitchen which we visited the day before (and had fun with the good food there), we opted to head there again.

Took a family wefie 

Evelyn had this: Naan. Well it came with the salad so we had no choice but to have it too.

 Daddy tried out the Smørrebrød which turned out to be herring and the other potatoes. Er.. the herring was um.. interesting. 

When we went for a toilet break, we spotted two young men setting up an ice-cream stand. Wow! So obviously we had ice-cream while daddy enjoyed his cold beer.

Took some more silly pictures before heading towards Nyhavn and then for a slow walk back to the hotel.

Another family wefie at Nyhavn:

 It was Gay Pride Week and all the buildings were decorated with the multi-colored flags.

 This was above one of the streets we had wandered into:

That night, Ah Kong and Ah Ma did not want to join us for dinner. So we did a quick research. One place called War Pigs was rather far, and we weren't sure if it would be suitable for kids. So we opted for another place called Restaurant Karla. It was a lucky thing that we went there earlier as shortly after we were seated groups of people were told that they had to wait between 15 to 45 minutes to be seated.
The waitress was very busy but still gave us superb service. I wanted to order my own meal but she suggested that I shared with Mei-mei as the portion was rather large.

Our veal cutlet  

Koko-'s salmon

The picture of daddy's steak did not turn out well. Oops.. sorry. After dinner were walking home when daddy said he'd stop by somewhere to buy something soupy for Ah Kong who had a fever. But Ko-ko had an emergency, so we headed back to the hotel, while daddy headed off in search for a warm, soupy dinner for Ah Kong.

Packed up for the night and stay in Copenhagen, and we were all ready for our next watery adventure. 

Copenhagen: Interesting Food and the Rosenberg

As usual, we woke up early to have breakfast before getting ready to go out for the day as the signs around the hotel advised us to eat at earlier times to avoid big crowds. 

Evelyn enjoying her breakfast

Then we hopped onto the HOHO and again started the day with the boat HOHO. 

We hopped off at Christianshavn with the intention to go up the Church of Our Saviour tower but it was closed due to strong winds. So we walked (quite a distance) to what looked like a food court which daddy had spotted during our boat ride: The Bridge Street Kitchen.
Choices were not too bad. Just as with all dining in Copenhagen it was expensive and we could only pay by card.

Happiness for daddy.. more craft beer 

After lunch, we crossed the bridge and we were in Nyhavn.

Evelyn with her silly poses

Next stop was the bus stop and off to Rosenborg Castle again. This time we bought tickets and had to wait a while for our turn to enter. While waiting, it rained rather heavily. We wondered if we needed to queue before entering like those people we saw, but the nice young man taking care of the line told us that we did not need to. Just had to wait till our turn (4p.m.) and we could walk straight into the castle.

The castle was filled with many things and many workers who ensured that visitors did not touch the displayed items. 

Royal toilet *grin*

Throne (the real one)

Evan called this the lonely dining

It wasn't easy to walk around the castle as despite the crowd control, quite a lot of visitors are let in for each session.
We finally finished up and headed to the bus stop to wait for our bus. It was a very long wait in the rain. Luckily the bus stop was sheltered.
By the time we got back to the hotel, everyone was too tired to think of dinner. So dinner (again) was sandwiches from the 7-11 downstairs.

Exploring Copenhagen

Of course, we woke up early the second day we were in Copenhagen. Still jet lagged. So we headed upstairs for our buffet breakfast. The spread was rather good. Not much varieties, but good food and wonderful brewed coffee. 

The evening before, daddy and I had wandered into the Tourist Information Center and inquired about the Hop-on-Hop-off bus. So after looking through the pamphlets and discussing, we headed to the Tourist Information Center to buy our tickets. We were lucky that we stopped at the HOHO booth to inquire further. We had wanted the 3 day bus with a 1 day canal tour, but they didn't have that. In the end, the girl gave us a good offer. We paid for the 2 day bus and boat and got 3 days bus. So we saved quite a bit there. 

The bus stopped just outside the information counter and we were just on time to get onto the bus. Here we are all ready for the bus ride:

We got a set of headphones each and could listen to the guide.

We didn't have any fixed plans. So when the bus stopped at Ved Stranden, we decided to hop off the bus and have the boat ride first as it was early morning and hopefully not so crowded on the boat.
We were among the first to get onto the boat. And daddy and ko-ko even had time to get us all a drink

Apple juice to mei-mei and beer for us.

Ko-ko, Ah Kong and Ah Ma had coffee.

Family wefie:

It was cloudy, but lucky it didn't rain. We had a very good guide who told us interesting facts as we rode along the canal:

And we were fortunate to get to see the Royal Danish Yacht, the Dannebrog

It was still tiring and Evelyn fell asleep towards the end of the ride

The guide told us to get our cameras ready as we passed under the bridge as we would be able to have a good (but quick) view of the Church of Our Savior. And I managed to get a nice shot of it:

When we were done, we hopped onto the next bus which brought us to the Little Mermaid. There was just such a large crowd there to take a picture. We managed to get a picture and head back to the waiting bus.

We hopped off the bus at Rosenborg Castle. It was one of the places we had in mind to visit. The gardens were so beautiful. But first.. we needed to get to the nearest toilet! Cold weather makes you need to pee often *grin*
Daddy set up his camera to take a nice family picture for us. Here are Mei-mei and Ah Kong posing for test shot:

We wanted to enter the castle for a visit, but changed our mind as it was a long queue and we were starting to feel hungry. As we exited the castle, we met with a nice gentleman who was a tour guide. He told us that we could walk a short distance and there would be a nice place to have lunch. As we approached the place he had pointed out, we realised it was the place we had had lunch at the day before.
So we changed our plans and headed towards Nyhavn. There was a place called Garden Restaurant & Bar which we had researched about before going on the holiday. So we went in search for this place. It was a lucky thing that there was still available tables.

We finished up lunch and headed towards Nyhavn again. To have a closer look at the beautiful buildings. All of a sudden, there was a downpour again. We had to duck into a restaurant and so we had more drinks there (and used their restrooms).
When the rain stopped, we finally got to take the "bucket list" photo when visiting Copenhagen: the colorful buildings in Nyhavn:

The building

Ah Kong and Ah Ma 

Ah Kong took this lopsided photo for us

We walked around a bit more and then headed to the nearest HOHO bus stop to take a ride back to The Square for a rest.
We found the seating area at the hotel was filled with colorful balloons. Guessed that it was probably in support of the Gay Pride Week celebration which was happening just across the street from where we were staying.

Rested a bit and later went out to a nearby restaurant for a warm bowl of Japanese ramen. Everyone was too tired to want to venture further and also was happy for the warm food. 

Hello Copenhagen

This was Mei-mei's nut free dinner. Not bad. You fell asleep after that. In fact, you slept most of the 12 hour flight to Copenhagen. 

 All fresh as we arrived at the airport. Here you are posing with the "Little Mermaid" at the airport.. (no, not the real one)

 We took a taxi which could fit all 6 of us and our luggage to our hotel, The Square. As it was only 8am, our room was not yet ready. So we left our luggage at the hotel and headed out to wander around the city. First building we got to see was the City Hall:

 There were many interesting sights. Here you are posing at the Caritas Fountain:

While we were walking, Ah Kong needed to answer the call of nature. So while daddy and him went off to look for a toilet, we waited at the Copenhagen Cathedral. It was beautiful (and warm) inside. After a while, we decided to wait outside. Managed to get this picture of the cathedral:

We then headed to the Round Tower. But it was too early and it also started to drizzle. So we hopped into a cafe nearby, Student Cafe to hide from the rain and also have a warm drink while waiting for the Round Tower to open.  We spotted a bookshop which had a lovely pencil case (which caught Mei-mei's attention) but was not yet open. 

 The round tower which can be clearly seen as we walked towards it:

 The rain finally reduced to a drizzle and we quickly made our way to the Round Tower. Daddy was happy taking pictures with his new camera:

 View from the tower:

 We headed to the church right next to the Round Tower, Trinitatis Church.

We then headed to Torvehallen as it was lunchtime and we were hungry. It started to drizzle as we arrived and felt rather cold. Lunch was.. um.. cold food.. sandwiches and buns. Then we quickly tried to make our way back to the hotel, in hopes that the room was now available.
Just as we were reaching, it started to pour. Daddy had to make a mad dash with Evelyn while the rest of us tried to quickly run to the hotel. Fortunately, our rooms were ready and we headed to the room for a nice warm bath.
We all took a nap (except for Ko-ko) and then woke up still feeling groggy so we agreed to buy dinner from the 7-Eleven right outside our hotel.
Very soon, it was time to call it a night. What a long day!!

Let the Holidays Begin

And so our holidays begin. Since our usual transporter was away on his own holidays, we had to make a separate arrangement. Daddy dropped Ko-ko, Mei-mei, Ah Ma and Ah Kong along with our luggage at the airport first. Then he got back and we both hopped into a Grab and headed to the airport.
We had enough time to eat the yummy curry noodles (first try was the wrong stall. Daddy tried another and voila.. that was the right one!!) in the airport, buy our cosmetics and alcohol and then headed to the terminal where we were to hop into the plane to Copenhagen. Too bad we didn't have enough time to visit the Jewel Changi. 

2019 School Awards Night and Concert

The day started early in the morning as usual for Ko-ko as Awards Ceremony was held in the afternoon for secondary school. For Mei-mei, we dropped you at school only at 4p.m. all dressed and made up for the performance which was so start in the evening.

 It was a uniquely planned performance. You participated in two dances for the evening. One was an Indian dance by year 1 students:

 And another was an Egyptian dance by the dance club members:

And now that Awards night is over, the school holiday begins.