February in Denmark is marked by cream-filled fastelavnsboller fever. Especially this year. Without the escape of faraway winter breaks, it seemed to obtain a taste from every craft baker in Copenhagen was how we were collectively wandering. You too? We definitely tried a few. But I’m grateful the sweets are only in shops for a limited time. Too much a good thing, sometimes just too much.

So when the calendar turned over to March, the Danes make welcome to spring. Here, they follow the meteorological definition for the first day of Spring as March 1st. Personally, I’m more of a Spring Equinox person, but this was probably the first year we’ve lived here where the weather and season seemed fit to start at the beginning of the month. Suddenly, snowdrops, those pretty little harbingers of the season were pushing up in gardens and parks around town. The Danes call the delicate white and green blooms “vintergækker.” Gæk – an old Danish word that means to tease or make fun of. I love the idea that these little flowers are literally making fun of winter that was cold enough to freeze bodies of water last month.