Copenhagen

It's nice to know I was missed.  Don't I have the sweetest hubby? I think so.

Anyway, Copenhagen was great!  I left early on Monday morning, said goodbye to my Dad at the airport and hopped on my flight.  It was my first flight for quite a while by myself and I was nervous because I don't really like flying but I have to say, it was one of the smoothest flights I have been on, which was fantastic!

My friend Andy, came on the train and picked me up.  We headed back into town and I had my first view of the city, it was so pretty.  The old opera house on a big square was an impressive sight.  We had to walk a couple of blocks to get to Andy's flat but fortunately it was the main shopping street so there was a lot to see, and make mental notes about so that I could go back.  After settling in a bit and having a cuppa, we set out to explore.  Andy was a font of information about all the historical buildings and great places to shop.  We saw the old observatory tower, the royal residences, the beautiful Marble Church and took a peek at Nyhavn (the wonderfully colourful harbour). We rounded out the day with a nice meal out.

The next day, we headed to the National Gallery, there was a temporary exhibit of works by Toulouse-Lautrec as well as some fantastic European and Danish art.  It was a really nice gallery.  After a spot of lunch we were off again.  We decided to hop on the canal boat tour, it was great.  We went from the Parliament building to Nyhavn and then out into the main harbour, from which we got to see a good amount of the city. There was a chilly breeze off the water so when we got off the boat we went back to the flat to warm up a bit.  Out for dinner again, this time it was a very small traditional Danish restaurant owned by a very nice couple and had a piano player, playing christmas music.  The piano player was quite good, although he didn't know very many words to the english carols so we sang along to help him out.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.  Special mention must be made to the dessert, it is a traditional Christmas dessert, cold rice pudding sprinkled with slivered almonds and served with warm cherry sauce.  I am not a huge fan of rice pudding but this one was to die for.  Apparently on Christmas when it is served there is one whole almond hidden in it and whoever gets the almond wins a prize.

Wednesday morning we decided to go to see Rosenborg Castle.  It is an impressive building, full of old furnishings and really neat knickknacks.  There was a guy in one of the rooms that was full of information, one tidbit that was really interesting: He took us over to the wall and opened this little flap which was hiding a hole in the wall.  Apparently, it was a tube that led to the other side of the castle with which the king and queen could communicate with each other.  There was also another tube that led to the basement where musicians would play and the music could be heard in the dining room. The castle was also home to the crown jewels which were pretty impressive.  More impressive though, was the room of ivory, while I don't agree with how ivory is obtained, it was hard to not be amazing with the carving skills.  There were some amazing pieces, especially a ship made entirely out of ivory and bone.

That afternoon, I wanted to see the most touristy thing in Copenhagen, which is of course, The Little Mermaid.  It was created to celebrate Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote the story.  He's very big in Copenhagen, there are marked buildings where he lived and streets named after him.  I had been forewarned that for some people the Mermaid is a bit disappointing.  In spite of that, I have to say that I quite liked her, she had a look of melancholy on her face and she was beautifully cast, especially considering she's lost her head a couple of times.  We had a nice long walk to and from the mermaid so we were wiped out when we got back.

Thursday was moving day, my friends were off to Mexico and I was headed to my hotel.  Some girls from Aberdeen were arriving in the afternoon and my friend Louise, who moved to Bucharest, was also coming to join us.  I said goodbye to Andy and lounged around my hotel room for a bit.  Susan and Belinda arrived and we went to Tivoli Gardens, where there is a Christmas market, we walked around a bit and got the lay of the land and then headed down the main shopping street to, well, shop of course!  That evening we had dinner with Louise a couple of ladies who we knew in Aberdeen who now live in Copenhagen and a friend of Louise's.  We had a great time catching up with each other.

Bodil, our danish friend took us around a bit on Friday morning to show us the sights.  We did a bunch of shopping mostly christmas stuff, stopped off at one of the huge department stores for lunch, where I had to have a danish, it was really tasty.  I have to say, the food in Copenhagen is really good, I don't think I had one bad meal there.  After stopping at the hotel to drop off some of our purchases we went back to Tivoli.  It was starting to get dark and the Christmas lights were all on, it was beautiful.  A couple of us stopped for hot chocolate, grogg and these little doughnut thingies.  We sat outside on the patio, which was made quite cozy by blankets and heaters. We had another group dinner that night that I capped off with what else... rice pudding! We said goodbye to our friends and called it a night.

We had an early flight on Saturday and it was another nice smooth flight.  I had a great time but I was very happy to come home to my hubby and my little doggy who seemed very happy to see me.

Thanks to Stacy and Belinda for the group pictures!

Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone ...

The old Bill Withers tune is particularly apt this week, as its been terrible weather in Aberdeen this week - likely because my own personal sunshine is in Copenhagen visiting with friends.  The days just go from black through various shades of grey and back to black again.

What's a lonely husband to do when his wife is away?  I choose to keep her close by flipping through some her awesome photography.   She really is quite brilliant.  I'm attaching some pictures she took last week, walking with her Dad in Glen Dye, and the week before, walking with Casey and me at Castle Fraser.  I'm extraordinarily proud of her work - I wish I had a similar talent.

Halloween and Bonfire Night

We were semi-prepared for Halloween this year.  Fiona bought a pumpkin and carved a brilliant Jack O'Lantern.  We spoke about buying candy for the kids and agreed I would pick it up on the way back from work on Monday evening.  Problem was, by the time I got home with the chocolate, several groups of kids had already been by.  We didn't have the masses of kids that I remember from my youth, but we had several large groups totalling maybe 20.  A great many of them had jokes prepared, or little songs to sing.  They also seemed comfortable enough to request their own choice of candy from our bowl, or to politely ask for more.

We also went out to Banchory last night to attend our first Bonfire Night.  We kind of hemmed and hawed during the day, as we were quite tired, but stuck with it and drove out to see what it was all about. The large park in the centre of Banchory was split in two, with one half fenced off for the fireworks display.  The other half was dominated by a gigantic pile of wood, straw and brush, with a small mannequin perched on the very top.  The pile must have been 20 feet in diameter and at least as high.  It seemed well engineered and we spoke to one of the attendants to get the full story.  They used cranes to place the brush on the top of the pile and maintained 'trenches' through the pile to ensure an adequate air supply (my sister would be proud!).  They mixed up sawdust and diesel for the fuse, which circled the pile and entered in at various points.

At 6:30 they lit it up and the whole pile was quickly engulfed.  For those right on the barrier, like us, the temperature must have flipped 50 degrees in a couple of seconds.  The fire climbed up the stack and soon put a quick end to the effigy of Mr. Fawkes.  It was cool to see the smouldering ash being lifted hundreds of metres into the air on the updraft.

We soon left our hot spot and moved closer to the fence where the fireworks would be.  Fiona had brought her photo equipment to try and experiment with shooting fireworks - no easy task.  We had a little of the hot chocolate we had brought with us and were all set up for 7pm when the first of the fireworks went up.  For a relatively small town, Banchory did themselves well proud with this display.  The variety of fireworks was amazing and the sheer number impressive.  But as the park sits in a small valley in the centre of town, the most impressive part was the noise.  The booms and bangs echoed off the surrounding trees and houses to great effect.

Fiona was highly successful in catching some of the magic of the show on her camera, as you can see.

After the show we stopped off at the remains of the bonfire to warm up a little before going home for a little more hot chocolate (with Baileys this time) and a good night's sleep.

We had thought of spending a little more time outside with our new telescope, but a thick fog of gunpowder smoke was hanging over the city.  We did get a really good look at the moon the night before, though.  I've included a picture Fiona took through the eyepiece with her iPhone.  We've ordered a camera attachment for the scope so hopefully there will be some more astrophotography in the coming months.