Winter in Denmark

Marianne:
The winter in Denmark came early this year. Or at least in parts of Denmark. When we went to bed yesterday, it was snowing quite heavily and when we got up this morning, everything was covered in a beautiful layer of snow. Sadly, the tree outside my office window (at home) lost a branch due to the heavy snow. I heard a stance sound late last night, but did not realize what it was, until I got up this morning. I do not hope that this is the death of my tree - because I am very fond of that tree!
During the past month, I have taken some pictures of the tree, because I think it's fun to see how much it has changed - from still having plenty of leaves to being all covered in snow.

November 22nd,  2015 at 9.35 am

November 21st,  2015 at 5.10 pm

November 21st, 2015 at 11.23 am

November 8th, 2015

November 3rd,  2015

October 23rd, 2015

My plan today was to make a trip this morning to Allerod, the neighbor city. The company Sirius had their yearly inventory sales, and I thought that I might want a few things there. But I could not get out! We were simply not able to get out due to the snow. The snowplow didn´t clear our parking lot until 1.10 pm, and that didn´t even do the trick. We still had to throw quite a bit of snow ourselves. Michael did the most and I helped a bit. Mission completed - and I left for the outlet. Came back with a few nice things - however nothing but the things that I had planned. Wow!

Now it's time for a cup of gløgg (mulled wine) and I am going to make a few cards. It´s been a while - and the weather is perfect for such projects.

Music

Marianne:
During the past month, Michael and I have gone to two concerts. Very different and both great experiences.

The first (October 9th) was an acoustic concert with Michael Falch (a Danish singer) in Galaxen, located in Værløse, the nirghbor town. It was a really nice experience where we felt that we came pretty close to the man Michael Falch. The repertoire was broad - both well known and lesser-known songs. Everything was spiced with humorous anecdotes and harsh life stories. A lovely evening, which was made even better since we met my friend Birgitte, who we had not seen in a looong time. (Birgitte is my oldest friend. She and her family live close by us). Oddly enough, I met Birgitte again the day after at the gym.

On Tuesday (November 3rd) we were in Vega to hear American Gavin DeGraw. Also an acoustic concert, but with more stuff going on. Fi and Per contacted us during the weekend, to ask if we were interested in going on a cancellation together with them and their good friend Torben. We were game. None of us thought that we knew a whole lot about Gavin DeGraw, but when he first started to play, it dawned on us that he has a lot of catchy, well-known tunes on the repertoire. With him at the concert he brought a percussionist and a guitarist. Along with his own superior piano playing, it was a terrific combination.


Before the show, we ate a classic Danish dinner at Restaurant Klubben. A 150 year old, cozy restaurant in Vesterbro (part of Copenhagen), which is famous because it used to be the hangout of Tove Ditlevsen - a Danish author. The menu was roast pork with parsley sauce and pork hearts in cream sauce. Of course it was served with cold beer.
Lovely with such an impulsive event in very nice company.

A little something from the last couple of months

Marianne:

Marianne:
The last few months quite a few things have happend that I have not previously written about. Probably because it didn´t really fit into the context. So here it is:

It's hard to believe it, but this year it is 30 years ago since I started on the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy. Today called the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Healthcare Sciences at Copenhagen University. Some of us, who started in the same class, decided that this was something that needed celebration. So on September 11th we had a reunion at Karen´s. It was a glorious event in which the 18 people showed up. It was great to see everybody and especially to hear what each has achieved - both professionally and privately. There were many interesting stories. We managed to make a group photo before it became too dark - a wonderful memory!

This year the Fall has been amazingly beautiful! Outside my window in Farum is the most fascinating tree and it has shown itself from its most gorgeous side. The leaves are still hanging and they have such vibrant colors.

Inspired by Birgitte and Nicolai, whom we visited last weekend, we took a walk by the beautiful, local Farum Lake.  It is very nice down there - for sure something that we have to do again. It is a spectacular area that we have chosen to live - and fortunately there are still a ton of places that we still havein´t dscovered yet. It makes us feel very good that we have decided to stay in this area.

And apropos: Finally, they started to building our house! We were almost  about to give up since the project has now been delayed twice, The plan is now for us to move in on March 1st. It is three months later than scheduled. Fortunately, we can stay until then where we currently live, which makes it easier to handle - practically. However emotionally it is quite different, because we are so ready to get our own place.

Right now we are in FriisBo - our summerhouse. We arrived Thursday evening, after having made a stop at Max´s (Michael´s mom´s husbond) . Michael has played a couple rounds of golf - one with my dad in Brønderslev. Meanwhile my mom and I  made a trip to Aalborg. I had gotten the idea that I wanted to try a fish spa. The real reason was that I have a psoriasis outbreak, and since it mainly has attacked my hands and feet, I thought that it should be tested if that might help. And it was not bad. My mom accompagnied me - even though she basically was a bit reluctant. We are both very ticklish - and especially on the feet. But it was not as bad as feared - and altogether a fine experience. And they were darn effective, those small fish. Mom got the nicest baby feet afterwards.



Last night my parents invited us for dinner at a new restaurant that opened recently in Brønderslev called Asia. It was very delicious - and a lovely evening. Thank you so much!

Today I needed to relax. Michael has cleaned our garden tractor and made ready for us to have a number of trees on the north side of our property cut down. The 35-50 feet tall pines have died, and we are not crazy about the idea of a violent storm that might overturn them. Fortunately, the neighbor on whose grounds the trees actually stand, also like the idea. We expect this to happen before the winter. Exciting. It's going to make a HUGE difference and will definitely make the lot look baren. We are certain that after a couple of years, it will all look nice again.

We took the bikes and drove along the beach to Løkken. We were curious to see if they had started the building of coastal protection in front of the threatened houses further south. It has been banned, but the owners of the houses recently won a lawsuit and can now go ahead with the project. So far nothing has happend. In Løkken, there were some shops open and we said hi to and old friend of mine, Torben, who was working wife´s clothing store. We drove by the road back home.

And here we are, relaxing. I bet that Michael is reading the newspaper on his iPad. I have been updating my Facebook and this blog. It has been a very nice day.
Tomorrow is a work day for me. Michael has some pratical things that he needs to deal with before we pack our stuff and head back to Farum. The end of another nice visit in FriisBo - but we´ll be back soon!

Friends

Marianne:
We are so priviledged to have absolutely wonderful friends! We see some of them pretty often and for others it can be months, and even half- or whole years in between. What is important, however, is that frequency doesn´t matter. When we are together, we pick up where we left - without any difficulties.

Recently we have had visits from Utah - twice even. Initially Julie and Dave came to Denmark. Dave was attending a meeting in Copenhagen and fortunately Julie decided to join him. We met with them the 12.9. at hotel Scandic in Vester Søgave where they stayed. We had a wonderful dinner together, and some days later they came and visited us in Farum. It was so great to see them again - and the situation was exactly as described earlier: It felt as if it was yesterday that we last met. And yet so much has happened since then: Their new house is (finally) finished, Dave bought a couple of new motorcycles and a car - or was it two? Julie has submitted her retirement papers, so she will stop working buy the end of this year and they are in the process of selling their cottage at Bear Lake - and swap it with another one. After all, fact is that they are still Julie and Dave - now matter have much has happend in their - and our - lives.

We had the same experience when Joyce and Bob arrived on Friday 18th. They came here from Brussels and had by then also been in Paris for some days. We drove to FriisBo, where we arrived in the Friday night. We enjoyed a cheese and sausage plate that we brought with us. Along with one (or two?) bottles of red wine, it was an absolutely wonderful start to the weekend.

We spent Saturday in Skagen, at the very North of Denmark. We visited the Buried Church, the Lever Light and the norther tip of Denmark (Grenen). We ate lunch at the harbor enjoying the beautiful weather followed by a walk in the town. There was (obviously) time to get a huge ice cream - the two men are quite fond of ice cream.

Sunday we first went for a walk on "our" beach. Joyce and Bob were fascinated both by the "cliffs" and all the German bunkers, located on the beach.

Later on we drove to Lønstrup - a nice town only a few miles away from our house. On the way we made a stop by the old light house at Rubjerg Knude. You feel a bit as being in a desert.

In Lønstrup we walked down to the beach - and we randomly bumped into my parents who were out for a walk. It was nice - and Joyce and Bob were really happy to meet them. We ate lunch in the town before heading back to FriisBo to pack up and then we drove back to Zealand.

Monday the program was sightseeing in Copenhagen. We took the train and subway to Christianshavn, where we ascended the tower of the Church of Our Saviour.

Then we visited Christiania, which is part of Copenhagen well know for its liberal attitude towards marijuana.  I think that especially Bob found that it was a pretty fun place. I have the feeling that he has been a bit of a hippie in a previous life. It is quite overwhelming for an American (and also for an authoritarian Dane) to see that here they relatively open, sell marijuana. It also felt a bit scary since some of the vendors wear balaclavas to remain anonymous.

We rented some electrical city bikes, on which we drove around for the next 3 hours. We saw a lot of places that we think are special in Copenhagen.

We started however by the Little Mermaid that to most tourist is a  bit of a disappointment. But still everybody want to see it. We were at the Citadel, passed the Christiansborg Palace, the royal castle Amalienborg and a lot of other places before we ended the bike ride in Nyhavn, where we ate lunch.







We enjoyed seeing Copenhagen from the canals, when we went on a canal tour. It was fun to see how different the city looks from this perspective.

When we got home, we were pretty exhausted, but we wanted Joyce and Bob to try the Danish National Dish, which is fried pork (bacon) with parsley sauce. We were curious to hear how they liked this traditional dish - and fortunately they loved it.

Tuesday we played golf on Mølleåen (our home course) and Wednesday they took off to Amsterdam. From there they are going on a river cruise to Budapest.

I attended a meeting on Wednesday evening and afterwards Michael and I drove to Lone and Peter´s, where we were going to swap cars. They had been so kind to lend us their car while we had visitors. They treated us with coffee and apple pie - and it was absolutely amazing to hang out with them.

When we got home, I checked my email - and could read that our lovely friend from Holland, Theo, had died after being ill for a long time. We visited José and Theo in July, which was really nice. It was close to three years´ since we saw eachother last, when they left Utah because Theo had been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. But as soon as we met, it was as if only a week had passed.

We have experienced many great things together. We have been partying, driving snowmobile, skiing, ballooning, taking photo lessons, been on white river rafting, etc. etc. We did so many things together and we always had fun, but could also be serious together. José and Theo introduced us to the game Sjoelbak, which has become something of a passion. So much that we both have a board in FriisBo and here in Farum. The latter has a very specific meaning to us, since we got it as a gift from José and Theo.
We will miss a great friend.

Summer vacation - Part II

Marianne:

Many years ago, I gave Michael a trip to Iceland as a birthday present. The plan was then that we were going to go the following year, but it just never happend. When it was decided that I should go to Iceland for a congress in Iceland in August, I decided that it was time to pay my debt. I traveled on August 2nd myself to attend the Nordic Fertility Society Meeting, which took place from 3rd to 5th of August in the impressive new cultural center Harpa.

Michael joined me on Wednesday the 5th. When I was off work, we went for a long walk in the city. In the following weekend, it was gay pride. so everywhere the city was decorated with rainbow flags.  We went up to the Halgrims church, which lies in a hill as a monument for the city.

Thursday, I visited the Icepharma Headquaters in Reykjavik and Michael took the opportunity to get acquainted with the city. He rented a bike which allowed him to get pretty far. He visited a lot of nice places and took a ton of pictures. He saw the local beach, where a lot of people were enjoying the nice, warm weather (about 60 degrees F) wearing bathing suits.

Later the same day, we went to the local swimming pool by Vesturbæjarlaug, which was in walking distance  from the city center, where we were based. It was so realaxing and very nice even if the outside temperature was only 58 degrees F. But when you soak your body into 110 degree water (some of the pools were cooler - one was really cold (45 F) ), the outside temperature is not really important. And knowing that the locals go there even in the winter, we could not complain.

On Friday morning we were picked up by Hadda and Haukur heading for their B&B in the southern part of Iceland - about 3 hours drive from Reykjavik. It ended up taking most of the day, because we made several very interesting stops on our way. First we visited Haddas parents for a cup of coffee in their summer house kaffe. They breed Icelandic horses, some of them were walking around in the "garden" just outside the house. Hadda´s father showed us some of his latest paintings. After his retirement, he spends a lot of time with this passion of his.

From there we drove to the brother of Haukur´s, who has his summerhouse in the middle of nowhere. He and Haukur own a plane, that is based there - it even has a hangar there. Of course the house has its own runway. Michael and I were invited for a trip and we flew around the southers part of  Iceland. Among a lot of others places, we flew over the volcanoes Hekla and Eyjafjallajökull (the one with the ash cloud in 2010). It was absolutely spectacular and a very fun experience. We had a joint lunch before we moved on.


There are som many amazingly beautiful places to see in Iceland, that it can be very hard to choose. Fortunately we were in ood hands as Haukur is a very skilled and knowledgeable guide - and photographer. We got a lot of tips for photos and motifs.  The hallmark of Haukur´s strategy is to show the Iceland that he loves so much - and not necessarily just what all the tourists go there to see. That didn´t do us any wrong at all.


















We arrived at Hrifunes in the afternoon. It's a really nice place located so that it is overlooking two glaciers, Myrdalsjökull and Vatnajökull. Hrifunes Guesthouse accommodate 20 guests when fully booked. They have more people to help run the place, but it is primarily Hadda who takes care of the cooking - and she does a very good job. It is not just breakfast. Dinner is served every evening. And it's exciting food. We had wild goose breasts that Haukur hunted himself. SO delicious!

On Saturday the weather was a little iffy - overcast and showers. We drove around in the area and saw very special places with waterfalls, small creeks and lots of moss. Most of these places we were all by ourselves. No other tourists, which is very rare as tourism has grown a lot the last couple of years. And this was even the high season...

Sunday we were returning to Reykjavik. We drove an alternative way - this time a route that is almost exclusively used by locals, since rental cars are not allowed to drive that way. We were once again spoilt by some fantastic nature. We saw swveral waterfalls (yes, there are a lot of those!) that don´t even have a nma, which is quite uncommon. Haukur claims that it is because they are not visited very often.

We went to Hadda and Hoaukur´s house in Reykjavik. After bathing in the ourdoor spa followed by some pizza, we went to bed early. A taxi picked us up at 4 am and took us to the airport. We were ready to go back home after an wonderful visit to Iceland. We will come back for sure!

August 15 was characterized by weddings. We started with Katrine and Christian's wedding in Godthåbskirken on Frederiksberg, close to Copenhagen. Immediately after we drove towards North Jutland, where Rikke and Klaus were married at their home in the garden. We were not able to make it in time for the ceremony, but we were there for the party. And what a party! Weddings simply are the best!

For the last couple of weeks, we have had our residence in our summerhouse, FriisBo. Michael has been on vacation - most of the time - and I have worked up there. This made it possible for me to meet with my colleague Anne, who lives in Støvring - less than an hour´s drive away. Michael went twice to watch the Made in Denmark golf tournament at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort I was able to join him on the Saturday. The weather was very nice and the tournament went well for quite a few of the Danes. Especially Søren Kjeldsen did great. The picture shows Darren Clark waiting to put. An added value of the day was that we met with Tina and Uffe and ended up having dinner with them in their summerhouse located in the area. It was super nice to see them again. Generally we have taken advantage og the beautiful weather we´ve had in August and done a lot of outdoor activites.



Michael had to go to Skrydstrup to work on August 19th- our 9-year wedding anniversary. So we chose to postpone the celebration to the following day. It didn´t exactly turn out as planned, as my back was really hurting. But we wnjoyed a nice outdoor dinner in Aalborg before we drove to Ellebæk where Ulla put some needles in me. I felt a bit like a pincushion, but I am convinced that she is in control of what she´s doing, because I already felt so much better when we drove home.

Vi strolled around in Aalborg - and because we didn´t have any plans, we went places that we don´t usually go and noticed things that we don´t usually see. Among these, this nice little fountain close to an old church in the city center.

We can´t miss the sunset in Lønstrup! This is something that we simply HAVE to see, when we are in that (the northern) part of the country. Many others had the same idea - and I understand why...

Right now I am attending a meeting at Hindsgavl. Michael is coming to pick me up in the afternoon and then we go back to Farum. We are both looking forward to everyday life again. What´s encouraging us to go home is that we will see if they have actually started to build our new house. They hadn´t before we left two weeks ago - but we feel that it´s about time if the schedule for us to move in by December 1st is to hold.