Saturday, August 31, 2013

The Nordics - part två (or Snus-aluffagus)

If you remember, I was last tootling around in Skagen and Gothenburg (in the Nordics - part ett).  And if you guessed that I would have my toes nibbled by little fish - you would be right!

For my weekend in Copenhagen, I was actually going to be spending it with my friend Carol!  I got there the night before she did - and happened to have booked a really delightful hotel - though I have to admit I was slightly worried because before I saw the actual building I saw this sign on the corner.  I found some great places near the hotel, and had dinner and a cocktail at Kalaset.  I walked around the block after, but decided to call it an early night back at the hotel (but not after trying the "world's best gin and tonic" - well it was the largest at least...


The next morning I found another eccentric restaurant for brunch - Bankeråt Café.  And walked around looking at the sidewalk sale while I waited with baited breath for Carol's arrival.  The day turned out to be fairly lovely, and Carol took me on a walking tour all over the city (including Christiania, which does not allow pictures).
And that night, we found ourselves headed to the festival in Malmö - which was just across the sound.  We never did meet up with her friends, but we had a great time listening to music, trying snus (which was pretty hilarious and messy), and having a few beers before heading back to Denmark (much cooler going between Denmark and Sweden than crossing the border between the US and Canada).  Sunday morning, we took it easy and checked out the spa before parting ways - her back to Aarhus and me to Malmö for work the next week!
The Snusperience
Work was work, but the team was fun and we had some street food during the music festival.  I also had planned out which bands to see after work - and drug my German colleague along for most of them :).  The Avett Brothers put on another fantastic outdoor concert, I also got to see a couple Swedish bands - The Royal Concept and the Shout Out Louds, and a Welsh band, The Joy Formidable.  We also caught a bit of Flogging Molly!
My third and final Nordic country on this little excursion was Iceland (with a week of work in Paris in between - nothing super exciting happened other than getting a bit of food poisoning from the tap water...).  I met up with my friend Rick in Iceland over Labor Day weekend (he popped over from Boston, me from Paris - so worldly we are).  I pulled it together enough when we landed (as I'd gotten the tap-bug the night before...) and we went to a local pub for a beer and boy did I wish I felt better that evening (if ya catch my drift, *wink* *wink*).
pic courtesy of dishyblokes.tumblr
On Saturday, we mercifully had a lazy morning and slept in for forever.  Once we ventured out, we realized it would be more economical (and convenient) to rent a car.  So yeah, the girl without a legal driver's license drove in another country since her passenger couldn't drive a stick...not that he didn't try - sorry to that rental company!  I also learned that Blackberry maps do not recognize any roads in Iceland, so it was useless for directions (you know, cuz there are no roads in Iceland...but we did make it to the Blue Lagoon).  And we both got the upgraded packages - so you know, we could get the robes and extra face masks...We watched (and judged) lots of people, put crap all over our faces, made a new friend, and learned that Of Monsters and Men were playing that evening!  After a couple hours in the lagoon, we popped out to head to the show with our new friend in tow.  It was a BIT of a cold evening in the rain to watch a show, but it was a cool experience nevertheless.
L-Whale, C-Strawberry mousse, R-Atlantic Bass
On Sunday, we were lazy again and stuck around town - going to a local pool and The Icelandic Phallological Museum.  Which I'm not sure was worth the 1200 króna...but oh well. We met up with our new friend again for dinner that night, and Rick got his puffin (and whale, and horse - yup, we went fully Icelandic with our meal). Dinner was pretty great, and we split at that point - Rick went home and I hung out with the new friend for a couple drinks. 

I can't say that we never broke any washing machines, or yelled out car windows that we liked some guy's jumper. Nor did we see a Grindr meet up at the local pool, or put our shorts on inside out...it was such a well behaved man-hunt we were on :). I guess that's where I should continue my search for a husband (that is if I don't get enough bearded-hipsters Seattle).

Saturday, August 10, 2013

The Nordics - part ett (1)


My time in Europe is fast coming to a close.  And sadly, my time in Holland has been less in the last 2 months - as my work travel was all shoved together at one time (thank you travel bans).  For the month of August, most of my time was spent in some Scandinavian country or another (with the exception of my week in France).

Following my return back from the states (it was a short 4 day trip book-ended by St. Emilion and Pride Festival in Amsterdam), I left in short order to head to Denmark.  After much debating, and some consultation with a friend who has advice for just about everything, I followed said advice and booked a night train to Skagen - he'd said the beach was the best.  I'll admit, if the weather had been sunny (as I would EXPECT in AUGUST!), I'm sure it would have been.  But with my luck, weather in Europe has been only so-so while I've been living here (and it stands to reason that the NW has had one of the best summers ever...).  And I found myself stuck in yet ANOTHER torrential downpour, this time including hail (remember Cannes and my flip flops floating away...?).


I will tell you though, don't take the night train unless you know you can check into your hotel early.  I arrived around 8:30... and they would only let me store my bag there.  I was kind of exhausted (left at 23:00, with 2 changes), but I had a lot of hours to kill.  I searched out breakfast - and then set off on the long walk to the tip of Denmark - where the Baltic Sea and the North Sea meet in a smashing sort of fashion.

I could see the thunderstorms approaching land behind me, and KNEW that the wind was blowing my direction (literally, not figuratively), and I prayed that God would hold up the rain until I reached the little restaurant.  And it did, but I decided to risk it and kept walking...guess what happened?  Yup, not 5 min after I passed by shelter the skies opened up and I was quickly drenched.  People started heading back, but I wasn't sure why - I mean, it wasn't going to let up in 5 min, and the shelter was not close...I decided to pull a Cheri, and enjoy singing in the rain ;) (ok I didn't literally, I just laughed like a maniac at the fact that I was caught in a storm with only a jean jacket as protection).

It stopped before I got to the tip (#twss), and as I wasn't looking for a man, it was nice to not care that I looked like a drowned rat :).  After my long, wet walk (#twss), I had a little brownie and Irish coffee...for lunch - I love being an adult!  I eventually got to check in, take a nap and a hot shower, and headed out for food and drinks at a local place.  They had live music, and it ended up being a fun night.  The next day, I walked around the town and fishing docks, couldn't bring myself to have any dried herring, but I did enjoy not being wet all day! (#twss, damn, I'm funny!)
 

Feels like I was able to shove a lot into that day and a half (hehehe, #twss again!) as the next day I was on a ferry across the sea to Gothenburg, Sweden.

I was there for work for the week, and I must say, the Swedes there were more attractive than the Swedes in Stockholm.  They had a music festival in the city, and we got the chance to see The Sounds...who performed horribly.  What can ya do?  Gothenburg looks like a really old industrial city. We stayed in a nice hotel, and work was reasonably enjoyable.  Best thing about all Nordic countries - is the music festivals - a free city festival, and everyone comes out for it.  A much better week experiencing Sweden than the 1st time...and I still had 1 more week to go!  On Friday we left Gothenburg, to head south.  Me to Copenhagen, and my coworker back home to Germany.  I won't try to fit this all in 1 post, you may be bored by now, but I just have a little more to go :)...will I stay dry? Will I meet any cute men? Will I get my feet eaten by fish?  Stay tuned to find out!

Some Rock and Roll cover band

The Sounds (WAY up in front)