Various Sights in Copenhagen

A popular area for residents and tourists is Stroget. It is one of the longest pedestrian shopping areas in Europe. And as you can see by the photos below, very busy!



Strøget was created in November 1962 when cars were beginning to dominate Copenhagen's old central streets. Building on its success, the network expanded in 1968, 1973, 1980, and 1992. From the initial 15,800 square metres of the Strøget, Copenhagen’s pedestrian network has expanded to about 100,000 square metres.



Many of the city's most famous and expensive stores, such as Illums Bolighus, Magasin du Nord, the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Factory, and chain stores, are located along the strip.



Royal Copenhagen is the reddish-brown brick building with gables in the photo above.



One of the oldest buildings in Copenhagen is the Old Stock Exchange built by King Christian IV (1577-1648 – ruled Denmark and Norway 1588-1648) in 1619-1640. The King was called the great builder and architect of Copenhagen, and had the ambitions to turn Copenhagen into a financial and trade centre by creating this magnificent building that housed the Danish stock-market until 1974.



We learned quite a bit about King Christian IV during our trip and I will be posting about many of the other buildings he had constructed. The Stock Exchange was designed in the Dutch Renaissance style with a prominent spire of four dragons with their tails twisting towards the top and ending in a spear with three crowns representing the union between Denmark, Norway and Sweden. This was to symbolize the close relationship among the three Nordic countries.



Copenhagan, like many other European cities was built with canals.



A canal tour was a great way to see the older sections of the city.





During a walk we happened by the Canadian Embassy.





Here we are in Central Station, a rail hub dating back to 1847.



Copenhagan is a city of bicycles and we soon learned not to stand in the bike lanes!



Nyboder(meaning New[small]houses) is an area of historic row houses that were former Naval barracks that were planned and first built by Christian IV. These barracks are now homes for Copenhagan residents



This elaborate building is a store, Magasin Du Nord.



And finally, here I am beside my new car, I wish,lol!



Hope you enjoyed this little tour around Copenhagan, more to come soon.

Nyhavn

I recently had the adventure of going on a Baltic Cruise that embarked/disembarked in Copenhagan,Denmark. So now I have lots of sights to blog about and scrapbook about too(although I'm never short of scrapbook material).

My husband and I went with our friends,Kathryn and Dave, and one of the first areas we saw in Copenhagan was Nyhavn.



Nyhavn was constructed by King Christian V from 1670-73 and dug by Swedish war prisoners from the Dano-Swedish War 1658–1660. It was a gateway from the sea to the old inner city at Kongens Nytorv Square. It was notorious for beer, sailors, and prostitution. Danish author Hans Christian Andersen lived at Nyhavn 18 for some time.



It is now an entertainment district and is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants. Serving as a "heritage harbour", the canal has many historical wooden ships.



It is definitely a tourist and resident hub and was busy everytime we happened to be there!

Summertime Orzo Salad

On Canada Day, I took an orzo salad to our celebration.

Not only was it yummy, it was easily transported in little canning jars.



And it combines asparagus with grape tomatoes along with the orzo and is very easy to make.



The recipe is from Tasty Kitchen, love that site for recipes.

And in case you want to try this salad yourself, here's the recipe:

½ pounds Orzo Pasta
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 bunch Asparagus
1 pint Grape Tomatoes
4 whole Scallions, White And Greens, Sliced Thin
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
5 Tablespoons Pesto (or More To Taste)
1 Tablespoon "A Salt For All Seasonings" (see Note) Or More To Taste

Cook orzo according to package directions for al dente. When it’s done, pour it into your colander to drain and then immediately begin running cold water over it to completely cool it down. Toss it with a Tablespoon of olive oil and set aside.

Slice the tips off of your asparagus, and set the tips aside. Using a peeler, lay your asparagus stems on your cutting board and peel “up” against your flat asparagus, getting some nice shavings… Continue this until you have about a cup full, and set it aside.

Cut all of your tomatoes in half, set aside.

Fill a small pot with water and throw in a pinch of salt, bring to a boil. Add your asparagus tips and blanch them for 1-2 minutes (depends on how thick your asparagus is…you want it crisp tender). When done, remove the asparagus tips to a paper towel using a slotted spoon. Keep the water in the pot and on the heat.

As soon as your water goes back to a boil, add in your asparagus shavings and blanch them for 20 seconds. Remove them with a slotted spoon to a paper towel.

Combine your asparagus, tomatoes and scallions with the orzo. Then, add in the lemon, pesto and seasonings.

This can be made a day ahead… If you do this, cover it tightly and keep in the refrigerator. Add a Tablespoon or two of pesto to refresh it just prior to serving.

Note: The recipe uses A Salt for All Seasonings made by Market Day Gourmet(I didn't have it). Essentially it is a combination of sea (or kosher) salt, dehydrated onion and garlic, paprika, dried parsley and if you can find it dehydrated lemon peel. I used salt and pepper only but do think the use of fresh lemon peel with the garlic and onion would be even better.

Enjoy!

Little Red Wagon #91 - Heat Embossing

Time for another Little Red Wagon challenge.

This week Deanna is challenging us to use heat embossing.

I stamped a couple of flowers then heat embossed them with Zing embossing powder, cut them out and added them to my card:



I really do need to heat emboss more often. I you're like me, why not dig into your wagon for that embossing powder and link up your creation at Little Red Wagon?

Blooming Right Now

More summer blooms!

Annabelle hydrangeas.



Daisies still looking good!



Pink hydrangea.



Darling Deception Daylily.



Row of tiger lilies.



Delphinium



More summer blooms to come soon! Thanks for stopping by!

Belated Canada Day Images

Finally, I'm sharing some Canada Day photos in no particular order.


We celebrated Sherry's birthday!


Lovely Canada Day tablescape.


Appetizers in red and white!

Grandma

Hanging around the old Ford pick up truck!




Being goofy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Little Red Wagon #90 - Music Note

Hello everyone!

It's my turn to set the Little Red Wagon challenge this week and I decided our creations should feature music notes.

I created the following card using some Basic Grey papers and a Papertrey Ink stamp set.



So dig into those wagons, find some music notes and join us over at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Celebrate Banner

A little while back I shared a preview of my piece of a banner swap, here's the finished banner:



Isn't it terrific? Everyone's pennant is so unique and they all came together to create something gorgeous!

Thanks so much to all the ladies who participated, it was fun!

Blooming Now

I love the flowers of summer!

This is what's blooming this week:


A row of blooming hostas.

Another view of of the hostas.

Astilbe and shasta daisies.

More daisies.
Climbing rose.

Little Red Wagon #89 - Pink and Lime Green

Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole week since I last posted! I'm going to have to see what I can do about that.

But for today its onto this week's Little Red Wagon challenge, Regan challenged us to use light pink, lime green and white. I must admit to having a difficult time with this one until Karen gave me a piece of pink paper and I found a green cameo and voila!



I'm not sure if you can tell but I also stamped a light pink music pattern on the doily.

So dig into your wagon, find those light pink and lime green papers or embellishments and play along with us at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Little Red Wagon #88 - Christmas in July

This week Avril is challenging to a Christmas in July challenge. So I dug out my Christmas supplies and created this 'vintagey' ornament:



So are you up to thinking about Christmas? If so, link up your creation at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Party Dress

Hello there!

Here's a link to another terrific online magazine called The Party Dress.

Hope you enjoy it!