okay, before i get to denmark, i have to say that yesterday was my golden birthday (23 on the 23rd) and it was truly golden!!! i woke up this morning feeling so full of happiness and love and gratefulness for all the incredible people in my life that made my day so special. if any of you are reading this, just know that i love you and thank you!! :) but more of that later, i still have some danish adventures to share!
so day three began with a first breakfast of fruit, yogurt and homemade muesli followed by a second breakfast (yes, i did start to feel like a hobbit by the end of the trip) of some mouth-watering, delicious pastries. nick's uncle, svend, insisted that we got some healthy nutrients in us (hence the fruit, yogurt and muesli), which i was honestly so grateful for. because amidst the hot dogs, ice cream and pastries, there weren't too many nutrients going into my body...haha...#worthit
aaaanyways, so first thing we headed out on the drive to hans christian andersen's home. we drove for a few hours enjoying the most beautiful scenery of massive, green trees, fields of bright yellow flowers and across the most beautifully designed bridge i have probably ever seen. all the while listening to stories from nick's dad of growing up in denmark.

in seemingly no time, we made it the man's home who is responsible for so many fairytales i grew up loving and pouring over - including the little mermaid, the princess and the pea, the ugly duckling, the emperor's new clothes and so many more! the entire neighborhood village was the cuuutest and most charming place, with all the colorful homes and cobblestone streets. and the museum attached to the home where h.c. andersen (most likely) was born and grew up in was probably the most fantastic museum i've ever been to. it really made his tales come to life and he was such an interesting person to learn about. he seemed like a most peculiar character - almost like a character that belonged in one of his famous fairtytales and i just loved it. i especially loved seeing his original sketches and paper cut outs and journal entries. and probably my favorite thing was this about 12 foot rope they had hanging explaining that everytime he stayed at an inn, he would always pack that rope just in case the place burned down and he had to escape out the window. haha and i feel like his oddness and eccentricities really made him the creative genius that he was. it makes me a little sad to think that if he were to live now, it's very possible that he would be told he wasn't socially normal and be given some sort of pill to fix him..ha but that's another whole discussion..

oh, and it was especially fun to go there because there are some darling photos of nick as a toddler on that exact street, so naturally we had to reinact that. haha and it was so fun to be there in person! and walk around an outside market nearby and get some strong, creamy danish blue cheese and crackers. i have a weakness for blue cheese and nick thinks i'm crazy, and wouldn't come near me for a while after i ate it...haha and don't tell him, but it was the best blue cheese i have ever had so it was kinda worth it ;)

okay, i'm sure nobody except for future me will ever read this entire thing, buuut when we got back to svend's house he took us the see the royal danish ballet at the opera house! it was the story of shakespeare's twelfth night and it was beyond beautiful and we sat so close to them and i don't think i've ever felt fancier :)