I joke that my husband likes to take me to cold places at their absolute coldest. But- it's not exactly a joke. When we were first dating he planned a trip to take me to the beautiful beach town of Ogunquit, Maine… in December. There happened to be such a bad ice storm that weekend that our train was cancelled and we had to take an impromptu bus ride instead. I truly despise the cold so you know I must really love him. And yes, we had a wonderful time in spite of the cold.
When we first moved to London, one of our first trips… in December… yep, you guessed it. He planned a trip to Denmark. In. December. And it rained the coldest rain I think I could imagine. Definite Ogunquit vibes.
I will always remember that freezing rain in Copenhagen. But I will also remember ducking out of the rain and into a warm, local food hall to eat some delicious smørrebrød. I'll remember cozying up at the idyllic, traditional Christmas market with warm mugs of gløgg. But most of all, I'll remember seeing the porcelain collection and learning about the Flora Danica at Rosenborg Castle. The most ambitious undertaking in botany to date, King Frederik the 5th of Denmark commissioned a reference work documenting every wild plant in the kingdom and after 122 years, over 3,200 copper print motifs were created and printed in a series known as the Flora Danica. The Flora Danica was then also used as the theme for an exquisitely hand-painted porcelain collection, which is now considered one of the most important cultural treasures of Denmark.
The florals of the porcelain were absolutely breathtaking. I immediately wanted to take one home (they obviously weren't for sale, but even a replica was not in the budget). What I also couldn't shake for weeks though was the entire concept of it- to think that they didn't even know all of the plants that existed in the kingdom! Wow. Can you even imagine that?
…most of all, I'll remember learning about the Flora Danica at Rosenborg Castle.
I kept imagining a woman wandering in a field and coming across a flower that she'd never seen before. How breathtaking that would have been. And then I immediately realized- being that all colors came from nature historically- that maybe she'd never even seen that COLOR before in her life. My mind was absolutely blown.
But what does any of this have to do with nail polish? Stay tuned for part three…
Xx.
Christine
photo courtesy of graciousstyle.com