"The Most Wonderful Fairy Tale"

Yesterday evening will go down in the record books as one of the all-time best Friday nights! The Hellesens met me in central Copenhagen for an evening at Tivoli Gardens, the theme park located RIGHT in the heart of the city. Opened in 1843, it is the 2nd oldest theme park in the world (the only one older is also a Danish theme park). It really is a different world, and you completely forget you are actually in the middle of a city. I've walked by Tivoli every single day and never could have guessed the magic that awaited inside...

the main road right outside of Tivoli leading from Central Station down to the city square (the low brown building in the bottom right corner is actually part of the entrance to the park)

Crossing the street...

Right when you enter the magic arch, you are hit by lush green grass, beautiful lanterns (that were all lit up by the time we left), flowers and stunning architecture

A pantomime theatre  

A palace in the middle of Copenhagen... no big deal! 

People relaxing along the garden paths (you can still see the buildings from the rest of the city off in the corner) 

Peacock... yes, there were peacocks just walking around Tivoli! 

The Hellesens treated me to the afternoon (which is not an inexpensive gift)... you have to pay to enter the gardens, and you have to pay even more to be able to ride the rides. Kasper, Mira, and I all got passes for unlimited access (cheaper than paying for individual rides). The gardens themselves left me in a state of total amazement, and I just kept saying, Wow! This is beautiful! but suddenly Helle said to me, "Okay! Time for your first ride!" I looked up and Kasper and Mira were running to get on line for a roller coaster. Lars took my jacket and my purse (I'll come back to this in a moment) and without stopping to think about it, I rushed to join my host siblings!

On line for the first roller coaster

The ride was really fun and a nice warmup for the rest of the day. Two important things to note: first, even though the weather was perfect, we had the park pretty much to ourselves. We waited no more than 2 minutes for every ride, which made the whole experience even more enjoyable. The other thing that made me laugh was the process of getting on the rides: When getting onto a coaster that involved loops, staff members came around to check your harness/belt, but for the other rides (even smaller roller coasters), you were just totally responsible for getting in yourself, putting on your own belt, and going. Never, ever, EVER would this idea function in the US. It's a lawsuit waiting to happen. For several of the rides we literally just hopped on to a cart that had barely stopped moving before we went flying off!

Excited after our first coaster experience

We then ran into a set of game stalls. Apparently the Hellesens favorite carnival game is the horserace game (where you roll a ball up a shoot to advance your horse along a track), which also happens to my mom's favorite game so I've played once or twice. Lars paid for the 5 of us to play two rounds. He creamed us all during the first one, but then had much more competition in the second one: Helle ended up beating him by a nose and I was only millimeters behind!

The prize: a tiny squishy green ball!

Now is a good time to mention what may have been my favorite thing of the day: Lars and my purse. I brought my shoulder bag with me so that I could store my camera, water bottle, and wallet. However I obviously couldn't bring it on the rides, so at that very first roller coaster, Lars offered to take it and my camera, which he wore proudly saying, "I'm almost a real American tourist!"I actually thought it was the sweetest/funniest thing ever. In the photo above (and every other photo from this trip) you can look for Lars and my purse. :-)

Next stop: bumper cars! Actually that's not true... in between our family game and bumper cars, Kasper, Mira and I went on this ride that involved riding in a boat equipped with wands/guns that each person could use to hit virtual targets along the tracks. I absolutely CREAMED Kasper and Mira... like I have never been so good at a shooting game (or any game) in my life! "There's something wrong with my gun!" Kasper kept yelling when the ALL of the targets lit up pink (my color). "What? How she doing that?" Mira kept calling. I emerged from the ride victorious to find Lars and Helle laughing hysterically and demanding which of us had been pink (you could see the scores on a screen outside the ride). Final results: Kasper 240; Mira 70; Sara 1,470! "That's not really fair," Helle said jokingly. "She's an American... they have loads of guns there." Although it's not particularly applicable in my case, it's a sad but true statement. But anyway, after that we went to bumper cars!

Kasper was slightly more successful at this game, though I have to say I wasn't terrible at it either

Mira decided to sit out the next ride: the giant swings, which were my favorite of the day. It was nice to do something with just Kasper who told me some funny stories about his class trip to Tivoli. It was also SO incredible to see the entire city from above. We flew round and round, higher and higher, and I could see all of the amazing places I've traveled in was once a strange new city and is now the place I call home (at least for two more weeks). Above Central Station, to Rosenborg Castle, to the Royal Palace, to the harbor, and everything in between. I got little chills... it was so beautiful.

on the way up... 

around and around

We neared a part of the park that had some of the bigger coasters. Lars decided to spring for the very expensive option of riding just one ride. He went to pay for his ticket and I snapped this photo (I just couldn't get enough of that purse).

he wears it well

The coaster was a lot of fun... with many twists and turns and loops we spend around the tracks! The funniest moment was right when we were pushed away from the start and Lars looked down at his feet and said, "Shit! I should have tied my shoes!" His sneakers were clearly very loose. He then instinctively attempted to reach them, but realized that we were completely harnessed in and so you have about five inches of space to move forward. "Okay, we'll hope to find them later," he said with a laugh and we were launched up and around (luckily, his shoes stayed on his feet).

We were in the front: You can see Kasper's white shoes and Lars' black shoes [still on his feet] on either end of the row 

The Asian inspired section of the park near our coaster 

 Then Kasper and Mira wanted to go on a ride that I wasn't particularly interested in. As Helle said, "I think that ride would be fun for about the first 15 seconds and then I would be ready to get off." Agreed. It was one that swung back and forth, higher and higher, until you were doing loops above the ground. While Helle and I looked on, Lars found a game where you paid 10DKK to try to win and iPad by putting a key into a tiny, tiny slot. Lars was determined. "One more time," he kept saying before inserting another 10 kroner coin.

You can see him reaching for his wallet to try again

Somehow, and I am not completely sure how, I ended up on the ride when Kasper and Mira wanted to go again! As soon as I was harnessed in, I looked at Helle (standing off to the side) and called, "Wait! Why am I doing this again? Weren't we just saying that I wouldn't find this fun!?!" Luckily though, it was a lot of fun.

There was another ride/game that involved pulling yourself up this giant poll... 

Kasper's face in this photo is priceless!

In line with my new favorite thing about Denmark (babies in strollers, which has now replaced small children in snowsuits as my photo obsession), we passed a few ADORABLE babies...

This little girl could survive the apocalypse 

There is something very touching about seeing a built guy pushing around a white and pink pram with an adorable little girl looking out

You can't tell here, but the dad pushing this stroller had really intense tattoos all up and down his arms

Then we got to walk through the gardens of Tivoli... beyond gorgeous. Tivoli has been the first and only place that I actually have memories of from my earliest years. When discussing it, my mom said that we went quite a few times during the time we lived in Sweden (when I was roughly 2-4), but it is amazing to me how strong of an association I had with very specific parts of the park. 

Leaving the area with the rides and entering the formal gardens

That's central station in the background

the fam

You could feed the GIANT fish in the pond... they literally came out of the water to eat the food (think Jaws, but with giant gold fish and little fish pellets)

yes, Tivoli had peacocks, but it also had the ugliest bird in the world

gondolas in theme park form

Eventually, we decided it was time to have dinner, but first there was one ride Mira realllly wanted to do. Somehow, I was the one who ended up doing it with her!

I tried to stay calm and be supportive... Mira looks terrified!

Yep, that's us up there! The highest point in miles and miles... you can see EVERY part of the city. Through gritted teeth Mira said, "It is so beautiful" when we reached the top. I burst out laughing and a moment later we went flying back down to the bottom...

We survived! All smiles [note that I have NEVER done one of these "death drops" before, but somehow in my new Danish relaxed attitude, I was calm and cool pretty much the whole time]

After we got that out of the way, it was time to eat! I was able to treat the family to dinner as a thank you not only for the trip to Tivoli, but also for the semester. We did a toast and enjoyed steaks and fries. 

inside the restaurant 

When we finished our meal and emerged back into the park, the sun was setting and we walked around to take in the views, stopping to get ice cream.

Every Friday night during the summer, there are concerts in Tivoli at this stage. 

The Tivoli Police!!!

This portion of a building was covered with ceilings of mirrors

Mira and I went on one final ride, a trip through the storybook pages of Hans Christian Andreson. I had no idea that so many of the stories I know are his: obviously the Ugly Duckling, but also the Little Mermaid, the Princess and the Pea, the Emperor's New Clothes, and many more.

The last scene we drive through was very fitting. Good old H.C. Andresen writing while a storybook lights up the words, "Life is the most wonderful fairy tale" in English and Danish. SO TRUE!

As we were getting ready to leave, Lars found one last booth of his favorite game and couldn't resist the urge...

alas, still no iPad!

We stopped briefly to watch the show now at the little theatre  on our way out of the park....

 ...and then headed out back into the main part of the city, leaving the magic of Tivoli behind.

still inside, but heading out... the lanterns now brightly lit

outside, looking back in

We went off to the car and drove home (I stayed awake this time). It was a perfect end to the last full week of classes and really did fill me with a sense that the world is full of magic (inside of Tivoli and out).