CPH Zoo

Wednesday I went to the zoo with my friend Sarah and managed to see I think almost everything there! I was actually entertained with learning the names of animals in Danish. My favorite name was "Næsehorn" it translates in English to "Nose Horn", which if you can guess was the.....Rhinoceros! After the zoo we headed to the city and met Michael for dinner at a really good make your own sandwhich place. It put subway to shame. It was fantastic!!! Here's a few videos I took at the zoo!

Ape using tool


I want our next dog to look like the big monkey. He is so fluffy and snuggly looking!!


Parenting Skills of a Monkey

No Spoilers Here!

Ah, we are done with our book! And as the title says, it is safe to read this post, I couldn't in good conscience post spoilers.

Friday night we stayed up to go get our book across the street. We hobbled over there at midnight and sat in the "mall-ish" place waiting for them to open up. We couldn't get it till 12:01 England time which is 1:01AM Copenhagen time. At about 12:50 they opened the gate to mall from the big hallway area we were in and it was cute to see sooo many people running towards the book store. Then they opened the bookstore a few minutes later, again people running in. I didn't realize it but most of those people didn't have a reserved copy, hence the running. We however did, so didn't have to wait in a very long time. we grabbed a book went to the counter, paid, they crossed our name off a list and we came back home. The line had gotten pretty long by the time we left. I would say we were home at 1:15 and fell right to sleep. We got the British Adult Cover of the book. (Unlike the states the British version puts out two covers an adult and a children's.) We have another British version as well, and while there are few differences, there are not many. Simple things like spelling of certain words, and British slag are used that are not found in the American Editions.

Saturday Started Harry Potter Weekend 2007. We decided to read in 2-3 hour shifts mostly. I'd read for 2-3 hours, then Michael would catch up to me, then I'd read for two hours, then Michael would catch up to me. It was nice to be reading around dinner time because I got my dinner cooked for me twice in a row! We even went to the gym in shifts. We finished about half the book on Saturday and Sunday night late late, I finished the book and Michael got up early this morning to finish it as well.

As much as we tried to take our time on it the anticipation of knowing we would finally find out any answers and predictions we had were just a few page turns away made it difficult to slow down and to put the book down.

I am thankful to Liz Wise, a girl I use to work with in the library at Texas Tech who one day in the spring of 2001 handed me a paperback book called, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". I had heard a little of the books, but never gave them much though. She insisted I at least read the first chapter. If I didn't like, it she would drop it, if I did, she would let me borrow the book. Needless to say I was hooked. I in turn did the same thing to Michael. And he also was hooked. J.K Rowling is such an incredible and amazing author. To be able to captivate children and adults of all ages alike in one magical story is a feat I'm sure she could have never imagined.

As for Book 7... Perfect.

Our Book

Yea!! We have our book! See you in a few days!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows

Today I feel happy and anxious! why??








Look right over here --------------->


Notice that my Harry Potter Countdown says 0 days!!! whoo hoo!!
We get to go get our hands on it tonight and the weekend will be spend READING! We have a pretty good system when the new books come out. I read all morning and half of the afternoon, Michael reads the other half of the afternoon and the evening. We usually both finish the books in about 4 days. We are aiming to do the same this time and will even go in shifts to the gym so the other can read. Yes, we are geeks, but we don't care.

Rain in the Sunroom

I am going through our videos and found this one that is kinda fun. It shows what rain looks like in our sun room. This was a really hard rain that kinda came out of nowhere. It lasted about 30 minuts and when it was said and done, we had a little neighborhood lake behind our flat from all the flooding. It doesn't thunder a lot in Denmark but the past month it seems that there is always thunder. It's crazy. And the video shows proof that I do indeed make my own tortillas! Enjoy

Our Weekend

Saturday we went to see the new Harry Potter movie and I must say we both LOVED it. I thought it was the best one yet. Now, we are just DAYS away from the book being released and I CAN'T WAIT!!!

We finally had some nice weather this weekend. Saturday it finally got sunny but it was humid and felt yucky but Sunday and today were BEAUTIFUL! Its about time too. We were starting to really be sad by the weather as we know everyday is bringing us closer and closer to the cold dark winter again. We had a nice 2 hour walk on Sunday from our place through the forest to a town called Brede and back again. It was nice. Here's a few pic's from our walk.

and a pretty sunset because it was finally not too cloudy to actually see it :)

Entertain Yourself with our Blog!!!

If you are bored, this is the post to kill some time with...We have photos, photogalleries AND a video!!!!!! Enjoy!!!

Me with a Mosque

Michael on a bridge

View from Breakfast every morning... LOVELY

Michael at Breakfast
Me at Breakfast

So, while I would love to just keep posting pictures here, I figured this would be much easier. Here is Istanbul and also under that is Tallinn, Estonia, which I did LONG ago, but COMPLETELY forgot to post on here.... So there are a couple photo galleries for your entertainment! (Just click on the pictures and enjoy)

Istanbul, Turkey

Tallinn, Estonia

And FINALLY Video # 7 from Mary and Jason's visit!

Danish 4th, Coldness & Turkey

Obviously, Denmark does not celebrate the Fourth of July, so we had to make do with making it the Fourth of July in our own special way. This was our third Fourth of July to spend outside of the US and in Denmark. It was also the only holiday we had twice the first time we lived here, so in a sense, we are pros at spending the most patriotic holiday away from "home." Originally Michael hadn't planned on going to work on the 4th but since we planned a last minute trip to Turkey that we wouldn't be returning from until the 3rd it was better that he went to work. We also had wanted to have some of his buds from TI over (especially the one who spent time in the US) for some burgers/beer and fun, but again , we got back at midnight on July 3rd so it just didn't work out for us.. Perhaps next year!!! Danes, go ahead and mark your calenders, next July 4th, you are busy! The 4th for us was like any normal day, we got breakfast from the bakery, Michael went to work, we went to the gym and came home and did the best we could to make it feel like the holiday. So we made burgers and corn on the cob and I wondered to 4 different stores looking for American beer. I found Miller , but was on a quest to find Budwiser. Finally , I found some, sitting in 7-11 for the insane price of 18 Kroner a bottle!! YIKES! (The amazing Danish beer costs 7 kroner a bottle) Needless to say, I only bought 2 bottles.

4th of July Dinner

Burgers & Beer

The All Important Red, White and Blue Dessert

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I was complaining about the heat? Well, now I'm gonna complain about the cold. The day before we left for Istanbul the high was 58 degrees! 58!! People were in jackets and scarves. A couple weeks before we left the weather had been cooler and not as sunny and since we got back, I'm starting to feel like it is about... September or October. It has not gotten above 65 and it has been raining and raining and raining..... and raining and raining even more... It's actually a little depressing because I know the longest day of the year has come and gone and now we are slowing making our way back to the cold dark winter. I'm sure there are plenty of beautiful sunny days left, but right now, its a little sad!! Please sun... COME BACK!!! For those of you that know Michael well, you know that he doesn't get cold easily. This is him going to work this morning....

Yup, long sleeve sweater

Oh wait, thats not enough, he had to put a sweatshirt on top of the sweater!!!

Now more of Turkey! Thanks to Michael being a Gold Member (which is the highest level) on SAS airlines, we now get to use the lounge when we fly SAS and their partners. We can't go back now... it was fabulous. Michaels aunt nicknamed us "The Fancies" last year on the family cruise and sitting in the SAS lounge made us feel that we were living up to that name. Free drinks (beer, wine, whiskey....and many other hard liquors as well, but we stuck with the wine...) and lots of free food, comfortable chairs and a nice area to just "chill" before catching our flight onwards to Munich.

Michael in the Lounge

Our first day in Istanbul we went to "Topkapi Palace" which was the former residence of the Sultans back in the day. These are a few pictures from inside the Palace and the Sultans Harem.

Afterwards we went and ate lunch overlooking the Bosphorus which is a strait that separates Asia and Europe.

Michael looking Cool

Me looking tired...or like the sun is in my eyes, I'm not sure which

More from Istanbul to come!!!

Images of Istanbul

First, Istanbul was incredible!!!

Second, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! I'll talk about what we did today, tomorrow :)

So, Turkey, Before going we met some hesitation about our trip to Turkey from only a few people. Which is understandable seeing as it shares a border with Iraq. But we felt confident enough in our research about Istanbul and recent events and travelers there about being in Istanbul which is on the other side of the country that after giving it a little thought, we figured, we would be fine...and we were. As we sat in our hotel room in Istanbul watching the news I was thankful we didn't choose a "safe" destination like "London" to go to, as all the crazy stuff with the bombs and the cars was going on. Just goes to show, no matter where you are in this world, you can never truly know what to or what not to expect.

So, Turkey, in short, it was a very interesting city with easily the nicest people in any place I have ever been. The turks even put Lubbock to shame! Which, if you have spent time in Lubbock, you know it is full of some of the friendliest people ever.

So, these are just a few images of the things that are completely Istanbul in my eyes. I'll get more in tomorrow as well...these are just to wet your pallet.

View of Istanbul from a bridge where everyone was fishing into the river. There were hoards of people getting off all the boats and ferries. Reminded me of a time where people would come from all over to bring their merchandise to sell and come to shop in the big city.

Carpet shop across the street from our hotel.
Carpets, are to say the least, a big deal in Turkey. Every corner you turn there would be a carpet shop or 20. I said the people are friendly and they are, and with that, they are very good sales people and everyone will talk to you on the street if they are selling something. EVERYONE. Even restaurants would call out, Hi! Look at my menu! And carpet salesmen would say, come look at my carpets, they are pleasures for the eyes. So of course, our first day in Istanbul we are walking to our hotel and on the corner is a nice man who starts talking to us and asks where we are from and then tells us to come look at his carpets, just to look in the window on our way to the hotel. Ok why not. but of course somehow we magically appear inside the shop. His brother works there too and they bring us tea (which again, is so very typical) The Turkish say that if you share a glass of tea, you will have 40 years of friendship. So we take his tea and we chat for a little bit, then he starts showing us carpet after carpet after carpet. and they were beautiful. Red ones, blue ones, big ones small ones, one fish two fish, red fish blue fish- sorry couldn't resist. In the end we got narrowed down to two we really liked, but of course, we didn't come to Turkey to buy a carpet (but EVERY carpet seller will immediately say, no one comes to Turkey to buy a carpet) We chatted for a bit more and left, and for the rest of our time there, we always waved to the two men in this little carpet shop. If you find yourself in Istanbul your trip could not possibly be complete without experiencing the carpet shop. Its not just a carpet shop, its truly an experience.

The Grand Bazaar seemed like something out of an old Arabian story. This covered bazaar was HUGE and contained 4,000 shops! Again here, everyone super friendly, everyone wanting to talk, everyone wanting you to come into their store to see their merchandise, and everyone offering tea. We got lost in here and because of here several times. Neither of us feel we have bonded with the city, until we find ourselves lost within its borders. I can honestly say there has never been a city outside of the United States where we didn't at one point (or more) look at each other and say, Where are we? And usually about 2 hour later, we make it back to the hotel exhausted from all the walking. Inside the bazaar was amazing, and much to my surprise, only very very very slightly touristy. But once outside, I was in love. It was clear we were obviously the only tourists anywhere around. It was like the bazaar but full of real life stuff and not just souvenir type stuff. The streets were PACKED and narrow. Men ran around carrying and delivering tea to the shop workers. It was the perfect picture in my mind of what I will remember Istanbul being. I however didn't take any pictures of the outside area. Too crowded and crazy to stop to get a picture. But this is a shop inside the grand bazaar.

We went to Topkapi Palace which at one time was the residence of the Sultan. We got there early in the morning and practically had the place to ourselves the first hour. The second hour we went into the Harem. Again, practically had the whole place to ourselves. When we were leaving the Harem back into the main palace grounds we noticed that it had become so flooded with people that we were shocked we were even still in the same place! This is a wall inside the Harem. I thought it was beautiful.

This is half of the view we had at breakfast every morning.

The Blue Mosque. Named so for all the blue tiles inside the building. Several times a day there would be a call to prayer (which I have on video and ill get that up soon). All the mosques have megaphones all over the towers. And at certain times you would just start hearing a man singing/chanting thoughout the city and people would make their way to the mosques and even sometimes to the side of the street with their carpets, get on their knees and have prayer time.

Aya Sophia - built as a Catholic Basillica but later was turned into a Mosque. Inside you can see both aribic writing along with ancient Christian mosaics. At one time all the Christian influences were covered but with restorative work some have been uncovered.

And Finally Good 'ol Starbucks. Now why on earth would anyone go all the way to Turkey to drink Starbucks? Oh, thats easy, because your normal cup of drip coffee in Istanbul is just.. not good at all. And Second, because we needed a Starbucks fix. There is only one in Denmark that just opened a few weeks ago and its in the airport. So uually in the afternoons we would hop over here for a cup of coffee. It was almost right across the street from the hotel. By the time we left we were regulars. Michael liked it because one of the guys working there said, "excuse me are you a bodybuilder" to Michael. So that boosted Michaels ego a bit ;) Back to Turks being nice, at the end of any conversation we had, they would always thank us for it.