Monday, August 31, 2009
Denmark 2009 Day 10
Though my flight was departing at 12:30 I got up early because we had to drop off the rental car and all that, plus I still had some sundry packing to do. It wasn't much. I got most of it done the night before but there's also the scan to see if anything is missing.
The drop off of the car went smoothly and checkin was quick as well. I bought some candy at the duty free and did a circuit of the airport shops and then just waited for the plane. The odd thing was you had to check into the waiting area and the didn't open it until they were ready to board so you had to stand the whole time which kind of sucked.
The flight to Schipol was easy, however I was landing as boarding time for the next flight was already started and I had to go through passport control so I had to rush. Of course the gate was across the airport a huge distance. I had to run it. It was thoroughly full flight though and things were a bit delayed so I ended up having to wait to board anyway. They screened security there. The flight took an extra half an hour longer than projected due to a strong headwind. This flight was to Detroit. I watched in order: Gran Torino, Watchmen (thankfully the blurred the blue thing), Monsters Vs. Aliens and most of a Japanese movie called Honkoaa Boy which I wished I watched all the way through instead of Watchmen ('cause I had seen that in the theater). The meal was passable.
In landing in Detroit we were late so I had to again rush, I needed to get through passport control, get my checked luggage, customs, recheck luggage and rescreen security. When I made it to the plane it was calling last boarding. They were getting ready to assign my seat to a standby but I managed to board and get back on time. Getting out in Boston was fairly easy and my checked bag was whole and early on the carousel.
The drop off of the car went smoothly and checkin was quick as well. I bought some candy at the duty free and did a circuit of the airport shops and then just waited for the plane. The odd thing was you had to check into the waiting area and the didn't open it until they were ready to board so you had to stand the whole time which kind of sucked.
The flight to Schipol was easy, however I was landing as boarding time for the next flight was already started and I had to go through passport control so I had to rush. Of course the gate was across the airport a huge distance. I had to run it. It was thoroughly full flight though and things were a bit delayed so I ended up having to wait to board anyway. They screened security there. The flight took an extra half an hour longer than projected due to a strong headwind. This flight was to Detroit. I watched in order: Gran Torino, Watchmen (thankfully the blurred the blue thing), Monsters Vs. Aliens and most of a Japanese movie called Honkoaa Boy which I wished I watched all the way through instead of Watchmen ('cause I had seen that in the theater). The meal was passable.
In landing in Detroit we were late so I had to again rush, I needed to get through passport control, get my checked luggage, customs, recheck luggage and rescreen security. When I made it to the plane it was calling last boarding. They were getting ready to assign my seat to a standby but I managed to board and get back on time. Getting out in Boston was fairly easy and my checked bag was whole and early on the carousel.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Denmark 2009 Day 9
Today we started out by visiting the Deer Park and Bakken. The Dyrehavn is a large park that actually does have deer in it and is used for royal hunting still. Attached to it is the oldest amusement park in Europe (supposedly, why would they lie?). We did actually see some deer in there but the pictures didn't come out spectacular with the zoom distance and the shadiness of the woods and my shaky hands but you can definitely tell we saw some. The amusement park was just beginning to open up but we had to leave to head to Lyngby to meet up with Ditte for lunch and also poke around Lyngby for a bit beforehand. We were sort of worried about getting parking because there isn't a lot in the town but we managed to get a space in a parking garage pretty quickly so things worked out there. There appeared to be some sort of open air market, flea market, festival thing going on so we walked about the area for a bit and went into the mall there where I bought a couple of suspect Danish music CDs before heading out to meet up with Ditte.
We ate the sushi and sticks and, surprisingly, had sushi. This was a bit fresher than the first night we had sushi and we just chose menu assortments. I enjoyed what I got very much and we followed up with some sorbets that turned out to be strawberry and mellon types. We talked for quite a while. Ditte has already been to Machu Picchu which is my next trip in October so she shared a lot of details and suggestions. She said with the stairs and climbing it was very strenuous and she thought it was harder than climbing Kilimanjaro, which she had been done before. She also said that the trip was very fun and the guides from the tour group she took were great and knew a lot of history and spoke English very well. I am using the same tour group at her suggestion so hopefully things will be like they were for her.
After lunch we drove her home then headed back to the apartment. We got cleaned up a moment then headed back into Copenhagen for a short souvenir shopping run then dinner which we had at the Reef N Beef, which we ate at my first night in Denmark my last trip. The food was good but our waitress was new and not so skilled at busy nights so the service was not as good as the first time. I had an emu carpaccio followed by a sirloin that made me choose it for the New Zealand pepper sauce which really ended up having no spice and was more like A1 sauce than anything. I was disappointed in that but the food was good anyway. Finished with an apple tart the whole meal was very tasty.
We walked around town for a while after dinner then headed back to the apartment where I had to get going on packing things for my trip home on Sunday.
We ate the sushi and sticks and, surprisingly, had sushi. This was a bit fresher than the first night we had sushi and we just chose menu assortments. I enjoyed what I got very much and we followed up with some sorbets that turned out to be strawberry and mellon types. We talked for quite a while. Ditte has already been to Machu Picchu which is my next trip in October so she shared a lot of details and suggestions. She said with the stairs and climbing it was very strenuous and she thought it was harder than climbing Kilimanjaro, which she had been done before. She also said that the trip was very fun and the guides from the tour group she took were great and knew a lot of history and spoke English very well. I am using the same tour group at her suggestion so hopefully things will be like they were for her.
After lunch we drove her home then headed back to the apartment. We got cleaned up a moment then headed back into Copenhagen for a short souvenir shopping run then dinner which we had at the Reef N Beef, which we ate at my first night in Denmark my last trip. The food was good but our waitress was new and not so skilled at busy nights so the service was not as good as the first time. I had an emu carpaccio followed by a sirloin that made me choose it for the New Zealand pepper sauce which really ended up having no spice and was more like A1 sauce than anything. I was disappointed in that but the food was good anyway. Finished with an apple tart the whole meal was very tasty.
We walked around town for a while after dinner then headed back to the apartment where I had to get going on packing things for my trip home on Sunday.
Denmark 2009 Day 8
Today was sort of a take it easy day for us. We started out with a visit to Ikea to purchase some extra shelves for George’s desk so the books he had would settle more stably. From there we visited a couple other shops in the same strip mall but didn’t buy anything. I was sort of hoping to find a CD of some Danish death metal but the electronics store didn’t have music, only movies.
After the stores we drove to Roskilde where we had lunch at a brew house restaurant. I had a burger that was gigantic and I couldn’t finish it. George had the fish soup. The burger was very good. I ordered a Jacobson Dark but the waitress initially brought me a Guinness. No real complaint from me but she replaced it with the correct beer rather quickly.
From there we drove up the coast a bit and then stopped in Hundsted for a short bit to walk around and take a few pictures. It is apparently one of the very last actual fishing towns in Denmark. It was amazingly windy and the weather kept threatening to rain on us but it never really did.
After Hundsted we drove to Helsingor which is the town that has Kronborg Castle which I visited on the first visit to Denmark but we just basically used that as a starting point to drive back down the coast before heading back into the apartment. It meant that we spent a lot of the day driving up and down the coast. It was nice if a bit overcast with a few bits of rain here and there.
After a short breather at the apartment we headed into town to eat at Reinwald’s which is a restaurant that does a different menu every day. We ordered a bottle of shiraz and I got the beef carpaccio followed by the sirloin of beef with new potatoes and fried asparagus. It was perfectly rare and all of it was very tasty. For a dessert I had the fresh strawberries with orange and vanilla ice cream. The strawberries were in fact fresh and sweet.
After dinner we headed back in to the apartment for the night.
After the stores we drove to Roskilde where we had lunch at a brew house restaurant. I had a burger that was gigantic and I couldn’t finish it. George had the fish soup. The burger was very good. I ordered a Jacobson Dark but the waitress initially brought me a Guinness. No real complaint from me but she replaced it with the correct beer rather quickly.
From there we drove up the coast a bit and then stopped in Hundsted for a short bit to walk around and take a few pictures. It is apparently one of the very last actual fishing towns in Denmark. It was amazingly windy and the weather kept threatening to rain on us but it never really did.
After Hundsted we drove to Helsingor which is the town that has Kronborg Castle which I visited on the first visit to Denmark but we just basically used that as a starting point to drive back down the coast before heading back into the apartment. It meant that we spent a lot of the day driving up and down the coast. It was nice if a bit overcast with a few bits of rain here and there.
After a short breather at the apartment we headed into town to eat at Reinwald’s which is a restaurant that does a different menu every day. We ordered a bottle of shiraz and I got the beef carpaccio followed by the sirloin of beef with new potatoes and fried asparagus. It was perfectly rare and all of it was very tasty. For a dessert I had the fresh strawberries with orange and vanilla ice cream. The strawberries were in fact fresh and sweet.
After dinner we headed back in to the apartment for the night.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Denmark 2009 Day 7
Today we spent running around Copenhagen. We started out by visiting Rosenborg Castle which is a smallish castle right in Copenhagen. It is actually not small at all but the area you are allowed into inside the building is fairly limited so it doesn’t give a great idea of size. They allow you on three floors and have it set up as a museum of what rooms were like in some cases or just displaying things in other rooms. The basement is their crown jewels tour so to speak, the treasury. This is by no means the size of the Tower of London and their crown jewels but there is certainly a fair amount of wealth in the area and even the current queen’s regalia is on display.
After Rosenborg we had lunch at an Italian restaurant. We both had lasagna which was ok if a bit plain and they served bread with olive oil and balsamic and some olives as a sort of started. I accompanied that with 2 glasses of Tuborg Classis. All in all it was a good meal if a tad plain.
From there we walked to the Danish armory and ran through that. The lower level was a selection of guns and artillery from various ages and places and the upper level was firearms and medieval weapons. They had a significantly larger sized collection than I expected and even a few really cool pieces that were very neat to see. The firearms and swords were all behind glass so I didn’t really take pictures of any of that because they don’t come out very good.
After the armory we went to Our Savior’s Church. I’ve taken quite a few pictures of it on both trips. It is the building with the staircase on the outside of the tower. The church itself was closed but the tower was open to the public still. Since the weather again turned out perfect it turned out to be a great day to do it. It was very hot getting through the inside part of the climb but at a point we exited the church proper and entered the tower it got significantly cooler. When you get out onto the main outside tower the breeze and cool air is very welcome. I am, as I’ve mentioned, not terribly fond of heights and this was another test for me. I did manage to get to the top of the stairs though I couldn’t really fit onto the last couple and had to touch the top stair with my hand. Either way I got to the top and did take a picture of the last couple steps to prove it. Due to the amount of walking and the heat, George did not go all the way up. It would be better if we chose to visit the church before visiting anything else because it was by far the most strenuous part of the day.
From the church we headed back to the apartment to get ready to visit Jesper at his house where he was preparing a cookout for us.
After a short rest we headed to Jesper’s house which was only about 5km away so it was a quick drive. Jesper’s house was very nice. More spacious looking than I would have expected and he had a very large back yard considering he is in the Copenhagen suburbs proper. He apparently has 3 cats that stayed in the basement to which my allergies were appreciative. He also has a long hair dachshund and a long hair Chihuahua both of whom were friendly though the Chihuahua was a bit skittish at first. Of course by the end of the evening she was sleeping on my lap so that I couldn’t move. Jesper made grilled shrimp and bacon wrapped scallops as a starter then moved into grilled steaks with a salad and corn on the cob on the side. He also grilled some sausages to go along. We had a bit of wine and beer as well. He’s actually a very good cook and the food was tasty and pleasant. We stayed and chatted for most of the evening until my allergies were getting the better of my eyes then headed back to the apartment for the night. Since it was really late I didn’t write this till the morning.
After Rosenborg we had lunch at an Italian restaurant. We both had lasagna which was ok if a bit plain and they served bread with olive oil and balsamic and some olives as a sort of started. I accompanied that with 2 glasses of Tuborg Classis. All in all it was a good meal if a tad plain.
From there we walked to the Danish armory and ran through that. The lower level was a selection of guns and artillery from various ages and places and the upper level was firearms and medieval weapons. They had a significantly larger sized collection than I expected and even a few really cool pieces that were very neat to see. The firearms and swords were all behind glass so I didn’t really take pictures of any of that because they don’t come out very good.
After the armory we went to Our Savior’s Church. I’ve taken quite a few pictures of it on both trips. It is the building with the staircase on the outside of the tower. The church itself was closed but the tower was open to the public still. Since the weather again turned out perfect it turned out to be a great day to do it. It was very hot getting through the inside part of the climb but at a point we exited the church proper and entered the tower it got significantly cooler. When you get out onto the main outside tower the breeze and cool air is very welcome. I am, as I’ve mentioned, not terribly fond of heights and this was another test for me. I did manage to get to the top of the stairs though I couldn’t really fit onto the last couple and had to touch the top stair with my hand. Either way I got to the top and did take a picture of the last couple steps to prove it. Due to the amount of walking and the heat, George did not go all the way up. It would be better if we chose to visit the church before visiting anything else because it was by far the most strenuous part of the day.
From the church we headed back to the apartment to get ready to visit Jesper at his house where he was preparing a cookout for us.
After a short rest we headed to Jesper’s house which was only about 5km away so it was a quick drive. Jesper’s house was very nice. More spacious looking than I would have expected and he had a very large back yard considering he is in the Copenhagen suburbs proper. He apparently has 3 cats that stayed in the basement to which my allergies were appreciative. He also has a long hair dachshund and a long hair Chihuahua both of whom were friendly though the Chihuahua was a bit skittish at first. Of course by the end of the evening she was sleeping on my lap so that I couldn’t move. Jesper made grilled shrimp and bacon wrapped scallops as a starter then moved into grilled steaks with a salad and corn on the cob on the side. He also grilled some sausages to go along. We had a bit of wine and beer as well. He’s actually a very good cook and the food was tasty and pleasant. We stayed and chatted for most of the evening until my allergies were getting the better of my eyes then headed back to the apartment for the night. Since it was really late I didn’t write this till the morning.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Denmark 2009 Day 6
Today we went to the Land of Legends in Lerje just outside of Roskilde where I rode the Viking boat before. It is an open air museum of the Viking/stone age times sort of along the lines of Old Sturbridge Village at home. The park is actually very big and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of rules about where you can actually go, including where most of the animals are. When we got there the lady at the desk told us that they were just starting the feeding time for the wild boars. We decided to get over there and see that. Unfortunately the feed company hadn’t actually brought the pig feed but the woman that tends them was giving them a little bit of corn to tide them over. She was very nice and answered a lot of questions about them and the other animals in the park. They apparently have one male boar and 5 female boars plus all the young they make each year. The male boar is white because he was scared during transport. He isn’t supposed to be white but since he isn’t very aggressive and makes things easier on them they decided to keep him anyway. They kill all of the young each year. Some die on their own of course. The boars eat them whether they died naturally or after they were killed. They eat everything right through all of the bone. Bricktop wasn’t lying. I am sure the PETA people would love it I am sure. Among the other animals they had the usual ducks and geese and they had some sheep, a lot of sheep actually, and some castrated bulls. None of these were penned off so you could technically walk right up to anything. The bad part of this was dodging all the land-mines on the ground.
They had several reconstruction buildings for various tasks as well as homes from the periods. They had exhibits to show how most of the stuff was done such as building homes or ovens or dug out canoes. The really interesting thing was that they had exhibits where you could chop the wood using axes or whittle other things with knives. There were a lot of children in this park and they were all allowed to use the axes and the knives. I found that particularly interesting we saw several very young children chopping wood with sharpened axes. I actually got nailed by the chips of wood when one of them was doing it. I am fairly certain we wouldn’t see this in America because the park would be afraid of being sued. I actually really liked it a lot.
The really only had a snack bar here so we just got something small to carry us through the day. Since the place was big we walked around a fair amount and the weather stayed pleasant and sunny throughout. The drive was less than an hour each way though of course we did see an accident on our way out in an intersection with a traffic light. We managed to squeeze past it before the official vehicles arrived, barely. Then we got stuck behind a bicycle race for probably about 7 kilometers which was really unpleasant. Fortunately, on the way out we didn’t encounter any such problems.
We returned to the room and relaxed for a bit before heading into Copenhagen for dinner. We had been expecting to meet his fried Ditte for drinks but she canceled on us because she wasn’t feeling well. We ate at Bombay. I had the chicken curry (chef’s special) and George had the Butter Lamb. We ordered extra spicy and they did actually put a reasonable amount of spice in. Both were decent and very filling when accompanied by some nan and some rice.
After dinner we walked out to the theater on the waterfront and had a couple drinks as it got dark. From there we walked around town a while then returned to the train station and headed back in to the apartment.
Sorry for the delay on this post. Connectivity issues. The pictures should be up later.
They had several reconstruction buildings for various tasks as well as homes from the periods. They had exhibits to show how most of the stuff was done such as building homes or ovens or dug out canoes. The really interesting thing was that they had exhibits where you could chop the wood using axes or whittle other things with knives. There were a lot of children in this park and they were all allowed to use the axes and the knives. I found that particularly interesting we saw several very young children chopping wood with sharpened axes. I actually got nailed by the chips of wood when one of them was doing it. I am fairly certain we wouldn’t see this in America because the park would be afraid of being sued. I actually really liked it a lot.
The really only had a snack bar here so we just got something small to carry us through the day. Since the place was big we walked around a fair amount and the weather stayed pleasant and sunny throughout. The drive was less than an hour each way though of course we did see an accident on our way out in an intersection with a traffic light. We managed to squeeze past it before the official vehicles arrived, barely. Then we got stuck behind a bicycle race for probably about 7 kilometers which was really unpleasant. Fortunately, on the way out we didn’t encounter any such problems.
We returned to the room and relaxed for a bit before heading into Copenhagen for dinner. We had been expecting to meet his fried Ditte for drinks but she canceled on us because she wasn’t feeling well. We ate at Bombay. I had the chicken curry (chef’s special) and George had the Butter Lamb. We ordered extra spicy and they did actually put a reasonable amount of spice in. Both were decent and very filling when accompanied by some nan and some rice.
After dinner we walked out to the theater on the waterfront and had a couple drinks as it got dark. From there we walked around town a while then returned to the train station and headed back in to the apartment.
Sorry for the delay on this post. Connectivity issues. The pictures should be up later.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Denmark 2009 Day 5
Today was dedicated to getting to and seeing Egeskov Slot. The best I can do in phoenetics is ehyezkoe as a sound. It has no G sound and no V sound at all in the pronunciation. Where Copenhagen is on an island, Egeskov is on another island closer to the mainland, named Fyn (Foon). The drive itself wasn't difficult but was in the range of 2 hours and we had to cross the very long and very tall bridge between the two islands. Crossing the bridge costs a toll but there weren't a lot of cars going through at the time we were there. They do have their on version of the fast lane but the rental car didn't have the transponder so we had to do it the old fashioned way.
By the time we got there it was basically lunch so we bought our tickets for the castle and grounds and then went to the cafeteria restaurant and had lunch. I had a local Odense Classic along with a chicken sandwich that had bacon, lettuce, tomato, yellow peppers, cucumber and a bit of mayonaise on it. It was obviously a cold sandwhich but it was pretty good.
Egeskov is a fairly old castle but like most Danish castles it is built from brick because they didn't have stone. The castle is not very large and is privately owned. The owners use it as a residence so a lot of the actual building is closed off. The grounds are fairly big involving sculptured gardens as well as flower gardens. They have a motor museum which has cars, planes, helicopters and a very large collection of motorcycles. They have a maze formed from plants which we think were bamboo but are not certain. We did not go through the maze. There was also a treetop bridge walk that I tested my fear of heights against. I did not fair perfectly through this as almost the moment we got to the top of the platform a kid ran up the stairs and while we were taking a couple pictures of the grounds ran out on the to the bridge and started jumping up and down as hard as she could. The entire platform was shaking. Her mom yelled at her and they moved ahead of us. I then managed to get through the experience successfully. I was not fully happy about it, but I did challenge myself and succeed. Once up there was no turning back. While up there I didn't really take any pictures, though in hindsight I should have for the sake of it though nothing looked terribly great.
This is the point when we visited the actual castle. We got to go through 4 floors including the attic. Rooms were set up museum style rather than residence and there was a significant collection of hunting trophies as well a lot of toys and a very neat large dollhouse. The exhibits were interesting and there were a lot of red buttons for me to press activate passages of text or poetry being read in Danish. I didn't understand them, but I was compelled to press the buttons anyway.
When we were entering the castle I noticed the gift shop in the outbuilding and wondered if we should go in before the castle. I figured that having to carry extra stuff through the castle might be a pain so didn't mention to George the idea and decided to just go in. This is where I need to point out that today is a reasonably ok weather August Tuesday with no holiday to mention or anything else, yet a lot of the gift shops were closed and even the cafeteria seemed limited. The grounds hours are 10am to 5pm and yet when we exited the castle proper at a little past 3pm the gift shop which was opened not that long ago was no longer open. I am not sure why anything like the ice cream shops and such were closed at all, the place was fairly busy after all. I was even more confounded by the idea the gift shop closed so early. Accorging to George, that's Denmark. Anyway it was annoying but we had to trek back to the motor museum to a smaller gift shop there to get the magnet I wanted and a book on the castle. After doing this we headed out and drove back to George's apartment where we called his friend Jesper and waited for him to come over.
We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant up the street from his apartmet. I had ordered the meat lasagna but since they were out of lasagna ended up with spaghetti with meatballs instead. It wasn't bad at least. We stayed there through 2 drinks and then vacated due to the smoke from the outside seats coming into the building. From there we headed back and chatted a bit more before calling it a night.
By the time we got there it was basically lunch so we bought our tickets for the castle and grounds and then went to the cafeteria restaurant and had lunch. I had a local Odense Classic along with a chicken sandwich that had bacon, lettuce, tomato, yellow peppers, cucumber and a bit of mayonaise on it. It was obviously a cold sandwhich but it was pretty good.
Egeskov is a fairly old castle but like most Danish castles it is built from brick because they didn't have stone. The castle is not very large and is privately owned. The owners use it as a residence so a lot of the actual building is closed off. The grounds are fairly big involving sculptured gardens as well as flower gardens. They have a motor museum which has cars, planes, helicopters and a very large collection of motorcycles. They have a maze formed from plants which we think were bamboo but are not certain. We did not go through the maze. There was also a treetop bridge walk that I tested my fear of heights against. I did not fair perfectly through this as almost the moment we got to the top of the platform a kid ran up the stairs and while we were taking a couple pictures of the grounds ran out on the to the bridge and started jumping up and down as hard as she could. The entire platform was shaking. Her mom yelled at her and they moved ahead of us. I then managed to get through the experience successfully. I was not fully happy about it, but I did challenge myself and succeed. Once up there was no turning back. While up there I didn't really take any pictures, though in hindsight I should have for the sake of it though nothing looked terribly great.
This is the point when we visited the actual castle. We got to go through 4 floors including the attic. Rooms were set up museum style rather than residence and there was a significant collection of hunting trophies as well a lot of toys and a very neat large dollhouse. The exhibits were interesting and there were a lot of red buttons for me to press activate passages of text or poetry being read in Danish. I didn't understand them, but I was compelled to press the buttons anyway.
When we were entering the castle I noticed the gift shop in the outbuilding and wondered if we should go in before the castle. I figured that having to carry extra stuff through the castle might be a pain so didn't mention to George the idea and decided to just go in. This is where I need to point out that today is a reasonably ok weather August Tuesday with no holiday to mention or anything else, yet a lot of the gift shops were closed and even the cafeteria seemed limited. The grounds hours are 10am to 5pm and yet when we exited the castle proper at a little past 3pm the gift shop which was opened not that long ago was no longer open. I am not sure why anything like the ice cream shops and such were closed at all, the place was fairly busy after all. I was even more confounded by the idea the gift shop closed so early. Accorging to George, that's Denmark. Anyway it was annoying but we had to trek back to the motor museum to a smaller gift shop there to get the magnet I wanted and a book on the castle. After doing this we headed out and drove back to George's apartment where we called his friend Jesper and waited for him to come over.
We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant up the street from his apartmet. I had ordered the meat lasagna but since they were out of lasagna ended up with spaghetti with meatballs instead. It wasn't bad at least. We stayed there through 2 drinks and then vacated due to the smoke from the outside seats coming into the building. From there we headed back and chatted a bit more before calling it a night.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Denmark 2009 Day 4
George had to study in the morning so we didn’t really get going until a bit later than normal. This is actually the normal Scandinavian time to start up but who’s counting really. First we had to drop a package off at the post office. From there we set out up the street to Charlottenlund and saw the beach area and the old ruined fort and walked around for a while. After a bit there we drove further up the coast. George’s apartment isn’t very far from the coast at all. It probably takes no more than ten minutes to get there by car. We drove along the northeast coast of the island for a while where he wanted to go to a small café on the beach for lunch.
The lunch was decent. I had what was listed as the Beach Club which turned out to be more of a garden salad with toast and sliced grilled chicken and a piece of bacon on it. It was actually quite good. The café was fairly small and there isn’t a lot of parking for it so we had to park a bit up the street and walk. It was neat that it had a traditional thatch roof though. We sat outside anyway. There were a lot of the small birds that always seem to hang around eateries. George gave a bit of bread to a couple of them and all of a sudden there were approximately 300 of them. When one couple left the birds started cleaning off their plates. It was interesting.
After lunch we got back in the car and headed further up the coast for a few more minutes before heading back to the apartment so George could cram before his Danish language class then headed into Copenhagen so he could go to class and I could run around the city a bit.
After we dropped George off at his class I walked up to Nyhavn and took the canal tour. I took it last time I was here too but it was fun to be out on the water and the weather was really perfect for it anyway even at 4pm. This took about 1 and a half hours of the 2 and three quarters hours I had to kill while he was in class. The only negative I can mention was the chain-smoking Brits who sat behind me. Anyway, you get to see all the stuff along the canal including the now 3 headed Little Mermaid (since she lost her first 2). The actual tour is about an hour long but I grabbed a hot dog from a stand to finally try one and ate that before the tour and the next one left at 4:20pm. I checked the watch as I got off the boat and it was just a bit past 5:30.
I walked back to the Round Tower and did that again. It was a fun visit the first time and wouldn’t take a terribly long time while still using up enough to be worthwhile. I took a bunch of pictures along the canal tour and from the tower. By the time I was exiting the tower it was about 6:10 or so and I needed to kill another half an hour or thereabouts. I decided to walk back to Nyhavn and get a beer which killed off the time perfectly. I drank a Carls Special and people watched the remaining time in front of the French embassy. When I finished the beer I headed back to his school and got there just about the time he got out.
We walked up the street a bit and had dinner at a Herefords which is a local steakhouse sort of chain (though apparently they don’t all share the same menus). I had a local beer from Bornholm, which is actually a Danish owned island barely off the coast of Sweden that was fairly good Mork Guld it was called. I don’t have the energy to get the O with the line through it for the name, sorry. I also had the beef fillet which actually turned out to be a strip steak. It came with a béarnaise sauce and vegetables and French fries. They truly served it to me rare and it was very good. We finished up the meal with coffee and started heading back to the train station. On the main walking streets I bought a dulce delice cone of ice cream which was very good and caramelly. From there we got to the train station and got back to the apartment for the night.
The lunch was decent. I had what was listed as the Beach Club which turned out to be more of a garden salad with toast and sliced grilled chicken and a piece of bacon on it. It was actually quite good. The café was fairly small and there isn’t a lot of parking for it so we had to park a bit up the street and walk. It was neat that it had a traditional thatch roof though. We sat outside anyway. There were a lot of the small birds that always seem to hang around eateries. George gave a bit of bread to a couple of them and all of a sudden there were approximately 300 of them. When one couple left the birds started cleaning off their plates. It was interesting.
After lunch we got back in the car and headed further up the coast for a few more minutes before heading back to the apartment so George could cram before his Danish language class then headed into Copenhagen so he could go to class and I could run around the city a bit.
After we dropped George off at his class I walked up to Nyhavn and took the canal tour. I took it last time I was here too but it was fun to be out on the water and the weather was really perfect for it anyway even at 4pm. This took about 1 and a half hours of the 2 and three quarters hours I had to kill while he was in class. The only negative I can mention was the chain-smoking Brits who sat behind me. Anyway, you get to see all the stuff along the canal including the now 3 headed Little Mermaid (since she lost her first 2). The actual tour is about an hour long but I grabbed a hot dog from a stand to finally try one and ate that before the tour and the next one left at 4:20pm. I checked the watch as I got off the boat and it was just a bit past 5:30.
I walked back to the Round Tower and did that again. It was a fun visit the first time and wouldn’t take a terribly long time while still using up enough to be worthwhile. I took a bunch of pictures along the canal tour and from the tower. By the time I was exiting the tower it was about 6:10 or so and I needed to kill another half an hour or thereabouts. I decided to walk back to Nyhavn and get a beer which killed off the time perfectly. I drank a Carls Special and people watched the remaining time in front of the French embassy. When I finished the beer I headed back to his school and got there just about the time he got out.
We walked up the street a bit and had dinner at a Herefords which is a local steakhouse sort of chain (though apparently they don’t all share the same menus). I had a local beer from Bornholm, which is actually a Danish owned island barely off the coast of Sweden that was fairly good Mork Guld it was called. I don’t have the energy to get the O with the line through it for the name, sorry. I also had the beef fillet which actually turned out to be a strip steak. It came with a béarnaise sauce and vegetables and French fries. They truly served it to me rare and it was very good. We finished up the meal with coffee and started heading back to the train station. On the main walking streets I bought a dulce delice cone of ice cream which was very good and caramelly. From there we got to the train station and got back to the apartment for the night.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Denmark 2009 Day 3
Today started out with about 2 hours worth of driving to the south. We went on another island but for the life of me I am not sure what the name was. The island that Copenhagen resides on is called Zealand. The island we went to is very small and to the south. There are some chalk cliffs along the east coast of the island called the White Cliffs of Moen. I think I am supposed to use an 0 with a line through it but don't have the symbol queued up. The cliffs are similar in idea and content to the Cliffs of Dover from what I can tell.
Again the weather turned out perfect as we had sun and something that felt akin to nothing more than the mid 70s all day. There were a couple points that we felt some humidity but as we walked the trails over the upper portion of the cliffs it was well shaded in the woods most of the time. We went a fair distance down the trail where we discovered stairs down to the beach level. There were definitely stairs from the beach level back at the point of the visitor center so decided to descend and walk the beach. The beach was a pleasant beach that mainly consisted of small rocks. What was disconcerting to me was that there was absolutely no sign of any sea life on the beach in the form of broken shells or any crabs or anything. Actually after a small bit we noticed that there weren't even any seagulls. I particularly found this disturbing but we assume there were no gulls because of the lack of shellfish. We finished the beach and climbed back up to the visitor center. Both sets of stairs were winding and had a lot of steps in them. The ones we descended were far steeper than the ones we climbed. The high point of the area is supposedly 130 meters so we have to assume that we climbed up and down somewhere in the 100 meter range.
At the visitor center we decided to just hit the cafeteria where we bought water and I had a small Carlsberg Special beer. We didn't stay long then we got back on the roads and drove to the main town just before we exited the small island where we found parking and then searched for a place for lunch. We found the Bryghus Mon which was a small local brewery that served lunch and dinner menus. We both ordered their burger which had carmelized onions, greens, tomatoes, bacon a special sauce and was served on a brown bread roll along with roasted new potatoes. The burgers were very good if cooked more than I like (which of course means actually cooked). I had the 6 beer sampler to try all of their various varieties. This amounted to about one full pint of beer I think. The pilsner and wheat beer were ok but what I finished off first. They had an American brown ale, an amber beer, a black beer and a regional beer that were all very good. There was definitely something like spice in the wheat beer. The black beer was not a stout but was interesting.
After finishing lunch we headed back to the car and drove off the island where we visited a small port area just on the Zealand side of the bridge. It has a nice docks area but there were very distressing signs of spider infestation. There was a Toyota Land Cruiser that at first we thought was muddy but was actually entirely webbed over. It proably hadn't moved in a long time. Walking around the rest of the area only revealed more of the same. Though we saw a gigantic spider in the town where we had lunch there were several dozen more visible spiders here. Either way there was a small shack we got ice cream from here. I had one based on a local candy bar called the Lion Bar. No idea what flavor it was but I liked it.
From there we drove back to the apartment where we relaxed for an hour and a half or so before heading into Copenhagen for dinner. Since the drive was long the late lunch and all that had us getting into town at about 8pm or later. We walked around a small bit then when we found the first choice restaurant is closed on Sundays went to Ristorante Almalfi and had Italian instead. This was a very nice if not busy restaurant. I suspect the issue is the Danes really don't go out to eat a lot and less so on Sunday. We turned out to be the only customers. We split a bottle of Valpolocello and an antipasto before he had a lobster and pasta dish and I had a cheese ravioli dish. For dessert I had ice cream with espresso poured over the top and George had a creme brulee that really looked like a failed attempt. There was no crunch in the sugar and he said he could tell the loose granules still there. He didn't finish it. My ice cream was very good. We also both had a grappa and even a second when the waiter offered us one more on the house. It was actually a very good grappa that had been aged in a wooden cask. It was surprisingly good.
From there we just walked up to Nyhaven a looked about a moment or two before getting a taxi back to the apartment and calling it a night.
Again the weather turned out perfect as we had sun and something that felt akin to nothing more than the mid 70s all day. There were a couple points that we felt some humidity but as we walked the trails over the upper portion of the cliffs it was well shaded in the woods most of the time. We went a fair distance down the trail where we discovered stairs down to the beach level. There were definitely stairs from the beach level back at the point of the visitor center so decided to descend and walk the beach. The beach was a pleasant beach that mainly consisted of small rocks. What was disconcerting to me was that there was absolutely no sign of any sea life on the beach in the form of broken shells or any crabs or anything. Actually after a small bit we noticed that there weren't even any seagulls. I particularly found this disturbing but we assume there were no gulls because of the lack of shellfish. We finished the beach and climbed back up to the visitor center. Both sets of stairs were winding and had a lot of steps in them. The ones we descended were far steeper than the ones we climbed. The high point of the area is supposedly 130 meters so we have to assume that we climbed up and down somewhere in the 100 meter range.
At the visitor center we decided to just hit the cafeteria where we bought water and I had a small Carlsberg Special beer. We didn't stay long then we got back on the roads and drove to the main town just before we exited the small island where we found parking and then searched for a place for lunch. We found the Bryghus Mon which was a small local brewery that served lunch and dinner menus. We both ordered their burger which had carmelized onions, greens, tomatoes, bacon a special sauce and was served on a brown bread roll along with roasted new potatoes. The burgers were very good if cooked more than I like (which of course means actually cooked). I had the 6 beer sampler to try all of their various varieties. This amounted to about one full pint of beer I think. The pilsner and wheat beer were ok but what I finished off first. They had an American brown ale, an amber beer, a black beer and a regional beer that were all very good. There was definitely something like spice in the wheat beer. The black beer was not a stout but was interesting.
After finishing lunch we headed back to the car and drove off the island where we visited a small port area just on the Zealand side of the bridge. It has a nice docks area but there were very distressing signs of spider infestation. There was a Toyota Land Cruiser that at first we thought was muddy but was actually entirely webbed over. It proably hadn't moved in a long time. Walking around the rest of the area only revealed more of the same. Though we saw a gigantic spider in the town where we had lunch there were several dozen more visible spiders here. Either way there was a small shack we got ice cream from here. I had one based on a local candy bar called the Lion Bar. No idea what flavor it was but I liked it.
From there we drove back to the apartment where we relaxed for an hour and a half or so before heading into Copenhagen for dinner. Since the drive was long the late lunch and all that had us getting into town at about 8pm or later. We walked around a small bit then when we found the first choice restaurant is closed on Sundays went to Ristorante Almalfi and had Italian instead. This was a very nice if not busy restaurant. I suspect the issue is the Danes really don't go out to eat a lot and less so on Sunday. We turned out to be the only customers. We split a bottle of Valpolocello and an antipasto before he had a lobster and pasta dish and I had a cheese ravioli dish. For dessert I had ice cream with espresso poured over the top and George had a creme brulee that really looked like a failed attempt. There was no crunch in the sugar and he said he could tell the loose granules still there. He didn't finish it. My ice cream was very good. We also both had a grappa and even a second when the waiter offered us one more on the house. It was actually a very good grappa that had been aged in a wooden cask. It was surprisingly good.
From there we just walked up to Nyhaven a looked about a moment or two before getting a taxi back to the apartment and calling it a night.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Denmark 2009 Day 2
Though the weather was supposed to be rainy by Friday’s forecast, things changed quickly and in the morning it was obvious that there was even going to be more sun than clouds. Our initial idea was to play for the rain and look to do something indoors based such as the Army Museum but with the good fortune we decided instead for Frederiksborg Slot.
The drive was about half an hour or so and with the help of GPS was pretty simple to navigate. There were a few odd clouds at the outset of our getting there but they seemed to melt away as the day went on leaving only the high fluffy stuff. We started by walking the gardens and paths through some of the exterior buildings. This took the better part of the morning. I think we got there around 10am or so. The garden area took maybe two hours or so which meant we decided to get lunch before going inside the castle. There was a small lunch place, outdoors only when we got there, that is right on the entrance to the castle that we ate at called Spisestedet Leonora. We tried a more traditional Danish lunch which means they serve you a basket of bread and a collection of toppings to make open faced sandwiches out of. I believe this is called Snorrebrot. The collection of toppings included curried herring, roast beef, fried fish, Danish meatballs and smoked salmon amongst the additions like minced onion, pickled beets, capers and a couple relishes. The majority of it was cold though the fried fish was still warm. I had a microbrewery beer that was fairly good. The bottle was wine bottle sized and it tasted good throughout the whole meal. We finished up with a some reasonably good coffee.
After lunch we headed into the castle. It apparently was Danish wedding day and we saw signs of at least 3 weddings happening in the castle church during the course of our visit. It meant that the church was not open to the public during the early portion of our visit but we went through the whole building and then hit the gift shop. By the time we were done with the actual castle they had opened the church and we were able to get in and visit that part as well. I can say that it does take a little getting used to the idea of the Danish brick castle. This happens because they really didn’t have enough stone to build castles around here. It makes them look very different from the typical medieval castle idea that you would see in England or France but they are from at least the 1700s if not a bit earlier. That all said, it really is a very nice castle and has a lot more to offer than Kronborg because it is still basically intact and the Swedes don’t own everything that belonged within it. The views are very spectacular in many locations outside the building and some of the outbuildings were very interesting, especially the small wooden structure on an island that looks old and is very uneven. It is definitely a location that I would very much so advise to visit if you are ever in the region.
The weather held up beautifully all day. The sun stayed out but for some high puffy clouds. It definitely turned out a lot better than the forecast suggested. I was very happy for that. After the castle George wasn’t really feeling well so we headed back in to his apartment for at least a breather.
Since George still wasn’t feeling well we decided not to go back into town but rather to walk up the street to a Turkish pizza place where we picked up a pizza and we brought it back to his apartment and I ate it. Then we watched a Danish computer animated film called Mission to Saturn which was very funny. From there it was time to call it a night.
The drive was about half an hour or so and with the help of GPS was pretty simple to navigate. There were a few odd clouds at the outset of our getting there but they seemed to melt away as the day went on leaving only the high fluffy stuff. We started by walking the gardens and paths through some of the exterior buildings. This took the better part of the morning. I think we got there around 10am or so. The garden area took maybe two hours or so which meant we decided to get lunch before going inside the castle. There was a small lunch place, outdoors only when we got there, that is right on the entrance to the castle that we ate at called Spisestedet Leonora. We tried a more traditional Danish lunch which means they serve you a basket of bread and a collection of toppings to make open faced sandwiches out of. I believe this is called Snorrebrot. The collection of toppings included curried herring, roast beef, fried fish, Danish meatballs and smoked salmon amongst the additions like minced onion, pickled beets, capers and a couple relishes. The majority of it was cold though the fried fish was still warm. I had a microbrewery beer that was fairly good. The bottle was wine bottle sized and it tasted good throughout the whole meal. We finished up with a some reasonably good coffee.
After lunch we headed into the castle. It apparently was Danish wedding day and we saw signs of at least 3 weddings happening in the castle church during the course of our visit. It meant that the church was not open to the public during the early portion of our visit but we went through the whole building and then hit the gift shop. By the time we were done with the actual castle they had opened the church and we were able to get in and visit that part as well. I can say that it does take a little getting used to the idea of the Danish brick castle. This happens because they really didn’t have enough stone to build castles around here. It makes them look very different from the typical medieval castle idea that you would see in England or France but they are from at least the 1700s if not a bit earlier. That all said, it really is a very nice castle and has a lot more to offer than Kronborg because it is still basically intact and the Swedes don’t own everything that belonged within it. The views are very spectacular in many locations outside the building and some of the outbuildings were very interesting, especially the small wooden structure on an island that looks old and is very uneven. It is definitely a location that I would very much so advise to visit if you are ever in the region.
The weather held up beautifully all day. The sun stayed out but for some high puffy clouds. It definitely turned out a lot better than the forecast suggested. I was very happy for that. After the castle George wasn’t really feeling well so we headed back in to his apartment for at least a breather.
Since George still wasn’t feeling well we decided not to go back into town but rather to walk up the street to a Turkish pizza place where we picked up a pizza and we brought it back to his apartment and I ate it. Then we watched a Danish computer animated film called Mission to Saturn which was very funny. From there it was time to call it a night.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Denmark 2009 - Day 1
Ok, so, today was a day of work followed by a nice long trafficky drive to Logan. From there I found out that while my reservations say KLM Royal Dutch, I was flying NWA but really I was actually going to be on a Delta plane, go figure.
I got to the airport and managed my specific security screening quite well, just not the idiots in front of me. That said I really did get through all the check in and stuff fairly quick. I was at terminal A and the bar near my gate was a Boston sports themed bar. I ended up talking with some guy named Mike from Wisconsin about politics and World War I for a bit before getting on the plane. I bought myself 2 beers and he bought me one. Not bad.
The flight itself was uneventful if loaded with children. Took about 7 hours. No real turbulence, food was ok and even the bottle of wine was suprisingly free.
In Amsterdam, I found Schipol wasn't a terrible airport and I managed to find a T-shirt and a magnet. The short hop flight to Copenhagen was also very uneventful. I did score the emergency row window seat so I had quite a bit of room.
When I got in and got my bags I had to wait a couple minutes for George then we picked up the Kia rental car and headed back to his place where we hung out for a bit and I got cleaned up and such.
We headed in to Copenhagen and walked around for a while and I took a few pictures then settled on sushi for dinner. We shared a bottle of sake and they even had a creme brulee sampler. From there we walked around a bit more before heading back in for the night. I have been up for probably 40 hours or so.
I will start uploading the pics as soon as I can.
I got to the airport and managed my specific security screening quite well, just not the idiots in front of me. That said I really did get through all the check in and stuff fairly quick. I was at terminal A and the bar near my gate was a Boston sports themed bar. I ended up talking with some guy named Mike from Wisconsin about politics and World War I for a bit before getting on the plane. I bought myself 2 beers and he bought me one. Not bad.
The flight itself was uneventful if loaded with children. Took about 7 hours. No real turbulence, food was ok and even the bottle of wine was suprisingly free.
In Amsterdam, I found Schipol wasn't a terrible airport and I managed to find a T-shirt and a magnet. The short hop flight to Copenhagen was also very uneventful. I did score the emergency row window seat so I had quite a bit of room.
When I got in and got my bags I had to wait a couple minutes for George then we picked up the Kia rental car and headed back to his place where we hung out for a bit and I got cleaned up and such.
We headed in to Copenhagen and walked around for a while and I took a few pictures then settled on sushi for dinner. We shared a bottle of sake and they even had a creme brulee sampler. From there we walked around a bit more before heading back in for the night. I have been up for probably 40 hours or so.
I will start uploading the pics as soon as I can.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Flying to Denmark Today
Today is the day I will be flying out on my way. As I mentioned I am using KLM which is affiliated with Northwest. This means terminal A which then means no Hoolihans from terminal E so I won't see my bartender before the flight. Oh well, I guess I'll live. I assume I'll be able to find someplace in terminal A for a quick snack and a couple beers.
The flight departs at 7:05pm and I will be heading straight to the airport from work.
George has a full internet connection so I should be able to post my blog and pics every day.
I am borrowing my brother's camera which is a newer version of my own for this trip. If I like it I will likely buy one for myself by the April Japan trip. I will bring my own camera to Machu Picchu due to having already gotten my money's worth out of it should it be stolen. This borrowed camera is 10mp versus my own 5mp camera but I am going to try to set it for similar size pics.
Anyway, I won't be posting again before I leave work. I should be posting on Friday evening in Denmark which should still be early afternoon in the Boston area. Enjoy!
The flight departs at 7:05pm and I will be heading straight to the airport from work.
George has a full internet connection so I should be able to post my blog and pics every day.
I am borrowing my brother's camera which is a newer version of my own for this trip. If I like it I will likely buy one for myself by the April Japan trip. I will bring my own camera to Machu Picchu due to having already gotten my money's worth out of it should it be stolen. This borrowed camera is 10mp versus my own 5mp camera but I am going to try to set it for similar size pics.
Anyway, I won't be posting again before I leave work. I should be posting on Friday evening in Denmark which should still be early afternoon in the Boston area. Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Denmark Weather
Ok, so it looks like I'll be moving into some sort of rain for the first couple days but may clear up after that. I will be getting there for early afternoon on Friday so the day isn't completely done. We should be able to get into the city proper and get dinner at the least.
Here is a website for Danish weather. It is in English even. It should be markedly cooler than it has been in Massachusetts for the past few days which I will enjoy.
One day to go before I am on my way.
Here is a website for Danish weather. It is in English even. It should be markedly cooler than it has been in Massachusetts for the past few days which I will enjoy.
One day to go before I am on my way.
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