Lees in Værløse, Part II

It’s Nana’s birthday as I post this, so we begin with a community shoutout to Nana: Happy Birthday!

The Lees are wandering around Copenhagen on their own today, giving us a chance to attend to a lot of backlogged stuff. I include this blog among my backlog, but at a relatively low priority, so it may be another day or two before it gets published to the web, and if so I apologize for the belated birthday greeting.

When we left off, Gene had just arrived. We now begin at Bakken, an adventure that began in the worst possible way with a forty-minute wait just to get our cars into the parking lot, then a moment of panic when the thick smoke of the Bakken air — about every other patron of the place, which was packed to capacity, seemed to be chain-smoking — triggered an asthma attack in poor Hannah. But after a few minutes in the cool, clear air of the woods outside the park, order was restored. Then Molli Malou bailed out on the swan ride only after she and Hannah had reached near the end of the line, requiring Daddy to fight through the line up the long stairway to fetch her, then carry her back down to safety on terra firma.

Things got better from there. For one thing, Maddie got to take her first two amusement park rides. The first was with her mother, and left scant photographic evidence. The second was alone, and has been chronicled amply.

Sophie and uncle went head to head on the bumper cars.

I mentioned it was crowded, right? Have a look.

We therefore made periodic trips outside the park to revel in the relative peace of the surrounding forest.

Sophie accompanied Molli Malou on Bakken’s version of the infamous Tivoli “Bouncy Ride.”

…and then another idyll…

Here as elsewhere, there is much more video of the event, and there are photos and videos to be had from Deb and Hannah and everyone with a phone, so consider this blog a mere sampler of what’s to come.

Now we’re back home and ready for a trip to the ole swimmin’ hole.

The weather was perpetually advertised against us, with newspaper, television, and internet warnings assuring us each day that we would be deluged with rain, thunderstorms, and misery. We learned to ignore those warnings, and also learned that most Danes were more trusting of the weather authorities than we.

One “thundery, rainy” afternoon we went down to Furesø beach to find it virtually deserted.

Gene, Hannah, Sophie, Molli Malou and I took an afternoon trip to Bymidten for some ice-cream (and to buy some steaks for the grill), and the girls kept stopping to look at shoes.

The next day we defied forecasts of rain yet again for our long-awaited trip to Tivoli.

Three of the Lees watch with nervous excitement as Maddie soars overhead on the flying swings…

Ah, the boats…

Poor Maddie… how much of this trip she’s had to spend as a mere onlooker!

…but Maddie did try to make a friend at the refurbished Tivoli playground.

The theme is Rasmus Klump, a popular cartoon bear in Denmark.

Rasmus Klump is an Egmont property.

How you like playing in a playground funded by Daddy’s new employer, kiddo?

Danish genes out themselves: Maddie enjoyed Daddy’s licorice lollipop, which had elicited only grimaces from Deb, Hannah, and Sophie. (Gene got one of his own and enjoyed it just fine!)

Sophie and Molli Malou fly the friendly skies!

Shootout at the H.C. Corral: the Lee girls and Molli Malou go mermaid shooting!

Photo op: anticipate better from Deb.

Official Dæmon photograph of Gene and Sophie racing around on Denmark’s most exciting rollercoaster!

And finally, the big bouncy ride…

Next day: an afternoon on Lyøvej wonderfully hosted by Mormor and Jørgen:

(Maddie Marie missed out on lunch.)

Yes, that’s it, we’re caught up!

It just dawns on me now that Morfar blew through town and stayed with us Sunday and Monday nights, and though we had a merry time on Monday night there’s no trace of him at all on the blog — sorry, Morfar!

Hard to believe there are only four more days until the Lees depart for Paris… we’re planning a trip north tomorrow to see Elsinore, possibly the Museum of Science and Technology, and maybe even make a ferry crossing to Sweden. (Maybe also a swing by Louisiana Museum, but that’s probably pushing the time available to us.)

Now I have other things to tend to during this quiet time, so that’s it for now. I’m looking forward to taking some of my real down time next week to put together a few fun videos of the visit, and I’m guessing this will be the last blog post until Monday or Tuesday.