April Sunshine brings May . . . what?

April and May in Denmark mean public holidays and the beginnings of a real spring that brings everyone outside to enjoy the lengthening days. That is if it isn't cold and raining. This year we've been very lucky. April in Denmark set record highs this year for both temperature and sunshine. In the Copenhagen area, April averages 167 hours of sunlight. This year's total was nearly double that with 312 (see chart).

With all the sunlight we've been out as much as possible walking, enjoying picnics in the nearby parks, and eating at outdoor cafés. Having a few extra days off around Easter made it extra nice.

During the week before Easter (immediately after the last post) we took trips to two art museums, Louisiana and Arken where we saw a large Max Ernst exhibit and a collection of works by French impressionist works. The best part was watching Anya pass judgement on each of the paintings or sculptures as we strolled through the museums. Anya would consider each item on display and turn away if it did not appeal to her. If she approved, she would extend her hand in an odd benevolent gesture. She seemed to especially like portraits featuring closeups of people with expressive faces. Also, some of the modern art, for example works by Asger Jorn were a big hit. Another (less esoteric) trip took us to Ikea. I can't write much more about that.

The Saturday before Easter we spent in Malmø. It was our first visit there and we found it to be nice for a walk around the downtown area and a stroll through the park. We did some shopping and took advantage of the lower prices on top of the 70% discount on exchange rate between the Danish and Swedish currency. I'm not sure if the savings made up for the train fare over and back, but we enjoyed our visit nonetheless. We ate a good lunch at a cafe downtown and explored the St. Peter's Church.

Anya will begin going to vuggestue (day care / lit. "crib room") in June. We're excited that she'll get to meet lots of new friends, and in a couple of years she can correct our Danish mistakes. The staff are very professional and we're comfortable that Anya will be in good hands.

Farfar and Farmor (J&P) arrived last week to visit us. Anya has enjoyed having some new people to entertain and we've enjoyed having some new entertainers in our troupe.

Following up on an earlier post, the new pizza place down the street (Mo's) has taken over as our primary pizza joint. As for the bagel shop, we're waiting a while to give it another chance.

I'm going to post this before I get tempted to include any more things...