I have a long, serious post waiting in the wings for the right time to finish it, but yesterday deserves a post of its own. I was feeling pretty threadbare by the time Thursday came along, but it sure kickstarted my four-day mini-holiday in the most perfect way possible. We had decided that if the weather was favourable, we’d spend the day at Tivoli Friheden, since we got season cards (for free entry and some discounts) and one-time-use wristbands that give access to all the rides as a Christmas present from M’s parents. The day dawned with sun shining from a clear sky, and as all weather forecasts pretty much said that the day would be beautiful aside for some small showers in the afternoon, we headed to the fairground as soon as it opened.

None of the attractions were open quite yet, so we took a walk around the whole park to see what they had and what we definitely wanted to try. I knew from my visit to the Finnish tivoli last summer that my stomach doesn’t handle the wild rides quite as well as it used to, so I’d have to pace myself, and so the plan was to do one fast thing at a time and then do slower things until I’d feel up for another fast one, and this was fine with M. We chose Cobra as the first ride, and while it was way too short, we both enjoyed it immensely. It reminded me a great deal of the Demon in Copenhagen’s Tivoli, which I fell completely in love with on my visit there a few years ago. (Demon was better, but still.) After that we headed to the Haunted House, where we got to shoot up some zombies, and M got the second best score of the day. (My gun was broken, so it refused to shoot 3/4 of the time, which was really sad.)

On our walk around the park, M had remarked that on his last visit there some 10 years ago, he’d loved the Pegasus the most, so that’s where we headed next. It was one of the two attractions I was pretty sure would mess up my stomach because it rotates in all directions, but it also looked like a blast, so I definitely wanted to try it. The ride turned out to be absolutely squeal-worthy, but also perhaps just a tad too long, and by the time we got our feet back on the ground, I felt like a break was in order. Amusingly the plan was to hit the Ferris Wheel afterwards to calm us down, but that turned out to be a huge mistake. By the time we got to the top of the wheel, I felt more nauseous than I had after either of the fast rides, and M felt the same! I don’t quite know what caused it, but I think it was the fact that the little cabin we sat in kept swinging back and forth just a little bit, and somehow that was really causing motion sickness. Defeated by the Ferris Wheel… Didn’t see that coming!

By the time we got off the ride, we’d been in the park for some 1,5 hours and I felt like maybe some food was in order as that might settle my stomach a bit, so we went to eat chicken paninis for lunch. Generally amusement park food is overpriced and not particularly good quality, but the paninis were actually really big and tasty, so while the price was high, we at least didn’t feel cheated. The break did us good, too, so once we were done with eating, we were ready for some more amusement. We both still felt that we weren’t feeling quite as stable as when we started in the morning, so we decided to start slow, and hit the Illusions Factory. Which in hindsight wasn’t the best choice, as it’s all about optical illusions and such to mess with your head, and some of it was pretty effective, too. Nonetheless, fun was had, and once we were through, we felt up to giving the Wave Swinger a try. After some initial difficulties (including M banging me in the head with a metal bar and almost sliding off his side of the chair), we enjoyed it a lot, although it was one more thing to make our heads spin.

It was time to stay at ground level for a bit, so we headed for the fairly long queue for the Bumper Cars, as I figured the waiting time would be enough for my head to stop spinning. There was a short discussion about whether we should sit in the same car, but we both wanted the wheel (of course), so separate cars it was! I had a lot of fun chasing M around the arena, and he got a few good bumps in, too. Afterwards we figured we were up for another fast ride, so it was clearly time for the roller coaster. While we were queuing, we noticed there were some clouds gathering in the sky, and by the time The Hurricane took off, the first drops started falling. We enjoyed the ride, but afterwards it was time to find some shelter, as it started to rain a little harder.

We found a café that still had seats left, and opted for some Belgian waffles with ice cream and chocolate sauce with our coffee. The price was again pretty extravagant, but once we got the waffles, we had to admit they were worth it. They were warm, delicious and quite filling, and the ice cream on top was heaped so high I was seriously worried I wouldn’t be able to finish mine. By the time we were done with them, we were both so full it was pretty evident we wouldn’t be able to stomach another fast ride, and as it still kept raining, we decided to head home, all tired and happy.

The rest of the day was pretty lazy, and all in all I have to say it was just glorious. I felt more recharged than I have in weeks, and I still have three days left of my holiday! Today is all about cleaning the apartment and practicing for my upcoming Danish placement test, which is on Monday. Tomorrow we have some friends coming over, so I’m planning to bake pulla in the morning, and on Sunday I’m rather hoping we get to go and see the new Mad Max movie. Next week my dear friend S is coming to spend an extended weekend with us, which I’m really looking forward to, and we plan to watch the Eurovision Song Contest finale together, which I expect to be good fun.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the Danish spring so far. It all kicked off with a sudden realisation that there are these white, blooming trees everywhere in April even though nothing else had even leaves yet. We had a bunch of them just outside our living room window, and you could spot them all around the city. They dropped their flowers as suddenly as they got them, after which the first trees began sprouting green leaves, and little flowers began popping up here and there on the grassy spots. The weather has become steadily warmer since, and while it’s not quite summery yet, we’ve had a few days when sandals were definitely appropriate.