Goodbye Spring

Well, it seems as if spring is over in Denmark and now we are into the cooler, darker, rainier summer. It is ok for now. Everything has been really dry here and in the first time in the almost 3 years we have spent here, I've seen dead, brown grass. Even in the winter, underneath blankets of snow, the grass is still green. It is peculiar to me. Needless to say, we need rain. We haven't gotten much more than little 5 minute spurts of rain from time to time throughout the past few days. The sky rotates from perfect blue to full of pretty dark clouds and with all the sports games I've been watching I am feeling a false autumn.

We have had two days in a row of huge full double rainbows. The second arch doesn't show up well in the picture, but its there. :)

Broken Hearts Fixed

I am happy to report that Denmark and I are back in love.
*cue hearts falling from the sky*
As mentioned before, we had a rocky relationship over the winter. I mean, how can you love something that gives you "Seasonal Affective Disorder"?? The past four days, we have done some seriously strong bonding bringing us as close as we were before winter hit. The only thing that Denmark and I can't ever get past was established long ago. We can't seem come to a healthy agreement about the taxes. But that's ok, I respect it's differences, and it respects mine. So that leaves Denmark forever as a fun fling in the first decade of the 2000's and we can't ever commit to a longer relationship.

So, how did Denmark and I mend this broken relationship and find peace again? I'll tell you! Since Saturday we have had the most wonderful and beautiful spring days. The sun is rising at 5:45am-ish and setting at 8:45pm-ish and each passing day is noticeably longer than the last. We have finally been able to sleep with our bedroom door open allowing us to wake in the morning with the birds singing, the church bells ringing telling me what time it is and a cool breeze brushing against our faces. The trees and bushes are developing blooms and leaves at a rapid pace and Lyngby is turning green before our eyes. Michael and I were actually excited when last week our allergies both starting to act up from the blooms. It is the first time in history, neither of us really even care that we have allergies; a small price to pay to welcome spring. We spent the weekend laying on our balcony out in the sun. It was wonderful. There is still a cool breeze lingering so you can't really walk around without warm clothes, but when you stay in one spot you'll heat up nicely!! What prompted me to write this post was that I just got home from the grocery store. While I was walking home with the one item I purchased (dish washer tablets), I stopped at a phone booth, set my purse along with the tablets down and......took off my jacket leaving me in a short sleeve shirt for the remainder of the walk home.

*happy tears*

Jeg Elsker Efteråret

(I Love Autumn)

For the past couple weeks the air outside feels and smells like fall. This makes me very happy. I love winter. I love spring. Sometimes I even love summer. But I am always so incredibly excited when fall rolls around. We have already turned on our heaters and are noticing that the sun is starting to set earlier and earlier with every passing day. This means the start of weekends with a pot of chili on the stove, soups stewing, days of baking and warm feet on our heated bathroom floor. Too bad the Llano wine festival, Tech football games and NASCAR (I still can't believe we had so much fun at NASCAR and I REALLY can't believe I had so much fun, that I'll admit it) aren't in Copenhagen. That would make me one very happy, very spoiled person!

Enjoying Copenhagen and Lyngby

I love rain. I love fall. Most years I could do without summer. But what "they" say, seems true, when all you get is rain, you get tired of it, when all you get is cloudy days, you long for the sun. I don't know who "they" are, but "they" knew what they were talking about.

This weekend was nothing short of gorgeous days of sun, sun and more sun with a slight cool breeze that made the weekend simply perfect! The air feels like fall though, but one of those beautiful warm, fall days. So we took advantage of the weekend and played tourists in our own home!

First thing we did was head to Copenhagen climb the "Rundetaarn" (Round Tower) for a view of Copenhagen. We figured, we've seen Oslo,Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Istanbul and even a couple small German villages from way up high on towers and mountain/hilltop, it was probably about time we saw Copenhagen as well. The entrance was pretty cheap (for Copenhagen standards) at 25DKK a person (about $4.50) so we thought, why not!

"Rundetaarn"
Apparently the tower part of the Trinitatis complex, and included an astronomical observatory, a student church and a university library. It was built between 1588-1648We saw the church and the library which were a decent size and quite nice. It is also the oldest observatory in Europe and is still used! At night in the winter (which is practically all day long haha) people can go up and use the telescope to see the sky.

Climbing the tower was pretty simple. The entire climb looked like this until the very end where there were about 15 steps. Not too bad. Easiest tower climb we have ever done (worst one was in Freiburg Germany where we climbed just short of 1,000 stairs in the narrowest little stairwell, in a Cathedral to get to the top of a bell tower) I was actually a little surprised to see many people huffing and puffing on their way up.

Once at the top we had an amazing 360 degree view. Knowing so many of the buildings and streets made looking at wonderful Copenhagen that much better. We could see pretty far and could even see some really tall buildings in the distance which we immediately recognized as "Høj Gladsax" , which is basically where we lived last time we lived here.


After the tower we wondered around Copenhagen. Stopped at Nyhavn grabbed some soft ice, then hopped on a boat (one that is tied up and doesn't go anywhere) for a micro-brew style beer. The city was so very full of tourists, not many Americans though. Seemed like the streets were filled with Swedes and Brits. We both have an " Årskort" (year card) for Tivoli, so as long as we were in the city we hopped in there for another beer and sat right next to the little lake in there and had a really good time. After all this, we were starving so came home and ate and rested our feet. (We actually do tire ourselves out from walking, but no one has been brave enough to stick it out long enough to see that actually happen!)

Copenhagen Street

Tivoli

Tivoli

Sunday was just as lovely if not more so then Saturday. We hit the gym in the AM which was pretty much like an old abandon town. We were the only ones in there for about 45 minutes until 4 people came and hopped on treadmills. Then there were 6 of us. Danes love the sun, I'm sure they didn't want to waste any of the weather on being indoors. I can't blame them. We were doing abs and I told Michael that at that moment, I envied their freedom of not being so ridiculously dedicated. We got out of there as fast as we could and headed for a little walk. We stopped at a bakery on the way to grab some bread (and it was the first time Michael had ever witnessed me doing everything in Danish). We headed towards something called, "Lyngby Fort" I had seen it on a map and was just a little curious what it was, so we went. To be quite honest, I'm still not exactly sure what it is, but I know it was built in 1887 -1892. It was, "interesting" to say the least. Kinda hidden behind houses, and very overgrown with growth. We climbed up to the top and ate up there.

It once read, "LYNGBYFORTET" but now, there are letters missing

Along the side

Stairs to top
View From the Top

Top of the Fort

Walking back to our place we stumbled upon a hidden treasure. A "Møntvask"!!! It is a Laundromat!! For those of you who remember months and months ago I had to start doing our laundry by hand....again.... well. I am STILL doing it that way. Long story short...our landlord sucks and we do not want to spend the money to buy a washer that we can't take back with us because they are quite pricey. ANYWAYS, so we have searched every corner of Lyngby (or so we thought) looking for one and never could find one. On our way home, somehow we ended up on a hidden curve of a street, not too far from our place, and staring me in the face was the word, "Møntvask". I grabbed Michaels arm and pulled him across the street as he was laughing knowing my pleasure in seeing this word. I haven't minded doing our laundry by hand but the sheets and towels are quite the chore, because they are so big. I think that was the highlight of the day! Today, I'll be heading down there with towels and sheets to get those all washed and I am very excited about it, as I am sure my mom and a few of my close friends are very excited for me as well!! haha.

We got back to our place about 3:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon/evening on our balcony. Reading, drinking some wine, doing Danish homework, eating dinner....etc.

Today looks just as wonderful as the past couple days. Perhaps August will turn out to be ok after all. I'm not holding my breath just yet, but I'm closing my eyes and wishing really really hard that it keeps this nice.

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

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!!!

Happy Turkey Day!!!

No, not Happy Thanksgiving but happy day we go to Turkey! However, turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie sound amazing to me now, especially with the fall weather we have been having here, and the fact that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday by far!! sigh, thats still 5 months away. Anyways, we are soooo excited and so anxious to get to Istanbul. We are a little nervous about making our connection in Munich, but worst case, we spend the night in Germany. No big deal! I'm also excited to get some warm weather. Yesterday the high here was...58 degrees, it was overcast and raining the whole day. It felt like fall. People were walking around in jackets and some even had scarves on. A Dane told me about a month ago that they were predicting a cold summer here. So far, I think he was right. Yesterday in Istanbul the high was 100, but looks like it dropped today and will be in the upper 80's while we are there. Perfect!

We will be back late Tuesday night, so until then, Have a lovely few days!