National Gallery of Denmark

My heart goes out to the people who lost their lives and those who lost their loved ones in Oslo and Utoya, Norway today... Jonathan was in Oslo last week, and he was staying at a hotel near where the explosion happened. It is scary to think that it could have happened while he was there...

Today, it was raining again from the morning. We hung out in the apartment in the morning, and finally in the afternoon, we got motivated to go out, somewhere. We decided to go to the Statens Museum for Kunst or the National Gallery of Denmark.

The museum building was quite impressive. The building consists of the original 19th century building and the beautiful glass and concrete extension. The museum houses an impressive collection of European paintings and of course a very good collection of Danish art. Because we had Mio and Yuto, and it is a pretty big museum to see the entire collection, we quickly walked through some of the collections, and headed to the children's section. There was a children's workshop, where you can create your own art by using paper, paints, recycled materials, wood sticks, glue guns and more. Mio participated with me, and together, we made a little piece of "art" while my mom took Yuto and browsed some more of the Museum collection.

After the workshop, we went to the cafe for coffee and cake (and beer). I had a carrot cake, and it was good (but not exceptional). Then there was a little incident. Mio went to the bathroom with my mom, and she insisted that she goes into the stall by herself, and not only that, she locked the door. Then what happened? She locked herself in and couldn't get out! It was kind of the key that you have to turn to unlock, and she was starting to panic, she couldn't figure it out no matter how my mom explained it to her from the other side of the door (I was waiting with Yuto outside and had no idea this was happening). Poor Mio started to cry out loud in a panic. My mom was about to leave her there to look for a security guard when a nice gentleman walked in and he was able to unlock the key from the outside with his lighter (or something). She came out of the bathroom with my mom, still crying, and this was when I learned about the whole incident. That must been a pretty scary experience for her...

What is this?? (これなあに？？）

"What is this??" (in Japanese) is what Mio said when she saw a dial phone at the Dansk Design Center, which is where we went today. It was part of the "Denmark by Design" exhibition, an exhibition of Danish Design in our everyday lives. My mom and I thought that was pretty funny, but that definitely proves that she is from a new generation... The exhibition was interesting, and Mio even had fun trying out the Danish designed child's "wheel-chair", but we were expecting a little bit more from reading all the travel guides, so it was a little disappointing.

The building is nicely designed of course, and it has a nice cafe where you can have lunch (also mentioned in the travel guide) on the ground floor. Our original plan was to have lunch there, but I've been craving Asian food for the last few days - I'm all about eating the local food when I'm traveling, but I've been in Denmark for about a month now, and I just wanted something other than sandwich for lunch! So I flipped through the Japanese guide book my mom brought, and found a Chinese restaurant nearby. The book said they have good dim sum and that even local Chinese chefs go there. Sounds good to me!

Fu Hao, the restaurant, was located on the other side of Central Station, in a pretty busy area. We went in, and I felt immediately at home - except for one table, the clientele was all Asian, and my expectation got higher! We ordered several dim sum dishes and a noodle dish. At about $8 per dim sum dish, it was a little expensive by our American standards, but this is Denmark, and the food was very good it totally hit the spot for me, so I was very happy. In fact, I want to go back there for more dim sum already!

Rosenborg Palace and King's Garden

Today, we went to the Rosenborg Slot (Palace). This early 17th-century castle started as a royal summer house, and grew over the years into a magnificent palace - Copenhagen is so cool in the summer, I don't know why they need a "summer house" though! Unfortunately, I didn't get a very good picture of the palace. We thought the kids were a little too young to enjoy the inside and the famous treasury, we just walked around the grounds.

Right adjacent to the castle is a beautiful park called Kongens Have or King's Garden. It is the oldest and the most visited park in Copenhagen. It's not just a tourist attraction, but it is also a very popular place for the locals to come for a picnic or for a walk.

Even though Mio and Yuto had fun running around on the grass, for Mio, no park is considered "fun" unless there is a real "playground". And since we were pretty close to Orsted Park, which we went a few weeks ago (and got rained!), we decided to make a short stop there. She was a little frustrated as the ride she wanted was monopolized by the boys the whole time and she didn't get her turn. It was a tricycle with a backseat, and she wanted to ride with Yuto. The tricycle shown in the photo was her compromise, and Yuto volunteered to sit in it for a few seconds, but he was a little too young to understand that you are not supposed to stand or put your feet on the ground while it's moving, so it just added to Mio's frustration... Poor Mio. Oh well, we'll come back again.