After Copenhagen, we went through Germany to Gdansk, Poland. Lithuania & Latvia were next, then up to Tallinn, Estonia! (From there we were heading across the Finnish Gulf to Helsinki, Finland, but I'll cover that in a separate post.) PS: Anyone else hear the word "Estonia" and immediately think of the movie Encino Man? Man, it was hard for me not to...didn't see that one locked away in the memory vault, waiting to pop up…

There's so much to do in Copenhagen, whether you want to be busy & pack it in…or leisurely enjoy the city at a relaxed pace like we did! :) When I say we relaxed in Copenhagen, I mean it: we RE-LAAAAAXED in Copenhagen! 😄 Leaving Norway, we felt happy yet tired and just wanted to chill somewhere, well...chill. And Copenhagen, as it turns out, was a pretty near-perfect place to do that for us. We…

I've mentioned my Spanish & Italian ancestry but not the other Big Daddy: Norwegian! (I'd never have taken that test myself, but it's certainly been interesting!) Why I mention these connections has a simple 2-answer: It entertains me greatly. (a.k.a. "Norwegians love coffee? I love coffee! What are the chances?!?"😂 If you can hear Phoebe saying that, then you know the tone!😆) It does actually make me perk up a little more in these places…

"I could live here!" That's younger Jess talking circa 2006 while driving through Tyrol (western Austria) with Matt. But let's back up... My first trip through Austria was in 2001 with a friend from Oxford (we're still good friends to this day! she and her husband even visited us while we lived in New Zealand). I then took another friend back to Austria the following year after we visited her friends in Munich (if you're…