The Schwinds': November 2013

Hello everyone, we are missing everyone back in the states but we are very thankful for all the opportunities we have been experiencing in Europe! We had a great Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, a little different than we are use to, but had a great time and have so much to be thankful for. We ended up making a chicken instead of turkey. The only turkey I could find was at Whole Foods for 50GBP, yikes! I also tried a couple new recipes; a homemade apple pie and rosemary sweet potato and apple hash with cranberries. The sweet potato dish was so good, I highly recommend it!

Onto our most recent getaway, last weekend Adam and I hopped on a plane to Copenhagen. We had such a great time and couldn't have had better weather...well maybe a little warmer but we had nothing but sunny blue skies!!

We ended up staying at WakeUp Copenhagen. Everything in Copenhagen is so expensive and so was this hotel but a much better price than a lot of other options in the city. The rooms are very small but clean and pretty centrally located. Supposedly Copenhagen is the least expensive major city in Scandinavia.

Even so, we fell the love with the city and all the Christmas magic! One of the things we are really loving about Europe is all the Christmas markets, it really puts you in the Christmas spirit.

When we got to Copenhagen we dropped our bags off at the hotel, then walked around the city.

We stopped for lunch at Cafe Wilder, where Adam had the largest burger ever and I had an amazing goat cheese and pear salad. Add this to your list of restaurants if you are ever in the city. Most of the places we ate at were recommendations from Rick Steves' book or Time Out- 48 hours in Copenhagen. We also had a great dinner at Mother Pizza Parlor.

After lunch we headed to the very intriguing borough of Christianshavn, right outside of downtown Copenhagen. It's a commune of about 850 residents where they live a very progressive and liberating Danish lifestyle. There is a lot of controversy about the area regarding these "special laws" i.e. buying and selling of soft drugs. It was very interesting to read about and see an alternative community. Many of the areas within the neighborhood have prohibitions against taking pictures, but I managed to snap a few outside the restricted areas.

The main street- Pusher Street is where the selling of soft drugs takes place. It literally is like a farmers market of selling drugs...

After walking around Christianshavn we headed back to the city centre. Most people ride bikes everywhere, even in the freezing temperatures. Cars are taxed at 180 percent here!

The next morning we had a late breakfast at Cafe Norden. I loved the atmosphere and the place was decked out in Christmas decorations. Adam and I both got the brunch which was a ton of food. It even came with a piece of cake!

Opera house

Checking out the Little Mermaid statue. Hans Christian Andersen, the author of many fairy tails including The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes and The Princess and the Pea is from Denmark and lived most of his life in Copenhagen.

Trying the famous Gløgg. It's a hot punch made of red wine, brandy, and, sherry flavored with almonds, raisins and orange peel.

Checking out the Nyhavn Christmas market.

One of the nights we checked out Tivoli Gardens, a winter wonderland. If this doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, not sure what will. So magical!

Checking out another Christmas market.

Until next time Copenhagen!

On Sunday we slowly made our way back to Pisa. We had previously been to Florence back in August but wanted to drive through the "hills of Florence". It was pretty rainy so unfortunately we didn't get a great view of the city.

You can vaguely see the Dummo down below.

After driving around the outskirts of Florence we headed to the walled city of Lucca for lunch. Can't remember of the place we ate at for lunch, it was one of the only things we could find open. But it was so good!! Probably the best pizza we have had in Italy!!!