Wonderful Copenhagen! And other half term adventures.

 I had an amazing half term break this October!

It all started with an amazing day in Windsor with Josh and my mom. We went to Windsor Castle, lunch at a restaurant on the water and followed by the most amazing afternoon tea at the Sir Christopher Wren Hotel. There was so much delicious food, which we had to take some of the top row home !

Sandwiches, scones and cakes!

Inside the castle!

The next day, my mom and I took off for Copenhagen! We spend 4 nights at a wonderful hotel with view of Tivoli and many other famous buildings!! On the first day, we explored the area a bit and came across the Royal stables, with the actual horses they use for celebrations and the royals! We also spent the night at Tivoli, where I rode the Star Flyer. It was a really tall swing ride with amazing (but a bit scary) view of all of Copenhagen! Tivoli is the second oldest amusement park in the world! We were lucky because it was open for Halloween. It is usually closed throughout the year. It was decorated with over 20.000 pumpkins and other spooky stuff! It had rides, restaurants, food stands, and shows! We ate at a restaurant in Tivoli this night, having traditional Danish food!

Entrance to Tivoli

On our first full day, we walked almost the whole city!! We started the morning with a canal tour of Copenhagen. It was a lovely day outside and a great way to see the sights. The bridges were very low, so all of the boats were really short and wide. The guide had to tell everybody to watch their heads before we went under them! After our tour, we walked to the painted houses of Copenhagen called Nyhavn. We stopped for lunch at a cafe to have a traditional smorrebrod lunch (open faced sandwiches). We then continued our walk to the Royal Palaces called Amalienborg Slot. This is where the Princess and Prince actually live! As we continued our walk, we came across Kastellet. This was a 17th century turtle shaped fortress surrounded by a moat. The moat was so steep! It would be extremely hard to climb to attack!!! Then, we finally reached our destination! The sculpture of the Little Mermaid, surrounded by tourists!

On the boat!

The Painted Houses

Amalienborg Slot- The Princess and Prince's house!

Kastellet- with the steep slopes!

Me and a mermaid!

On Tuesday, we went to Malmo, Sweden! My mom was excited because she loves a show called The Bridge. It is a mystery show where a crime takes place on the bridge that connects Copenhagen and Malmo. We took a bus on the way there (which took you right over the bridge and had amazing views) and a train on the way back. In Malmo, we walked along some shopping streets, through a gorgeous park and to a building called Malmohus. It used to be a fortress and a castle, but is now used as a museum. We spent some time wandering through the exhibits. It was really interesting because a lot of the Holocaust survivors were taken to Malmohus by a white bus who rescued them. We had lunch outdoors in one of their squares and then headed to the train station. A great day in a new country! For dinner back in Copenhagen, we stumbled upon a restaurant that had a salsa club/lessons in the background! We had no idea until we went to the washroom and saw 30 people salsa dancing!!

Having some soup!

The main shopping street in Malmo

Malmohus

Our last full day in Copenhagen was another busy one! We started the day by visiting the Hans Christian Andersen Museum. I loved it! The displays were interactive and told many of his fairy tales! It was a short museum but really great. We then walked down a shopping street and found some Danish porcelain to buy, I bought a jewelry box! We then walked over to Christiansborg Slot (another royal castle) and I went up the tower! I had great views of the whole city- you could even see all the way to Sweden! We then walked over to The Latin Quarter (everything is so close there!) After walking around some pretty little streets, we grabbed some lunch before spending the afternoon at Tivoli again! It was neat to see in the day time and we went on the Ferris Wheel and a ride about Hans Christian Andersen. We finished the day by having drinks and playing quiddler in the lobby and then went out for dinner!

At the museum! 

View from The Tower

A building called Nimb, inside Tivoli.

Hanging pumpkins

In front of Christiansborg Slot, I went up that tower!

Inside Tivoli

On our last day, we decided to go for a walk before heading to the airport. I was watching a show called Ladies of London, who took a trip to Copenhagen! We walked up to check out the hotel they stayed at and an expensive fur shop they went into! Off we went to the airport to end an amazing trip!!!
When we got back to London, Josh picked us up and we had fish and chips from the famous fish and chips shop in my area!! We then spent Friday in Guildford (obviously!) and then on Saturday my mom and I went into London. My mom treated Jess and I to a theatre performance. We chose Matilda! We also went for Dinner at one of my fave restaurants- Bills! We all enjoyed our meals.

Lunch in Leister Square

Another half term done!

It is finally autumn half term!! It has been a busy few months, but a great few months as well! I love teaching my Peter Pan topic and so do the kids! We are in the middle of writing our own Peter Pan play scripts. They did a great job and were sent home with their lines to practice during break! We hope to perform it to parents after the break!!

I have spent some weekends up in London, some in Windsor, having relaxing movie dates in Staines (The Martian is AMAZING!) and even a day down in Portsmouth. I got to meet Josh's brother and his girlfriend and go for a nice walk along the sea!

I was able to see Jess a lot this half term- helping her move into her cute new place and spending the day with her mom and Nan! When Jess and I were at our fave spot (Gordons), I received a text from my sisters friend Ali who was also in London. It was so nice to see a familiar face in London. My mom is here now and spent the day in school with me yesterday! She was a big help and my kids loved seeing her. We leave for Copenhagen tomorrow and I can't wait!

My first foster cat Saphie was adopted into a really great home! I just got a new foster kitty yesterday and her name is Summer. She is 18 months old and so so so cuddly! She likes to sleep on my head.

Here are some pictures from the last month ish!

Summer !

Down in Porstmouth

Our Thanksgiving Dinner

First week back.

I am back in the routine of school and embracing my new theme of Peter Pan. I think it will be a really good topic and the kids like it so far! As well as getting my room ready, I have fostered a cat! Her name is Saphie and she is approx. 9 years old. I will look after her until she finds a forever home. She is the sweetest cat and loves to cuddle most of the time! She makes us smile and she is nice to come home too!

This past weekend, Jess, Josh and I went to Ascot Races... where the Queen goes! She wasn't there this weekend, but it was a Food and Wine Festival. There were 8 races and we all bet on all of them! It was a bit more complex here than at the races back home, but we figured it out quite quickly! I won money off three horses and there was even a horse called Bay of St.Malo! I bet on him and he came in 3rd... so we did get some money back! Usually people wearing fancy hats and headbands to the Ascot races but you didn't need to for this festival. Although, there were some ladies wearing them. It was fun to get dressed up and experience something very British!

I spent today planning for the rest of the week at school..the first week of proper lessons with my new class!!

Saphie cat!

Mermaid Lagoon

London Skyline

All dressed up.

At the races!

My guy:)

The parade ring.

My Visit home to Canada.

After my week spent in Greece, I set off to spend the rest of the summer in Canada! It was so amazing to see all my family and friends and show Josh around Winnipeg and Montreal!

I went to Karleighs cabin, saw Folklorama, visited my friends at their new apartments, went to the farm and much more! It was also neat to show Josh some areas of Winnipeg that I would usually not spend a lot of time at, or atleast not spend time wandering and reading information! We went to Assiniboine park, The Forks, The Human Rights Museum and much more! Josh and I really enjoyed spending time with my parents, who are just so wonderful! :) We wish we could go back and play more games of Quiddler, have more bonfires and make more smores!

Finally got to meet this angel :)

My lovelies

One of the best days of the whole trip!

The bugs were so bad!

At the Human Rights Museum

Such a good holiday.

After 2 and a half weeks in Winnipeg, we set off for Montreal to stay with Susannah. We explored the entire city and absolutely loved it! We went to Mount Royal, did some shopping, introduced Josh to Poutine (he loved it!), went for delicious suppers, swam in a rooftop pool, went back to Candi Bar, up the Olympic tower and explored the botanical gardens. We also forced Susannah to watch one of our favourite shows... Locked Up Abroad! She hated it. We also went to this Cat Cafe, where they have about 5 cats you could play with while having your coffee. It was called Cafe Venosa!

Cafe Venosa!

Candi Bar

Mount Royal

Showing Josh a Canadian tradition!!!

Rooftop pool

Musical Swings!

From the top of the Olympic Tower!

It was quite sad to leave for both Josh and I, however it is back to the work life with a new bunch of kiddies. I have been working hard on my new classroom theme... Peter Pan! I will post pictures when it is complete! This weekend I also went into London to experience the Notting Hill Carnival and see Kiara! It happens every year for the August Bank Holiday and is Caribbean themed. It was very loud with tons of people enjoying the music and food! They also had a parade but we didn't see very many floats. I am glad I experienced it, however I don't think I would go back.